When you Liberals can produce a real leader for Governor,not Corzine, Codey Florio or Mc Greevey ,then the people will vote him out. Given the history of this State, I don't see that happening soon. Until then, we have a good leader,Chris Christie

Governor Corey Booker in 2014!

I met Mayor Booker last year at an M.C. Dem bash. Listening to him speak, I heard a man with presence, poise, and vision who seems as comfortable with suburban issues as he is with urban ones. I think he will make an excellent Governor and hopefully be able to restore the lost dignity back to the office.

Pleeeeease.....Newark is like a war zone. After Obama I think the good people of NJ will not have enough money to even think about electing Booker.

Search for open shelters by texting: SHELTER and a Zip Code to 43362 (4FEMA). Ex: Shelter 01234

Note that since Romney has pledged to shut down FEMA this service (and lots of others) may disappear in the near future.

Straight from NJ Office of Emergency Planning:
If you do not drive, or do not have access to a car , buses or other forms of transit will be made available to you.

Call your County Office of Emergency Management or local Police Department today, and ask for details on the evacuation plans for transit-dependent individuals.

Information is there, you just have to look.

Steve,
If you wait for the governor or mayor to knock on your door and tell you exactly what to do, then you will be waiting for a while.

Be a smart and responsible person and look for a shelter yourself. You obviously have access to the internet and this site. Put on your big-boy pants and use your brain.

Mikey,
Romney has NOT pledged to shut down FEMA, you tool. Gotta throw your political bias into someone's request for help? Scare them a little? Grow up.

L.Mc,
Thanks for your assistance!!

... by campaigning out of state.

Christie cancelled his trip to oversee the storm response but I am sure you never bothered to verify where he was or what he was doing before making this statement. And I am sure you don't mind that our President has spent the last 2 years in non-stop campaign mode and has events planned all week despite 50 million people being in the path of a major hurricane b/c your roll like that.

Good thing he came back, last minute, just before the storm hit.

Ojo- Why bother with this person? Christie came back to deal with the Hurricane. He was clearly briefed in advance as he came back with a plan in place. But why let facts get in the way, right RM? It's just easier to pick pick pick. I hope you lose the ability to post to this site for the duration.

Lucky thing he could fit it into his busy schedule.

I dunno, Ridgewood Mom...I usually agree with you about Christie and his bullying ways, and I don't like him as a man or as a governor...but in this case I think his "regular guy schtick" and blunt manner works. Too many people seem to think that because Irene wasn't as bad as they expected, that there can never, ever, ever be a bad storm that might affect them. Those in high-risk areas who decide to stay will be the first ones complaining when it is too late and rescuers cannot get to them.

Anyone still on the beach or a barrier island during this storm is being stupid. But if you want the man to be nice to people who are being insanely stupid, how about you suggest he call them mentally deficient or intellectually incapable of comprehending the foolishness of their actions?

Wait, that just won't work b/c they are probably too stupid to understand a long winded and politically correct way of calling them stupid. Best to just follow the KISS principle and bluntly tell them to get the hell out of doge.

There are people who have actually stayed on LBI. That whole island is probably going to be under water by tonight's high tide.

I am far from his biggest fan but I totally agree with him on this one. While I understand people's reluctance to leave their homes and their things behind it is for their own safety. If you don't leave when you are advised to you ARE stupid. Not only that, you are extremely SELFISH. When you stay behind against advisement and have to be rescued you put the First Responders in danger. Jersey Steve- As far as not being able to evacuate now because of public transportation being shut down perhaps the wise thing to do would have been to leave when it was first suggested.

Mom, he did not call anyone stupid. He told people NOT to be stupid. He told them what the "smart" action was to take. He's doing a lot more than Nagin and Blanco did in 2005 in NOLA.

He's not calling everyone stupid, just the stupid ones (you know who you are)

I agree with the consensus. It IS stupid to stay. I've spent the better part of my morning trying to convince a friend to evacuate her home. I had to stop b/c the water has now ended up on her front lawn. She's convinced her backup power generator will save her. Sigh.

That generator is going to work great when it is underwater at high tide tonight.

They chose not to leave? There was no transportation! Don't you remember, or do you choose to forget? Not everyone has a car. They were left behind by our society and government.

