{"id":7422,"date":"2015-01-06T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:02:08","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-01-06T18:02:08","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:02:08","slug":"the_skinny_on_christie_and_jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2015\/01\/06\/the_skinny_on_christie_and_jones\/","title":{"rendered":"The Skinny on Christie and Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: So I have to tell you a little funny story here, folks. Last night I was sitting at home minding my own business not bothering anybody, and I got an e-mail from a friend who was forwarding an e-mail from his friend. It was quite a funny e-mail about Chris Christie and his adventures with Jerry Jones<\/a> and the Dallas Cowboys Sunday for the game with the Lions. And the opinion expressed in both e-mails from these guys was that Chris Christie was — well, let\u2019s put it this way. <\/p>\n

There were two things. That Christie looked really out of place. It was sad. Here was a guy in his red sweater, just looks like he doesn\u2019t belong with these sports guys. And they are kind of making fun of him in these e-mails to me, and they were mocking him and they were saying, “He\u2019s just a groupie sitting in there, and he just doesn\u2019t look like he belongs.” And they both said, “I\u2019ll tell you, this guy, he\u2019s forcing his way in there. He\u2019s calling Jerry Jones, Jerry Jones looks very nervous, like doesn\u2019t want Christie in there, but when the governor calls you, you gotta put him in there.” <\/p>\n

<\/a>And then I was treated to their version of political analysis which was that Christie was forcing his way into the Cowboys owners box to be seen on TV to try to gin up support from Texas conservatives for a future Christie presidential run, and at the same time to put pressure on Rick Perry. And I\u2019m always fascinated by the way people think. I really am. I looked at these e-mails, and I digested them. And they conflicted greatly with things that I know. <\/p>\n

So I thought about how to reply diplomatically. And I explained to you yesterday how it works at AT&T Stadium, Texas Stadium. Jerry Jones has two locations for himself and fans and friends and family at the stadium for games. He\u2019s got his box. It holds about 10 or 12 people, and it\u2019s the football people. And it\u2019s all business. There\u2019s no party in there. I mean, it\u2019s catered, but it\u2019s all business.<\/p>\n

Where the people that show up at a football game to be entertained and have fun and have a party and eat, drink, and be merry are seated in a huge suite that holds hundreds one floor below and Jerry doesn\u2019t go there, because this is a workday for him. It\u2019s a business. It\u2019s his team. He\u2019s the general manager. He owns it. And these days, Sundays are not party days. And he only puts real football people in there. And I told these guys, I responded in the e-mail, I said, “I don\u2019t think Chris Christie forced his way in there. The only way Chris Christie\u2019s in Jerry Jones\u2019 box is if Jerry Jones invited him.” <\/p>\n

And, therefore, the theory that Christie\u2019s in there for political considerations to take on Rick Perry or get favorable reaction from Texas conservatives — I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what this is about. I think if you want to know what really happened, you\u2019ve got to answer one question: Why does Jerry Jones want Chris Christie in there? The question is not, why does Christie want to be there, because that\u2019s easy. Christie loves stars. Remember Bruce Springsteen<\/a>? Remember Christie cried. He told people he cried when he finally got on the phone with Bruce Springsteen the first time. <\/p>\n

Obama, remember after they walked arm in arm, side hugged and all that, after Hurricane Sandy one week before the 2012 election, and Christie caught a lot of grief for doing that because it undercut Romney and it promoted Obama. Christie said (imitating Christie), “Hey, my state got beat up in a hurricane here. I need federal help, and Obama is my buddy,” is the point. Part and parcel of that was that Obama put Springsteen on the phone with Christie, who had been a lifelong fan, and Christie told everybody, he said he cried, he was so excited. And you know what happens next. <\/p>\n

Springsteen goes on Jimmy Fallon or some other late-night TV show and makes fun of Christie over Bridgegate in a specially written song. Now, we don\u2019t know, but I guarantee that probably had to really hurt Christie\u2019s feelings. He thought he had just become big buds with The Boss. It\u2019s a big deal. But Christie is a huge Cowboy fan, and to be invited to that suite, I mean, this is nirvana for him. The real question is, how does Jerry Jones benefit from having Christie there? If you\u2019re really curious about this. And then, lo and behold, the news hits today that indeed old El Rushbo right again, simply following my instincts. <\/line><\/p>\n

It turns out that Jerry Jones had not only invited Chris Christie, but flew him to Dallas on the Cowboys\u2019 private jet, and would have done so the first time except Christie was already in Texas. I guess he was already taking on Rick Perry and trying to gin up favor among Texas conservatives. He was down there and he was already in Texas, so Jerry Jones invited him, but this time Christie was back in New Jersey, he got invited, and he went. Wife, kids, family, and all that, but you\u2019ll notice that Christie\u2019s wife was downstairs. She wasn\u2019t in that business-only football suite where Jerry Jones was. <\/p>\n

And then if you read further you find out that there is an observation deck on top of the Freedom Tower. And did you know who owns or who has invested in that observation deck? Why, none other than Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys. And that observation deck is essentially a concession place that is expected to generate, what did I read today, $815 million or $850 million in profits over whatever number of years in the future. And then you find out that the Port Authority of New Jersey and New York and whoever runs the damn thing, or regulates it, you find out that Christie is a major part of that. <\/p>\n

If Christie can close bridge lanes, he has influence on this concession here at the top of the Freedom Tower. So it all finally comes together. And it still doesn\u2019t take away from the fact their characterization of the way — I mean, I don\u2019t want to read the e-mails I got verbatim, but they were hilarious in their characterizations of what was going on. And then furthermore, all kinds of people who started talking about, “Well, you know what? Christie\u2019s really stepped in it now. This probably proves he doesn\u2019t want to be president because these are major ethics violations.” <\/p>\n

