Republican operatives think the clock is ticking for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to alleviate the political damage from the George Washington Bridge Scandal.
The conservative National Review rounded up several GOP strategists on Wednesday to glean some crisis management tips for Christie.
Suffice to say, they don’t think Christie’s statement will cut it. And he’s running out of time to stop the bleeding.
Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary under George W. Bush, thinks Christie needs to get on camera – and fast.
“He should get out on TV, and he should do it today,” Fleischer said.
Of course, Fleischer also mocked the media’s treatment of the scandal.
“Judging from MSM reaction, what Christie’s aides did is worse than Benghazi and the IRS combined,” Fleischer wrote on Twitter.
Kevin Sheridan, who ran communications for Paul Ryan during the 2012 campaign, told the National Review that avoiding the public eye will only exacerbate matters for Christie.
“This next 24 hours is going to be really tricky for him,” Sheridan says. “It doesn’t help that he’s got the New York media spotlight on him. He needs to get out as much as possible and he needs to get it out now.”
TPM and other media outlets obtained documents Wednesday that showed one of Christie’s closest aides discussing lane closures on the bridge last year.
The revelation prompted Christie to go into hiding, canceling his only public event for Wednesday. He finally acknowledged the scandal with a statement in which he claimed to have been “misled” by a member of his staff.