No, Mikey, they were not left behind by OUR society. They were left behing by NAGIN and his administration.

Remember all of the school buses in the flooded parking lots? He did not mandate an evaculation, his admin was fumbling around, they told people to go to "shelters" that were not set up or stocked to be shelters (superdome), etc.

Local government failed NO residents....and they re-elected the fools who failed them.

What are you rambling about, Sal?? You seem to have no idea whatsoever how state and local governments work, the soverienty of states, or local emergency response protocols.
Fed agencies are there to assist and back up states and localities, not to take charge at the first hint of trouble.

Yeah, let's keep the comments to this article on topic. This article is about Hurricane Sandy, Governor Christie and how he thinks New Jersey residents are stupid.

The only stupid person I see is the one who is too stupid to accurately characterize what Christie said. That would be you Ridgewood Troll.

It seems both Chris Christie and our friend Ojo Rojo disagree with tryintosurvive's proposition of avoiding insults. Let's just hope the governors callous attitude does not effect the way he handles things, adding injury to the insult.

RM- tryintosurvive is asking you not to politicize this thread with your opinions on Christie. Based on the other posts in this thread, the fact that you can't see that astounds many.

Funny but not. I just saw a picture of LBI and the main drag is under water.

Really?! I looking up, I see no insults at all made by me toward anyone. I see quite a few directed toward me.

tryagain,
Those are not insults.

If she really believes these aren't insults, one can only imagine how charming RM's children must be. . .Wow.

Referring to my comments as things that I "spew" is an insult.

People are entitled to disagree about things, and to state what and why. But there is a huge difference between attacking the positions of someone you disagree with and attack the person that you disagree with. I recommend you read this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Yes RM, your attacks against Chris Christie, for the most part, are ad hominem. Good call.

Let me repeat those strong points of criticism that were in no way legitimate to be interpreted as insults:

1. Governor Christie neglected his responsibilities in preparing adequately for Hurricane Sandy because he was too busy spending his time before the storm campaigning out of state. He only returned last minute, and should have been here much sooner. The situation was clearly not a priority for him.

2. Governor Christie further insulted residents of New Jersey by calling them stupid. In doing so he suggested that a lack of preparedness was the fault of the victim.

3. We can only hope that the governors callous attitude does not effect the way he handles things in the hours ahead and after the storm.

Oh Ridgewood Mom, can't you see this is championing calling people stupid, there is no room for insults here!

XJS,
Criticizing someone's children as a personal jab, when they have nothing at all to do with the discussion, is a perfect example of as hominem. So is calling people "stupid."

I live in Hoboken, drove to and from work today and evacuated my car to high ground around lunch time to well above sea level parking garage in JC. I have seen absolutely no signs that any of the communities I went through were unprepared for today's storm and I reject completely your notion that Christie or the rest of the state were unprepared for today's storm. Plenty of people might be unprepared, but the government seems to have done all it could do ahead of time for the storm.

RM- those are a little more thought out. So here's my response:

1. What has been said/done that indicates to you that Christie wasn't prepared? If anything, I think he and Cuomo were very prepared while Bloomberg was lackadaisical.

2. Do you believe it's smart, or even OK, to not heed the warnings of "You may die" and stay on the beach? Or, would you say that it's "BEING STUPID" to ignore the warnings, not take the public transit options when available (or drive out yesterday)? I would say that it's decidedly not smart to "stick it out" after being told that it's going to be bad and you may die. I heard Christie say that twice yesterday during his 2pm (ish) press conference.

3. What's callous about warning people to leave? Giving them directions as to how to do so? Shutting down entire resort towns & the casinos to ensure no one stays behind? Calling a state of emergency so that federal aid can come back to the state & keeping us informed as the situation deteriorates?

Serious Questions: What more do you want the governor to do? Is there another politician doing more? At what point does personal responsibility become the issue? Do you think the gov't needs to act like our parents?

He only had one seat?

I don't hate the governor Alice. I just see that he is not doing a very good job.

Mostly liberals, making the government "work for them". "I'll leave when I am damn good and ready". Pick up my Obama phone, snap my fingers and call for my ride. "What took you so long?" Sorry couldn't resist. I have to say RM is getting pretty annoying.