Lawrence analyzes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's unwillingness to address public questions about his private life in the Rewrite.
Rewriting Christie's political cover
-
Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:37 PM EDT
Leave a Comment:
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
Discuss this post
You're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions. Click here for more info.
About The Last Word
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell airs at 10pm ET, Monday through Thursday on MSNBC. The show channels O'Donnell's extensive background in politics and entertainment.
Calling out Christie!!!
GREAT Rewrite on Christie!!!
Hey Lawrence, guess you didn't notice the question was about public school funding, and since that's none of her business this guy obviously hates DEMOCRACY. Wake Up!
Lawrence:The above comment(kalb) is right. Gail simply said the following: Governor you send your children to private school; I send my children to public school; Governor you reduced public school funding. She did not criticize him for sending his children to private school. She appeared to be questioning the governor's commitment to public education. The real intent of the question was lost in the governor's outburst and the unquestioning reporters who saw the chief magistrate of New Jersey muddy the issue by turning it into a personal attack on Gail and making it appear that Gail was questioning his "parenting skills." Another point: Gail's question was taped. Did Mr. Adubato's staff edit it? If yes, what was the complete question?
Lawrence, my thoughts were very similar to Steven's. Gail never questioned Christie's decision to send his children to private school. She made no judgement about his personal decision; she did, however, question his commitment to public schools which was very appropriate. None of her business? NONE of her business. She is a taxpayer, tax dollars pay his salary. He works for her. Since, I assume, she has children in the public schools she has every right to ask if he supports the public schools, especially in light of the fact that he obviously has no personal stake in making sure public schools are funded adequately. It's astonishing to me that not one journalist has questioned him about this, they just keep letting him frame Gail's question to his advantage.
Actually, Lawrence was the only commentator I heard that caught the fact that he never answered the actual question. I especially listened because it was making me crazy that nobody noticed. Lawrence really did talk about it that the question was not answered. However, Christie was so rude and defensive that his BS overwhelmed everything else. I wish he'd had the guts to answer her question.
This was pretty awesome. But we need to find a way to make these fools actually see these Rewrites.
By the way, something has been bothering me for a while. Michele Bachmann has been going on talk show after talk show pimping herself & trying to convince relatively intelligent Americans she's fit to be President. However, the BIGGEST gaffe was her amazing 'slavery' speech & I have seen NO ONE ask her about it. Why is not being asked about HER rewriting history. I recommend a segment pleading with Michele Bachmann to prove HER theory about the Forefathers working tirelessly to end slavery. Or at least calling out Fox, NBC, & all the other stations she's been on and not one person asked her about this. I find it breathtakingly disturbing that she says what she says, and then announces she's running for President. Am I wrong here?
Sincerely,
Kathryn Scaglione
St. Louis, MO
I would have told him "I'm not the governor" when he tried that none of your business crap. It IS my business when you're the governor. I'm not the governor..you are.
"You're in charge of the public schools in New Jersey. Are they not good enough for your children"?
I'm on the fence with this one, Lawrence. Joe clearly asked the question that Gayle alluded to with hers. I do not know if we can expect Christie to always interpret the question correctly when asked.
Mr. Christy would have his ass out of the door if he worked for me. You have an obligation when one of your constiuents as you a question. You are in public office. Everything you do is subject to those people you represent. This isn't about your personal life. Its about your committment to those who do not send their children to private school. Answer the question Mr. Christy. Your attitude is such that again if you talked to a customer of mine in that manner, you'd be out on your ass so fast it'd make your head swim. When did it become part of public office to deny answering questions? Brash and obnoxious are not the same.
And I guarantee you if a Democrat treated a constituent like that Republicans would not be cheering that behavior on. Put those exact words with that exact intonation in the mouth of a Democrat..think the "he's the greatest" talk would be prominent? I don't.
What I believe the truth to be is when Christy was asked the question by Gale "Do you think it is fair to cut funding to public schools" he had no answer. He pulled a dodge by attacking the one asking the question, giving him time to formulate an answer which would meet with approval by the general public when, as he knew he would be, he was asked the question again while under public scrutiny.
