Bridget Anne Kelly has been completely silent since the Bridgegate cracked open, but she is silent no more. Speaking through her attorney, she lashed out at Christie for his nasty, backhanded report insinuating that she was responsible for the entire scandal because she was a woman scorned or something.

NJ.com:

Calling the report “a preemptive strike” meant to “isolate Ms. Kelly and impugn her credibility,” Critchley said, “Ms. Kelly is not a liar. She is a single mother of four children who was deeply devoted and committed to her job at the Office of the Governor. She worked tirelessly to pursue the goals of the Office during her tenure.”

I'm not ready to nominate her for sainthood, but Christie's decision to shovel all of this on her is absurd, unbelievable, and monumentally stupid. It is all of that, and also a strategic decision intended to discredit her before she offers her testimony in the case, which could possibly be devastating to Chris Christie.

“Ms. Kelly's evidence could be critical to verifying either of the two competing versions of events,” he said, adding, “A preemptive strike to isolate Ms. Kelly and impugn her credibility is not surprising,”

Even after all of this, Beltway pundits like Mark Halperin (cough!) predict that Chris Christie is still Republicans' best and greatest hope to win the GOP nomination and White House in 2016. How pathetic is that?

I hope Ms. Kelly unloads her side of the story and has backup to prove it. There's only one reason Chris Christie didn't talk to her personally before firing her: He didn't want to have any contact that he would have to testify to under oath later.