Murphy’s ‘mad as heck’ doesn’t sound Jersey

In reacting to JCP&L customers' anger against the utility Phil Murphy said something that makes you wonder if he knows what state he's in. "People are mad as heck and I don't blame them." He had been visiting with utility workers and made sure to praise them for the hard job they're doing. That's the right thing to do. Problems with JCP&L go up to the top and blame shouldn't be placed on the working man. He promised, "We're going to do a post-mortem on this, I guarantee you that."

You know when Murphy says he's "mad as heck" that something will be done! I mean that sort of emotional profanity doesn't just come pouring from a person who's not feeling people's pain deep in his gut! (Insert sarcastic eye roll here.)

Look, I know this is just semantics. But his choice of the word heck over hell reminds me this is a guy who seems too concerned with wanting to please everybody. During the campaign he promised so many things to so many people with no plan of how to pay for any of it. It's typical of a politician who wants to be loved not feared. That's okay as long as you can actually get the job done and deliver. Time will tell.

Yes, it seems like such a small thing. Heck vs. hell. But I almost expected him to say people are "mad as h - e - double hockey stick." When there are customers who went so many days with power, which for many meant without heat and without water, I think more raw emotion would have been useful. We have been through this dance with JCP&L for years, through Irene and Snowtober and Sandy. By now I think some forceful profanity might indicate you truly understand what folks are enduring.

Is it just that I got so used to Christie's brash style? Maybe it's hard going back to watching a G movie after you've seen so many Rs. Yet when Christie said, "Get...the hell...off...the beach!", you knew he meant it. When he 'went off' on a person or an issue, right or wrong you believed HE believed in what he was saying. That's what I feel was missing here.

Speaking of Christie's style, one of his former Ask The Governor appearances (Nov. of 2016) featured so much passion and name calling that a full one minute montage was made out of it. Here's a look at a former governor who embraced the passion of his convictions.