I think Christie tries to intimidate people with his size ...esp woman He come's off as a loud mouth jerk ...thats why he will never go any further ! He has a way of attacking when he doesn't know things ...he reminds me of a french poodle ...all bark
i wish the initial interviewer would have cornered him and said that the lady didn't ask a question about his kids, she asked about education cuts in the public schools. and pressed him about it. pundits and tv people are focusing on his rudeness and not on his avoiding the question.
After all this scrutiny on Christie's temperament and his cherry-picked phony outrage, it seems appropriate now to seriously look at his weight: He's just a big fat baby who's prone to scream when there's no threat of punishment. Can you say "comfort food?"
Pretty decent smack down of Christy. The Gail vs. Scarborough part was truly telling.
She is just a vote to him. Just like most republicans feel 98% of us are just votes to them.
I'm thinking this piece should be made into a Democrat robo call or ad. He didn't tell Joe to mind his own business.
I also wonder if Christy would support raising taxes on private schools or cutting the corporate welfare private schools get? He has no problem cutting public school funding. I wonder if he would support cutting private school welfare? They have to be getting some kind of federal or state subsidy. Most get grants of some sort.
You guys should look into that.
So Christie wants public schools to teach religion? To entertain Christies obese notion...I'm curious as to what religion Christie would have these public schools teach? What next? Can we expect to see Christie appear on Jersey Shore? It would be good PR for him!
I figured it out! It wasn't just that Christie feels that Gail is a nobody, but that he needed time to craft a plausible reason for WHY he blew off a legitimate question from her and decided to defensively tell her it wasn't her business. So when a sympathetic interviewer (Scarborough) asked him the same question. He couldnt dodge it anymore. He couldnt say anymore that its none of your business. Certainly not to a Republican interviewer. He had to come up with some kind of answer. What I'd like to have heard was a followup from Scarborough such as: "Why is it my business and not your constituent, Gail's?" But nope, not to be...
My parents lived in Mendham Township (the home of Chris Christie's family) for 60 years until my mother died in 2009. They were extremely active in politics in our little village and township for most of that time. In Nov 2009, when my mother was dying, she wanted to get out of bed to vote against Christie when he was running for governor and she is a Republican! He started off in Mendham Township government and my mother told me that everyone that was a part of the governing body of our village and township thought he was rude and obnoxious. I live far away from NJ so I had not heard of him until my mother was so upset about him running for governor. I had never seen her so against any other politican in my entire life. I then saw in the Spring of 2010 in the Town of Mendham (different from the township) hundreds of teachers protesting, in the pouring rain, about what he was doing to them and thusly the children of NJ. Never in all the years of being in NJ politics had my parents been so right. If he failed in his capacity to help run a tiny village and township on the Mendham Township Committee because everyone came to extremely dislike him, how did he get to be governor of NJ? I am glad I am not raising my children in the NJ school system right now. I hope newscasters will continue to present to the public what he is really like because it would be tragic if he ever represented, as president of the USA, our beautiful country to the rest of the world.
Lawrence, you (and Scarborough) missed the point. Gail didn't ask why Christie doesn't send his kids to public schools. She asked me why it was fair, given the fact that he didn't send his kids to public schools, to cut funding for public schools. That question is indeed her business, and Christie showed that he is just a big fat bully and a misogynist by twisting her question so he could rudely tell her it was none of her business. Lawrence, your failure to understand the question deflected the conversation down the wrong path. It's not important why he doesn't send his kids to public schools (aside from the fact that he probably wouldn't cut funding to public schools if they taught religion). What's important is that he belittles his constituents who he considers beneath him, and he was allowed to get away with evading her question, to which we still don't know the answer. What's scary to me is not that Christie answerw questions from somebody he considers important, like Republican Joe Scarborough, but not from his constituents. What's scary to me is that he might not believe in the separation of church and state and if he got into the presidency, might be sympathetic to establishing a state religion in public schools.
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.
Yes, Lawrence, get Gail on your show or at least get a statement from her. She deserves to have a chance to explain her true intent, her reason for asking that particular question. She must be so frustrated with all the air time that Christie has gotten, air time to spread his twisted take on it all.
