"Politics Ain't Beanbag," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced on Jan. 9 after it became clear that a member of his senior staff had helped arrange a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, apparently to punish a political foe. Then he made another claim: "I am not a bully."
For Christie, there is a vast difference between the two approaches. Causing a traffic jam to inflict political pain falls into the latter category, he says, the one he condemns. He has fired his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and cut ties to his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien,...