Yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press, outspoken New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sat down with David Gregory for a discussion about the economy, the national debt, his state's new pension plan and the Republican race for 2012 (which Gov. Christie repeatedly has said he will not enter).
Toward the end of their lengthy interview, Gregory asked Gov. Christie about his brash style that has occasionally created fireworks between the governor and his own constituents. Gregory pointed to the most recent example where Christie took a voter to task over her question about funding cuts to New Jersey's public schools.
And it is within Gov. Christie's answer to David Gregory's question that Lawrence found a perfect opportunity for a Rewrite. You can see just that portion of their exchange in the clip above (or see the whole interview here), and tune in to tonight's edition of The Last Word to find out what LO'D has to say.
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I don't understand the hype with this guy. He's rude and aggressive. Why do people think those are great qualities to represent them? Imagine this guy speaking to the UN or meeting heads of states.
Judging from some of the comments to Lawrence's SO, I am no longer surprised that we have some of the people in Congress that we have. Congratulations, Lawrence! I joined your SO for Christie in this instance.
I heartily disagree with most of Christie's policies and his brashness. I would not have voted for him; however, what is right is right. In this instance the man is right and good for him!
I grew up in the Tri-state area-we had a simple phrase for those arrogant bossy-know-it-alls from Jersey...Jersey Jerks! Gov. Christie is the epitome of those selfish-self absorbed crude corpulent demonizers. At least he's showing his true colors...all he needs is some bling and an Italian name. Maybe this will wake up some people and urge them into action!
lmao :) Hey now, I'm a Jersey girl born and raised.. If you took the worst examples from all the states I'm quite sure they all have their doozies in their very own unique ways lol ;) North Easterners can be "tough" ( I am myself) but there's miles of difference between tough and a**hole, and miles of difference between most Jersey-ins and Christie.. I mean come on now, barely half of us have helicopters to take us to baseball games lol ;)
While Christie is cutting wages, jobs and about anything else that helps middle class people.He doesnt look like he misses to many meals.They must serve more than peanuts on those helicopter flights.He's nothing but a big fat bully trying to intimidate people with his size.When he uses this strategy people need to stand thier ground. What's he going to do hit them?After the people of NJ kick him out of office he can go to work for Goodrich tire,they dont have a blimp.
Why didn't David Gregory make Christie answer the callers question? Her question wasn't why he sent his kids to private school. Her question was, why is he cutting public school funding.
Gregory is a wuss. I'm sorry he's hosting this show. O'Donnell will probably ask the right question and get an answer.
You are right. Christie dodged the question that the lady asked. Gregory blew it off. I gave up on Gregory when he started appearing on the ToDay show in the cooking and flowers segment. Kelly O' would be a much better host for Meet the Press.
And this is the state of Repubs - looking for a Ronald Reagan on steroids. Christie is just another Repub hater governor. He should be hired as the real-life Michelin man.
The question posed to Gov. Christie at a town meeting was poorly phrased, but it did not question his personal choice to send his children to a Catholic school, it questioned how he could justify cutting funds to pay for public schools. David Gregory missed this very point and let Gov. Christie skirt the issue. I hope you will make note of this.
exactly! Amazingly, no one except you has seen that this was not a question about parenting, it was a question about hypocrisy. Christie is just a big fat blow hard, who screams like a fat little baby when his sensibilities are bruised.
Oh, lord, yes! This has been driving me nuts -- Chris Matthews and others, as well as David Gregory, have let this guy get away with the oldest political trick in the book: answering the question you want to answer instead of the one that was asked.
<3 my news with some curses.. always complained that NBC didn't curse (always said hey it's cable), it's why i watch bill maher..
thx for the surprise!
Christie is such a pig. The woman questioning him did not even ask where his kids went to school. He did not listen as well and responding like a boor. I am astounded a professional politician would behave like a gangster on TV. He is revolting. Get rid of him.
Thank you for mentioning that he did not even listen to the woman's question. For me, that was the most rude part. She doesn't care what school his kids attend. She was asking about funding for public schools. He didn't even touch the question she asked. You describe him well!
I'm not astonished at him: he just answered the question he wanted to instead, an old political trick. I AM astonished, and kinda disgusted, that apparently all of American journalism fell for it
Christie is an utter sleasebag. Repeatedly he put words in other people's mouths they did not say. For example on Dick Gregory Meet the Press, he claimed the woman questioned his parenting skills. She did no such thing. She asked if it was fair to cut public school spending when Christie's kids don't use it. His method of defence is to lie about what he has just be accused of, then act indignant to be accused of something so ridiculous, hoping people will forget what he was actually accused of. He is as slipperly as a pig doused in peanut oil. He is a bully and a liar. Get rid of him. It is time to unmask this guy by showing how precisely his sleight of mouth works.
Are you kidding me? Don't tell me Joe and the Pig didn't work that question out ahead of time. That show should be called "Morning Joke" I can't stand either one of them. Pre-planned spin by a one-term Gov. trying to save his ass after a deplorable showing earlier.
The reason for questioning Chris Christie for being out of the state during a blizzard was because the Lt. Governor was also out of the state on vacation. Isn't that the point of having a Lt. Governor? Shouldn't one of them be in the state? He should not have approved her vacation if he was going to be away. And how about him him taking a helicopter to his son's game? Most parent's have conflicts now & then between our kid's activities & work. But not many of us have the option of hopping in a helicopter! Those of us in NJ have to struggle through traffic on congested roads. Oh yes, and he didn't really answer that woman's question on why he is cutting funding to our schools - he just attacked her verbally. Ah, life in Jersey!! Thanks for bringing Christie's activities and attitude to light.
The point of the woman who asked Christie about cutting funding for public schools was asking about CUTTING FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. That was not addressed by him in any of the subsequent interviews. Please Lawrence. Make that the focal point. HE NEVER ADDRESSED THE REAL QUESTION and it was a very relevant question weather Christie has kids, eats kids, or doesn't know what a kid is. Why does it ever make sense to a governor to cut education spending except to please, and give advantage to, all the wrong people?
Make the jerk answer the question!
You are so right. Christie completely dodged the question the lady was asking. No one, and I mean no one held him to that. Amazing.
Dear Lawrence,
Thank you so much for giving a voice to the voiceless woman, the nonentity with no program like the fellow Joe. Thank above all for being such a humble but very very humane and intellectual. Since you took over from the Countdown man, I like watch the sequence. I would you could come and talk to my students. I would the man who gave humanity to lost east African can talk to my students.
Best
Gilbert
Finally, Lawrence O'Donnell has seen through the lies that are a constant way of life here in New Jersey. Christie has done nothing in this state except turn people against each other with his constant berating of the public sector. These "angry" Republicans are the downfall of this country. Their hate is ruining our lives.
This show is so sad. Where are topics that really mater.
Lawrence, that was, as usual, another beautiful rewrite. No one makes a better or clearer argument. And because of that, I can't return to that "other" show that used to fill your time slot on MSNBC. I'm hopelessly yet thankfully hooked. Keep doing what you do so well.
I agree that Gov Christi use of the helicopter was in bad taste as I think the Obam's spending money on trips to Spain and now South Africa is also poor taste as people are suffering.
Some people seem to think the live in Versaille in France and you know how that ended.
Report the news fairly and give everyone a black eye, even Barry.
I'm a New Jersey resident (transplanted from Brooklyn NY) and was mortified by Christie's response to citizen Gail's request 'why did he, the govenor slash public school funding and sends his kids to private schools and was answered with 'it's none of your business'. Just another reason to be unhappy with the govdernor of my state. Bad enough he took away the seniors real estate tax rebate, which helped me with my bills during the summer real estt months, but he insulted us seniors by giving a piddling real estate tax reduction so he could grant those NJ residents making over $400,000 a nice tax cut. Oh, I forgot, after paying 2010 NJ income tax on my comfy annual income of less than $15,000, I was sent a bill from the NJ Taxation that I owed them $39.70 more for something to do with jurisdiction.
How nice would it be to be proud of my governor if he was someone as decent and fair as Gov. Cuomo D-NY, who passed legislation recognizing same sex marriages. There's a leader for you, working for the good of a single group of folks who needed help. And no, I will not return to NY if that's what many of you are thinking. At 78 years of age, I can't make another change, so stuff it in your ears Christie supporters.
Lawrence O'Donnell missed the most significant part of the story: Gail never asked Gov. Christie about his children. She asked him if he thought it was fair to cut funding to public schools.
Here's what she said: "You don't send your children to public schools. You send them to private schools. So I was wondering why you think it's fair to be cutting school funding to public schools."
Christie said on the Morning Joe show, "It was a completely ridiculous question. ...Just because I'm the governor doesn't mean that you or Joe or anybody else gets to come into my home and scrutinize the decisions that my wife and I make about our children. And that what [Gail] was doing."
No, Gail did not ask about the decisions Christie makes about his children. She ask about the fairness of his decision to cut school funding to public schools.
Joe Scarborough asked a much more personal question: "But you're in charge of the public schools of New Jersey. Are they not good enough for your kids?"
Governor Christie divides people into two Ayn Randian categories: the producers and the parasites. Guess what categories he believes Joe Scarborough and Gail to belong to (hint: not the same category).
You know Lawrence, if you weren't so outrageously indigently snarky, your version of moral outrage might be believable. I listen to Rush and then to you, and I see two scary ends of the socio-political spectrum. Both of you frame the argument for or against an issue (you = all things conservative [read republican] are evil, and Rush = all things progressive [read democrat] will be the destruction of his great and wonderful version of America) like there is a mountain of indisputable evidence to support your take. Here's the reality--you both are rhetoricians. That means you both speak in opinion, not fact. I worry about the flocks of sheep both of you are herding, for they are being misserved. At least Rush attempts to incorporate humor into his shtick. Unfortunately, your dour manner creates an atmosphere of meanspiritedness that borders on hate. It's just how I would frame the argument against your style.
Tonight, I watched your rant against Governor Chris Christie (NJ). Wow! Settle down dude! He did not kidnap and kill the Lindbergh baby. Taking the helicopter to his son's baseball game was a boneheaded move. If you had left things alone at that point, you had me on your side of the argument. But.... No...... You had to put your heart out on your sleeve and turn into a liberal media pitbull and begin your tiresome ankle biting routine on a Republican politician.
Why do I say this? Let's see. Yes, Governor Christie and his wife send their children to a private school, and you took him to task for abandoning the New Jersey public school system as its chief executive. However, Mr. O'Donnell, isn't it also a fact that the chief executive of the United States of America and his spouse also send their lovely daughters to private schools? Somehow, you found it convenient to leave that fact out of your tirade. Good rhetoric, but you have abdicated any right to be called a newsperson or journalist.
Seems like you are putting the "bully" back in bully pulpit. Just my opinion. Peace out, dude!
P.S. Obama Care does not have a provision for taxpayer funded "sense of humor" transplants--might want to think of a telethon to raise the funds.
Lawrence did not criticize Christie for sending his children to private school. Get your facts straight. You are the one who misframed his argument based on your own ideological bias.
jim, my thoughts exactly.
Honestly Mike, I'm amazed that at the end of you diatribe you would imply that Mr. O'Donald's not mentioning the fact that the President of the United States sends his children to a private school, somehow makes him deceptive and as a result should abdicate his right to be a journalist. Mike you also FAILED. First at pointing out that Mr. O'Donald also didn't mention that the President and the Governor both wear suits and ties, both are men, both are married, both have flown in airplanes before. The list goes on and on. Come on Mike that's the kind of "thinking" that got us into mess that we are in now. Mike for some reason I don't expect you to get it "dude", but I am optimistic that you will when it starts to affect YOU like it does most of us now. To your credit though, you did give Mr. O'Donald credit for doing one thing, and I quote "and you took him to task for abandoning the New Jersey public school system as its chief executive". Now Mike that puts that Mr. O'Donald guy where belongs.......yeah!!
Sincerely Oh and......
P.S. You should research who exactly amended what to what in what you characterize as "Obama Care". I guess giving us more of those 3:30am Medicare Part D "nuggets" are what we really need. We don't need telethons to fund Universal Health Care for America, we need to vote out the people that are destroying it.
Christie did not really answer the question by citizen Gail: Why did you cut funding for Public Schools? Did she cry? Wow, the way Christie jumped on her, that lady needs to be interviewed. I want to know how she feels about that. It's incredible the way Christie took that and made it about himself! Without answering her initial question and no media picked up on this. That U.S. citizen deserves an apology.
Ummm you are ALL 100% wrong, crafty editing by those at MSNBC to suit their agenda. If they actually finished playing the clip you all would have seen that he in fact 100% answered her question. Please refer to this link unedited for you people who dont even think that maybe it was edited. And for the record, the fat jokes are getting old
Christie is in the same sleeping bag as the governors of Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida. I didn't vote for Kasich and wouldn't have voted for Christie; however, when you stand up against religious discrimination, what is right is right.
Congratuations, Lawrence, for showing people what good citizenship is about, what good politics is about, what just being a good person is about.