Mr katpow, let's found out who she really is, who she is working for (Lawrence or david brocks his girl friend) let's found out. Please tell me who from these liberal like laerence, Ed, Mathew (Not Brocks because he is a queen) send their kids to private scools ?????????????
Greg, you completely miss the point. Please see comments #3.1 and 3.2. Absolutely nobody is questioning anybody's right to send their children to private schools. I sent my children to both public schools and private schools. Gov. Christie is correct to think that it is nobody's business to question his parenting decisions; he is completely wrong to think that NJ taxpayers have no right to question his commitment to public education. Their tax dollars are, afterall, paying for public schools. There are lots of parents who simply cannot afford private school education for their children and they have a right and an obligation to safeguard the quality of education the children of NJ receive. Let's just assume for a minute that the budget cuts that Christie is imposing on his state actually do hurt public education. It would be a conflict of interest issue for NJ taxpayers b/c Christie could possibly have no interest in good quality public education since he has removed his children from that environment and placed them safely in a private school. Please note that I am not definitively saying that Christie does not care about public schools. I am simply saying it is reasonable to ask him (his salary is paid by NJ taxpayers) what his priorities are, what his values for the state are. I believe that was all she was asking him. Go back and watch the clip again. She never once questioned his right to send his children to private school. Gov. Christie is just following the republican game book, he has deliberately altered the question to get the "masses" bickering among themselves about non issues instead of the "masses" actually debating the important issues. You've fallen victim to that. You attacked all those so called "liberals" who really have nothing to do with any of this.
And, by the way, your comment about Brock was really offensive. Keep personalities out of it. Stick to the issues, the real issues.
Mr. Odonnell is using big names like Chris Christie to scrape for ratings. what a worthless twat. Heres the deal. Look at O'donnels past. How many jobs did he ever create? How many companies did he start? How mant times (IF EVER) did he put his own money on the line for a new company? This guy is more of a dike than maddow. Neither of which have done anything to make America better.
We all know what real solutions are and these hass oles dont got them.
Oh my, attack A governor for sending his kid to private school! well the government runs our public schools and we are LAST in so many ways.
I dont blame him. I blame pelosi and reid, and obama
Hey lawrence is David brocks of media matters your sister or you girl friends. Cristie can put you in his pocket any time. You and your girl friends on the FAR LEFT must understand that Barak's time is up no matter what you say or bad mouth Republicans. Get a life you fag. See you after the elections because anyone is better than your messiah, you stupid idiot.
By the way do you or Obama send your kids to public scools ?????? Mine your own @!$%#ing business
Chrissie thinks its none of your business what he does with his kids but he thinks it is his business as a woman what you're medical decisions you have with your doctor. HMMMMMMMMMM. Just another hypocrite. And that's being kind.
Great Job again Lawrence!!!!!!
Lawrence was spot-on. Constituents are NOBODY to republicans. NOBODY. That's why they walk right over them and their rights without blinking.
Excellent rewrite. So the governor is fine with treating his constituents badly, and is anyone really surprised by that? But to use his kids? Ew.
Many of us have had enough of Gov. Christie now. Go away Mr. not running for President.
Great! Could go even farther:
I'm watching Democracy Now! on Free Speech TV, and a speaker there says Michele Bachman is supported in her political efforts by this group:
I'm guessing Chris Christie is too. These people are priviledged to be rich, and they think if you can't afford to send your kids to private school, too bad, you shouldn't be able to have them educated by the state. Who do you think invests in and runs private schools for profit? It ain't you and me. Education is a plum ready to be harvested by investors. It's more of the same - putting what is now government money into private hands. I feel certain the laws requiring you to put your kids in school will remain in place - more profit for the for-profit prison system for 'bad' parents who can't afford private school or don't like the curriculum in their local schools. Many private schools include religious education.
Bottom line - there is no reason to stop government funding of public schools because the idea that our government is doing a bad job, is broken, and will pass on massive debt to our grandchildren is a lie, because if Congress does nothing, our deficit will disappear in a few years: