New Republic: N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's career "built on a rotten foundation"

"Chris Christie's Entire Career Reeks: It's not just the bridge."

That's the title of a new cover story in a new issue of the New Republic, which suggests Bridgegate is just the tip of the iceberg and Christie's entire career "reeks."

"What Bridgegate has laid bare is the skill and audacity with which Christie constructed his public image. “It’s almost like people were in a trance,” Buono told me. Christie may have been misunderstood for so long because his transactionalism diverted from the standard New Jersey model. He wasn’t out to line his own pockets, or build a business empire. He wasn’t even seeking to advance a partisan agenda. And yet it was transactionalism all the same. Christie used a corrupt system to expand his own power and burnish his own image, and he did it so artfully that he nearly came within striking distance of the White House. When he got cozy with Democratic bosses, people only saw a man willing to work across the aisle. When he bullied his opponents, they only saw a truth-teller. It was one of the most effective optical illusions in American politics—until it wasn’t."

The author of the article, Alec MacGillis, is OutFront with CNN contributor Reihan Salam.