• by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, March 2, 2016

Nearly daily, we read stories about terribly hurtful video or still images uploaded to the Internet that capture nasty things like vicious fistfights, bad accidents or videos that are racist, homophobic, xenophobic, or horribly destructive, like revenge porn.

It’s one of the ugliest things about the streaming business. Nothing stays private or civil.

I was thinking about that today because of the many, many tweets and Vines that are hilariously hammering Gov. Chris Christie for his appearance on the Super Tuesday stage behind Donald Trump.  

He just sort of stood there and stared. He had a range of bewildering, but hilarious, expressions.

Said MSNBC, “His apparently troubled, some would say ‘glazed’ expression,' led some social media users to create the hashtag #FreeChristie, which quickly began trending. With that, a new 2016 campaign meme was born.”

On Twitter, New York Times TV critic, Jamie Poniewozik wrote, “Chris Christie becomes Donald Trump’s Smithers,” a reference to the obsequious water-carrier from “The Simpsons.” One Twitter user, noting amply-fed Christie’’s mesmerized look, super-imposed a juicy hamburger on the back of Trump’s head.

USA Today found Republican Rep. Justin Amash’s tweet that said his expression looked like "Chris Christie just gave what looked like a coerced confession."

The avalanche of schadenfreude special deliveries happen easily because Christie is such an egotistical politician, and because he looked so goofy. He craves the media spotlight and last night, he looked like the deer in headlights of the camera’s glare he so eagerly seeks.

I will admit I have no use for Christie, so I laughed freely.  

By 10 o’clock last night, I’m sure Christie’s handlers must have known the simple act of standing behind Donald Trump has a chance of becoming the most lasting image of Christie’s campaign and his Trump endorsement.

It all happens so quickly.

Take Michael Dukakis.

In 1988, when he ran against George Bush, his handlers staged footage of him riding around in an Army tank wearing a helmet, trying to show off his commander-in-chief chops. Unfortunately, Dukakis is short and has a slight build, and as a History channel video pointed out, in that video, “he looked like Rocky the Flying Squirrel.” He looked particularly stupid in a helmet, so much so that the Dukakis ad spawned a kind of a rule for political candidates ever since: No goofy hats.  

But unlike the Christie event, after the Dukakis silliness, there were comparatively few rude references and the public really had no way to make widespread comment. According to an excellent Politico account of that media event, the next day, The New York Times wrote a snarky story with this lead: “Forget John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Forget Rambo. Meet Macho Mike Dukakis,” But it didn’t really comment on how ridiculous Dukakis looked.

Almost a week later, the influential columnists Evans and Novak said the Dukakis photo op evoked “howls of laughter” in the Bush camp. Dukakis, whose campaign had been trending downward, continued to, after the tank story.

But it wasn’t until more than a full month passed that the Bush campaign created the Dukakis ad that used the footage and gave it really wide, sarcastic exposure,  premiering it in an during the third game of the World Series. It highlighted the candidate’s supposedly weak stands on defense issue.  And it was a killer for the Dukakis campaign.

Yet, that played out rather leisurely by contemporary standards. There was no Twitter, YouTube, Vine or Facebook. There was, at best, just Johnny Carson and David Letterman. The Dukakis event became political lore, but in a fairly defined circle, and only after a while.

The Christie glaze reaction was quick and hilariously vicious. And probably, in a world of silly awkward moments now commented on instantly and in volume, it will likely be forgotten pretty quickly, too.

pj@mediapost.com