'And in conclusion, screw you. Yeah, you.'
I don't know who wants New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to run for president more, Chris Christie or
the media that covers him.
With this shortest month barely half over, Chris Christie has never looked less like a top-tier presidential candidate than he does now.
Yet there was no sign of weakness as he took to the stage in Concord on Monday and threw red meat to 250 people he hopes will vote for him 11 months from now, when New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation presidential primary on January 16, 2016.
No sign of weakness! We shall press forward! All that stuff that keeps happening is somebody else's fault! If there's not a crystal chandelier here in three minutes flat you can damn well get someone else to give this speech!
[Christie] promised New Hampshire voters that he wouldn’t let a run for president change his style.
Rather than distance himself from those comments—or highlight a new, more tempered tone—Christie embraced them in his New Hampshire speech, even telling attendees to “go on the Internet and look at some of my more interesting interactions with my constituents back in New Jersey.”
That may be the first time any politician has ever told a crowd to go Google his name on the internet.
Really, though, the sheer force it takes to prop Chris Christie up as a viable candidate must get exhausting for all concerned. When was the last time he had a good month? When was the last time he made the news for saying something that wasn't either overly belligerent or otherwise embarrassing? What's his selling point for an actual presidential run, other than "I am frequently a complete jerk toward my own constituents and others for no particular reason?"