NJ Gov Chris Christie's foul-tempered, foul-mouthed ways show disrespect
Published: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 6:39 AM
Times of Trenton guest opinion column
By Thomas P. Ryan
... Recently, Democrats approved a budget using the governors own revenue estimates and allowing for a tax cut only if he was able to produce the revenue he had projected. The governor was having none of this accountability talk applied to him. He called the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), an arrogant SOB. The Democrats use his projections for growth, which are the most optimistic of any state, and he thinks a Democratic leader is arrogant. And in a fit of pique, when a reporter asked him about the special legislative session the governor himself had called with only 48 hours notice, he berated the reporter for asking an off-topic question and referred to him as an idiot.
In February, Gov. Christie had an exchange with Washington Post reporter Jonathan Capehart about same-sex marriage. When Capehart challenged Christies assertion that his position was the same as that of President Obama, Christie shot back: I used to be a prosecutor. Im not going to be cross-examined by you this morning. Christies own words seem unambiguous: He doesnt have to answer questions challenging his statements. Arrogance?
In June 2011, a woman called in to a television program on which Gov. Christie was taking calls. She asked: You dont send your children to public schools. You send them to private schools, so I was wondering why you think its fair to be cutting funding to public schools. He responded: You know what, first of all, its none of your business. I dont ask you where you send your kids to school. Dont bother me where I send mine. The exchange was typical Christie: Before he gives his answer, he attacks a citizen for having the audacity to question his policies. In this case, it should be noted that the caller had simply stated a fact and wanted to ask the governor if he thought that it was fair that public school funding should be cut. Only a few days before the phone call, it had become common knowledge where Christies son attended school when the governor used a brand-new state helicopter to take him to a high school baseball game in which his son was playing ...
When this governor doesnt like what someone says to him or he doesnt get his way, he is in a foul and foul-mouthed mood. It is time his outbursts be called what they are: temper tantrums from a 49-year-old man who alternates among bullying, ranting and insulting elected officials and everyday citizens. Maybe the governor believes he is entitled to his own set of personal behaviors, however disrespectful of others, but he should spare us his crudeness.
http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2012/07/opinion_nj_gov_chris_christies_2.html
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)the other other white meat.
Patiod
(11,816 posts)From the New York Times
While his supporters have celebrated his attacks on Democrats, Mr. Christie has drawn criticism for going after average citizens with the same gusto. TMZ.com this month posted a video that captured him taunting a man who had apparently criticized the governors battles with teachers one evening on the Jersey Shore.
As the man walked away, Mr. Christie, who was eating an ice cream cone, followed him, repeatedly hollering, Youre a real big shot and Keep walking, until another man put an arm around the governor and led him away.
A Quinnipiac poll released on Tuesday showed the percentage of voters calling him more of a leader than a bully dropping to 50 percent from 54 percent in April, while the percentage of those calling him more of a bully than a leader rose to 45 percent from 39 percent.
NJCher
(35,713 posts)He is supposed to be a model of how to engage in public discourse, yet his behaviors show him to be ignorant of how to do so.
Cher
noel711
(2,185 posts)Yeah!
He'll bring some spark and sizzle to the boring RMoney campaign!
Christie is irresistable!
The press follow him around, hoping to record his bon mots..
Fantastic choice!
Civility is back in politics!
(snark alert!0
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Get a chance to get rid of Christie? If he doesn't keel over from a heart attack or stroke first, that is.