With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, it's important to solemnly remember the things that really matter: the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, the way New Yorkers came together to get through the ordeal, and, most of all, the poor politicians who've been tragically denied a speaking role at this year's memorial service. Governor Chis Christie never forgets—according to an unsourced report in the NY Post, the distinguished-looking gentleman from the Garden State is fuming about Mayor Bloomberg's 9/11 Day guest speaker list.
Unidentified sources tell the Post that Christie privately "lambasted" Bloomberg as "Napoleon," "a dictator" and "a putz" after learning that ex-Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco wasn't invited to speak at the ceremony. DiFrancesco, who was governor of New Jersey at the time of the attack, told the Post he saw it as "just an oversight. Am I disappointed? Yeah. But on the other hand, I'm a big boy."
Christie, it seems, isn't such a big boy, and reportedly "went ballistic" after finding out which officials will read poetry selections at the event, which has always been carefully choreographed by Bloomberg. This year, however, the memorial service will take place not on city property, but at the site owned by the Port Authority, which is controlled by Christie and Governor Cuomo. Because of the new location, one Christie aide says Bloomberg "is not the dictator anymore."
After the Christie camp's bitching about the guest list, DiFrancesco was thrown a bone and he'll get to read a poem, too. But it's still unclear what poem he'll be assigned, so expect another round of whining when it's revealed that he gets stuck reading the limerick about how "There once was a man from Al Qaeda." There's also speculation that Cuomo is pressing Bloomberg to let him give his own speech instead of reading boring old poetry like everyone else. At press time, sources said a compromise was being hammered out whereby Cuomo would be allowed to give his speech as long as he wrote it in iambic pentameter.
