The Henry II defense

Many of you may have heard of the current woes of New Jersey’s governor. He is mired in a political scandal that has been called---naturally—Bridgegate. His deputy chief of staff arranged for the closure of all but one lane of the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, thus creating horrific traffic chaos, greatly inconveniencing thousands, damaging local businesses, and even endangering the public by slowing down first responders; one woman died waiting for an ambulance, although it has not been established that the delay was the direct cause of her death. The apparent motivation for this sabotage was political payback—to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, supposedly because he’d not endorsed Christie for re-election. Christie fired the aide and swears he had no knowledge of any of this. Barring the discovery of a smoking gun, I’m inclined to accept his denial. Whatever his other failings, no one has ever called him stupid and this was an incredibly stupid thing to do. But there is no doubt that Christie’s presidential hopes have been damaged by this, with his rivals—both Republican and Democrat—gleefully anticipating political commercials about Bridgegate. Comedians are having a field day, too. All of this exposition is to explain the following joke, sent to me by a friend, which I absolutely had to share. As soon as you read it, you’ll understand why:

Is there such a thing as a Henry II defense? “I didn’t mean they should actually rid me of this meddlesome mayor!”