Jon Corzine leaves hospital, promises to ‘set right kind of example’ – then doesn’t

Remember the car accident NJ Governor Jon Corzine was in a few weeks ago, which lead to him being in stable but critical condition for most of his time in the hospital – the one where the big factor that led to the accident was that his vehicle was going 26 MPH over the speed limit?

Well, he was released from the hospital today, and here’s what he had to say (emphasis added):

FLORENCE, N.J., April 30 β€” Gov. Jon S. Corzine apologized to New Jersey residents Monday as he left the hospital 18 days after a devastating car crash in which he was not wearing a seat belt and was riding in a car traveling at more than 91 miles an hour on the Garden State Parkway.

“I set a very bad example” said a contrite Mr. Corzine, who broke his left femur and 11 ribs in the accident, speaking from a wheelchair just outside Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J.

His voice breaking with emotion, he added: “I hope the state will forgive me. I will work very hard to set the right kind of example.”

So that would make you think that he’d take special care in the future to obey the laws pertaining to speeding, right? Wrong:

No one in the motorcade used emergency lights, as his driver had been doing at the time of the accident. They kept to a pace of about 70 miles per hour, even though the posted limit is 55 on the stretch of Interstate 295 that leads to Drumthwacket, the governor’s official mansion in Princeton, where Mr. Corzine will spend the next stage of his recovery.

I’ll be the first to say that on Interstates where the speed limit is 55, you almost have to go 70 just to keep up with traffic (at least that’s how it is on I-85 and I-77 here), but you don’t freaking do it just minutes after you held a press conference telling people you’re going to work to ‘set a better example’, implying you’re not going to do the things you did that helped cause your accident!

Oh, and no, Gov. Corzine, you haven’t set any example, unless you’re talking about the “Business As Usual” example.

Like so many other politicians, he talks out of both sides of his mouth, but this is probably the fastest (no pun intended) flip flop I’ve ever seen.


“Do as I say, not as I do …”
Photo courtesy: Richard Perry/The New York Times

Update/Related: South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson was also discharged from the hospital today, after suffering a brain hemorrhage that kept him there for four and a half months. He’s still got a lot of physical therapy ahead of him but it looks like he’s recovering well.

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