No, they\u2019re not. Because there used to be a governor before Christie named Jim McGreevey and he was a real odd duck. But one thing McGreevey did, there is no ethical problem, it\u2019s perfectly legal for a governor to accept trips on somebody\u2019s private jet, friend or what have you. There\u2019s no ethics problem here whatsoever, in terms of the law. Voters, their perception, that may be another thing.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s Jerry Jones this morning in Dallas on the radio talking about Governor Chris Christie being an omnipresent guest in the owner\u2019s box at Cowboys games.<\/p>\n

JONES: He\u2019s a Cowboy fan through and through. I met him through the Cowboys, and I\u2019m excited about it, and he\u2019s part of our mojo. I want him there all the way. I don\u2019t know how we, in any way, can even think about going up there without having him, with the way we\u2019re playing, and the mojo. He\u2019s got enough mojo to pull this thing out, he ought to be looked at as president of the United States.<\/p>\n

RUSH: (laughing) Jerry Jones. If Christie\u2019s mojo — (laughing) he must be talking about the side hugs. If he\u2019s talking about Christie\u2019s mojo as being the deciding factor in the Cowboys winning these football games, well, he obviously can be president of the United States. I told everybody that Christie did not force his way in this box. You can\u2019t do that. The other box you can. If you\u2019re a governor and you call Jerry, “Hey, man, I\u2019d love to come to the game.” He\u2019ll invite you, and he\u2019ll put you down there with the hundreds of others that are guests of his in his other big time party box. <\/p>\n

But you have to really rate — and this isn\u2019t a criticism. I think it makes sense. This is Jerry Jones\u2019 business. That box of his during the game is his office, and he\u2019s got his football people in there, his scouts and the communications people down to the sideline and all that. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you one thing that hasn\u2019t happened to keep a sharp eye out for. Now, we\u2019ve seen Christie in the owner\u2019s box. We\u2019ve seen him give Jerry Jones a high five that was ignored. Well, it looked like it was ignored, but I think everybody is so ecstatic, Christie held up a high five and Jones started hugging his son Stephen so Christie got in the act and it was a three-way man hug with Christie coming in on the side. And then after the game there was a single-file procession of Jerry Jones, his son Stephen Jones, into the Cowboys locker room, and Christie was in the front of that line. He was leading that line into the locker room. <\/p>\n

He was not side by side with Jerry Jones. He was in front of Jerry Jones. That would makes sense that in the lineup on the way to the locker room people would stop Jerry, congratulate him, and Christie would keep walking and so forth. But Christie was still on his own. He didn\u2019t have to wait for permission. He had the lanyard. He was ready to go. He walked right in that locker. That\u2019s another tough take. You can\u2019t just walk into an NFL locker room. In fact, it\u2019s easier to jump the fence at the White House, apparently, than it is to get into an NFL locker room. I\u2019m not kidding you. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen Christie on the field pregame with Jerry Jones. But as we all know, Jerry Jones takes frequent trips to the sidelines during games, usually when things are not going well and the team needs to be inspired by the presence of the owner. Now, the next game is at high noon Central time Lambeau Field, where it\u2019s going to be between three and 10 degrees on Sunday. No snow in the forecast. That\u2019s for Saturday and Monday. But on Sunday it\u2019s supposed to be just bone-chilling cold. What if — and I think it likely to happen now with all the attention and knowing Jerry Jones the way I do, he\u2019s gonna have fun with this.<\/p>\n

I think if Jerry Jones sees the need to visit the Cowboys sideline during the game, like near the end of the first half, he\u2019ll take Christie with him. And they\u2019ll both be down there on the sideline, and then you wait. (laughing) Twitter will go nuts, turned inside out, hashtag after hashtag. He-he-he-he-he. I mean, Jerry Jones is the part of Bailey here of P. T. Barnum. He\u2019s got this all working exactly the way he wants. <\/p>\n

I mean, the NFL, stop and think about it. Here we\u2019ve got, for NFL fans, this is the absolute best weekend of the season. You\u2019ve got the divisional championship games or the playoff games here. And you know what\u2019s interesting about this about this? This from an inside baseball media standpoint. Arguably the best games on Saturday and Sunday are the early games, not in prime time. The early game Saturday is the Patriots and Ravens. You\u2019d think normally that would be the night game on Saturday. But geography is the problem. You got two teams that play in the Pacific time zone. That presents a problem. <\/line><\/p>\n

So on Saturday night, prime time, the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers. It\u2019s a big weekend. And on Sunday the Cowboys are not in the late game? The Cowboys are at high noon Central time, one o\u2019clock? One o\u2019clock is Purgatory in the NFL. When they schedule you at one o\u2019clock, it means your game doesn\u2019t matter during the regular season. Well, not that, but you fans know what I mean. And yet here we go, one o\u2019clock Eastern time, it\u2019s the Cowboys and the Packers. And the late game is — and the NFL thinks this is the big attraction of the weekend. Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, the Broncos and the Colts, as Phil Simms says. <\/p>\n

So it\u2019s weird scheduling. But this is the nirvana weekend, four games. No wild card games. These are actual playoff games. And what\u2019s everybody talking about in the NFL? What they\u2019re talking about is Chris Christie in Jerry Jones box and the officiating in the Dallas-Detroit game. Those are the two primary topics in social media in the NFL. Not these upcoming games, but Chris Christie and his side man hugs in the box with Jerry Jones and the officiating in that game. And people are saying the NFL\u2019s missing it, this is bad marketing, that game\u2019s in past now. You don\u2019t want Chris Christie was in the box being the subject, you don\u2019t want the officiating. You want the games coming up to be the focal point. And they\u2019re not. <\/p>\n

They will be. They will be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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