This one is funny on multiple levels, Save Jerseyans.
The notoriously thin-skinned Murphy Administration isn’t happy with a new New York Times story published Thursday entitled “In Democratic Bastion, Liberal Rhetoric Is Out. ‘Affordability’ Is In.”
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Tracey Tully’s premise tells you everything that you need to know about the modern Leftist establishment: because Murphy talked about “affordability” a lot in Tuesday’s budget address, he’s suddenly not the devoted progressive he was in term #1…
“For much of his first term, Mr. Murphy governed as a steadfast liberal eager to talk about his successful efforts to protect abortion rights, legalize marijuana and enact stricter gun control laws.
But on Tuesday, in his first budget address since winning re-election by just three percentage points in a state where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, Mr. Murphy offered a radically tempered message.
The sweeping liberal rhetoric that defined his first budget address in 2018 was replaced by a recalibrated definition of progress and a promise to make New Jersey — where the cost of living is among the highest in the nation — a more affordable place to live.”
I’m going to place myself in the unusual position of Murphy DEFENDER on this one, folks.
His FY2023 budget doesn’t cut spending, in fact raises it by $2.5 billion, spends millions on health care for illegal aliens and earmarks $250 “property tax rebate” checks for 600,000… renters? And that’s just the headlines.
That’s an objectively far-Left budget by any objective measure! It’s apparently not enough for the Left, and the article quotes one activist derisively concluding that the budget is a “pivot” in the face of inflation, war, and shifting moods.
The article (and the pivot line in particular) set off recently-former Murphy Chief of Staff Daniel Bryan, resulting in a late night rant on Twitter:
.@GovMurphy delivered three major speeches so far this year. Climate change was stressed in two of the three. Any idea that he's "pivoting" off of it is nonsense.
— Daniel Bryan (@danieljohnbryan) March 11, 2022
Also, not to get too crazy with this, but he's been talking about affordability for quite a while! "Affordable" and "affordability" were mentioned *fifteen times* in his 2019 budget address (for FY2020).
— Daniel Bryan (@danieljohnbryan) March 11, 2022
Like I said… thin-skinned.
But there’s another angle: Bryan left the Murphy Administration last month to head up not one but TWO Tammy Murphy-led led political organizations. It’s widely suspected that Murphy (who will serve as DGA Chairman in 2023 for the second time) wants to keep his options open for national office.
Having the NYT accuse you of being an insufficiently hardcore Leftist isn’t a good look for an aspiring Democrat national primary candidate even at a time when Republicans appear to be on the upswing.
