Favorite tough dog Chris Christie was in West Palm Beach yesterday to stump for Mitt Romney and attend a fundraiser. He was asked about Newt Gingrich’s rise in the polls; as usual, Christie didn’t pull any punches…
Christie: Gingrich Has Never Run Anything
December1, 2011
With Newt Gingrich’s popularity growing in Florida, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came to South Florida today to campaign for Mitt Romney and dismissed the former House speaker as the “newest flavor of the two weeks.” Speaking to FLDemocracy after headlining a fundraiser for Romney in West Palm Beach, Christie hit into Gingrich’s experience, noting that, unlike Romney, “Gingrich has never run anything.”
Asked to compare his candidate and Gingrich, Christie noted that Romney has “executive” experience. “Speaker Gingrich has never run anything. And he’s been a legislator. I have to tell you– I don’t think being a legislator is the best calling card. Look at the guy we have in the White House now: he never ran anything and was a legislator.”
Christie seemed unconcerned about new polling in the state showing Gingrich with a considerable lead. “These Gingrich poll numbers are as solid as the Cain numbers were, as solid as the Perry numbers were, as solid as the Bachmann numbers were.”
Notoriously blunt and unscripted with media, Christie is the very antithesis of the highly polished, on-message Romney. Still, he said the two are developing a close relationship and they exchanged e-mails last night. He said he gives Romney advice when he can.
Christie, who endorsed Romney in October after declining to seek the nomination himself, said he couldn’t imagine being tapped to be VP, saying his “personality doesn’t ooze number two.” However, Christie also didn’t shut the door on the idea of joining the ticket. “If it is offered, I’d make the decision I thought was best for me and my family and the country,” he said before adding: “I can not imagine it happening. I think someone else will be running with Governor Romney. Not me.”
(emphasis added )
Love ya, Governor Christie!
Romney was also campaigning in Florida on Mon/Tue of this week. Click below the fold to view grassroots video of one of his speeches.
► Jayde Wyatt
Christie is dead right. Gingrich is a great idea guy, but as a manager, he leaves much to be desired. Just witness how he managed the House as Speaker and his campaign earlier this year.
That said, I’m really worried that Mitt is allowing himself to be marginalized simply because he is not willing to talk to the press and defend himself. He has allowed himself to be cast as a flip-flopper, and doesn’t seem to recognize how deadly that is to his campaign.
Every ad that is produced that describes how he flipped or flopped must be countered immediately; if not the assumption by the public is the ad is true. Clinton demonstrated how effective this strategy was in 1992. The press and his opponents are picking up non-contradictory snippets of his that when explained are perfectly logical, but unless explained seem to be contradictory. If he doesn’t defend himself, he will lose. It is not enough to ask everyone in the nation to look at his book, that simply isn’t going to happen.
While it is true that if he is defending himself he doesn’t get to emphasize his strengths, it is also true that nobody will change their vote in favor of him if they perceive he will not stand for what he believes in.
Mitt, I’m afraid that “they” are going to cheat you out of your turn, like they did with John McCain back in 1999-2000 when the party decided on Bush when it was John McCain’s turn. How much better would things have been if we had not had GWB as president? I remember the “party” would not let Kansas have a primary that year because the state was polling better for McCain than for Bush. Is the “fix” in for Newt? Are your efforts going to turn out to have been wasted? Newt cannot win the presidency – unless the election is stolen – as it was in Ohio and in Florida for Bush. Newt has absolutely no character and would be a disaster. Mitt, you’ve got to develop a tougher skin, RE: your interview with Brett Baier.
The reminder message needs to be spread far and wide that Newt Gingrich was ousted form Congress BY HIS OWN PARTY – that should certainly raise doubts in the minds of voters looking for a candidate they can trust. His second wife, MArianne, coul dalso provide a lot of insight into his arrogant and self serving personality. Such emotional instability is dangerous in the Oval Office.
Narcissistic behavior in Gingrich. “A narcissistic personality is characterized as grandiosity behavior, exploitation of others, self-centered attitude and an inability to feel empathy. Men make up 75 percent of the population of narcissistic individuals.”
1) “I’m going to be the nominee.” 2) Dump wives #1 and #2 not to mention the financial situation w/#1. Throw in lobbying for things that line HIS pocket and WE are exploited by him, too. 3) “I’m going to be the nominee”….(can’t get to any better, recent ones he’s said) 4) ie……see dumping wives #1 and #2 as well as custodians that need to be fired as well as the kids that need to work.
(someone can do a better job with this than that quick thing…….but you get the idea!)
There are very few debates left prior to the Iowa caucus. The CNN debate was clearly biased as Mitt was not given equal time to respond. The CNN panel even said that Newt was the clear winner and said Romney appeared to have faded in this debate and Gergen said ‘not enough air time’. It appeared to me that CNN had a strategy to take him out of the debate. When you’ve been a frontrunner all the way through the campaign and to be given as little air time as he got in that debate I thought was ridiculous. I read one editorial the next day which stated that was just fine with Mitt because he didn’t want to say anymore than he had to. I do not believe that to be true. With the short amount of time that he had, Mitt clearly won the debate, but I do hope in the future debates that somehow the networks will not be allowed to conduct a debate that was so clearly biased and in favor of Newt. It was certainly not fair and as a viewer I was very disappointed.