world's biggest

Rupert Murdoch, owner of the world's most-watched news network as well as the world's biggest asshole (sorry, Rush) has given Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey an ultimatum, declaring in a tweet that Christie "must re-declare for Romney or take blame for the next four dire years."

It's not that Christie has been saying bad things about the Mittster, but that he's been praising Obama, having worked with him on disaster relief since Hurricane Sandy hit. In the eyes of ideologically pure Republicans like Murdoch, he has been insufficiently critical of Obama, insufficiently enthusiastic about the Romneybot's chances, and insufficiently orthodox.

To bolster the impact of his tweet, Murdoch also had one of his newspapers, the New York Post, run a Sunday editorial which concluded that Christie needs to immediately make vigorous demonstrations of "his belief that the incumbent's vigorous response to the disaster would have been more than matched by Mitt Romney had he been president," in order to "reassure his party -- and not just his party -- that he hasn't turned coat."

Shorter Rupert Murdoch: Believe what I tell you to believe, and say what I tell you to or you'll be put off the reservation.

It's a dramatic turn of events, considering that Christie has of late been one of his party's rising stars, and delivered the keynote speech at their convention.

I've never been a big Christie fan, but the Murdoch tweet appeared three days ago and as far as I know Christie has not yet responded, to his credit. Possibly he's as flabbergasted as I am by the galloping megalomania and hubris of this sclerotic has-been.