Governor Murphy laid into Senator-elect Edward Durr on Friday, Save Jerseyans, telling reporters that the Gloucester County truck driver who vanquished Steve Sweeney is a “dangerous guy.” It doesn’t matter if you think Durr’s comments regarding Islam were stupid and offensive (he’s since apologized). Calling Durr “dangerous” is awfully rich coming from a man who killed 8,000+ nursing home patients but, hey, there you have it.
In any event, Murphy also told reporters that he believe Sweeney, the outgoing Democrat Senate President, deserve to have every vote counted before he concedes.
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“I’m very bummed and he deserves the space he needs to count every voter and I have my fingers crossed,” Murphy said. “And if it comes out the wrong way I bemoan it.”
Reasonable? Maybe, though Sweeney’s path is arguably narrower than Ciattarelli’s at this hour.
But Murphy and his team are playing both sides of this one. All while he’s feigning support for Sweeney’s long-count, Phil Murphy’s allies in the media are accusing New Jersey Republicans (and this website) of advancing a version of the “big lie.” In fact, Governor Murphy’s own comms guy is echoing this line of attack on social media:
“In New Jersey, Ciattarelli refused to concede, and staff called media outlets ‘irresponsible’ for projecting that his opponent won. He issued a video appeal Thursday evening for people to come forward with allegations of fraud.” https://t.co/QVGOOWEkeX via @Milbank
— Mahen Gunaratna (@GunaRockYa) November 5, 2021
There’s a reason why Murphy is relying on surrogates to carry his water at the moment. It’s all bullshit. No Republican leader in this state is asking for anything other than what Sweeney wants.
Doublespeak may be the only thing this administration does well.
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