Chris Christie lashes out at GOP House, Boehner
For those unable to watch the video above, here’s a partial transcript of the scathing remarks made this afternoon by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in which he lambasted fellow Republicans in the U.S. House for their refusal to act on an emergency-relief bill for his state and others devastated by Hurricane Sandy back in October:
—————
“Thirty-one days for Andrew victims. Seventeen days for victims of Gustav and Ike. Ten days for victim of Katrina. For the victims of Sandy in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, it has been 66 days, and the wait continues. There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner.
“… National disasters happen in red states and blue states and states with Democratic governors and Republican governors. We respond to national disasters not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. Or at least we did, until last night. Last night, politics was placed before oaths to serve our citizens. For me, it was disappointing and disgusting to watch….”
“I’ve always put the people of New Jersey and my oath ahead of personal, petty politics. Last night, the House of Representatives failed that most basic test of public service, and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state.
“On the equities, this should be a no-brainer for the House Republicans as well. Both New York and New Jersey used the international firm of McKinsey and Co. to assess and quantify the damage to our states. Our professional staffs have spent countless hours with congressional staff providing leadership and back-up documentation for all the damage claims. Gov. Cuomo and I have spent hours and hours speaking to individual members of the House and Senate to answer their questions. We worked with President Obama and his administration and satisfied them of the urgent need of this $60 billion aid package.
“This was good enough for 62 United States senators of both parties to vote for this package. This was good enough for a majority of the House of Representatives. It overcame all the factual challenges. It just could not overcome the toxic internal politics of the House majority.
“Finally, New York and New Jersey are perennially among the most generous states in the nation to our fellow states. We vote for disaster relief for other states in need. We are donor states, sending much more to Washington, DC than we ever get back in federal spending. Despite this history of unbridled generosity, in our hour of desperate need we’ve been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of Katrina, with no end in sight.
“Americans are tired of the palace intrigue and political partisanship of this Congress, which places one-upsmanship ahead of the lives of the citizens who sent these people to Washington, DC, in the first place. New Jerseyans and New Yorkers are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. New York deserves better than the selfishness we saw on display last night. New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display last night. America deserves better than just another example of a government that has forgotten who they are there to serve, and why.
Sixty-six days and counting. Shame on you. Shame on Congress.”
Christie’s anger is perfectly justified, for all the reasons that he laid out and more. But as he suggested in his comments, this is merely the latest egregious example of the ideological preening and misplaced priorities exhibited by those in control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
– Jay Bookman
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462 comments Add your comment
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:11 am
Jay posted the rules on sock puppets.
Did you read them?
I like arguing with cons with no rules.
jack be nimble
January 3rd, 2013
12:14 am
Getalife apologize to Thulsa for going too far in your post.
Td apologize to getalife for being a liar.
After that, you all have a cyber group
hug and go to bed.
Old Goober
January 3rd, 2013
12:14 am
You ever done any reading on the NCAA? As Danny Sheridan of usatoday writes it is an arbitrary, capricious, and corrupt organization that would not withstand congressional nor public scrutiny.
I’m not defending the NCAA at all, Thulsa. I’m trying to point out that bringing the hammer down on Penn State was essentially a political decision, made under national pressure. Anyone who thinks that the decision was politics-free lives in la-la land. The public would have been outraged if the penalties were perceived as light. Even some of the comments on this blog are indicative of the public attitude.
But let’s also remember one other thing: It was Penn State that proposed the penalties. The NCAA was spared from having to formulate them. All the NCAA did was accept the proposed penalties—and probably gladly. If nothing else, the NCAA is a political animal.
Thulsa Doom
January 3rd, 2013
12:17 am
Jack be a sock puppet,
I can’t call out td for something where I don’t know what the hell went on.
As for decency a lot of stuff gets said on here. But I’ve never stooped to the level of accusing someone of loving child molesters.
And btw Jay did have a little something to say earlier today about sock puppets.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:23 am
PA’s governor is an idiot bringing this back in the news..
He is a con so to be expected.
It will get tossed.
I guess you cons need that distraction after that compromise.
Redcoat
January 3rd, 2013
5:13 am
Our government is broken, the treasury and our children’s future is being looted as we comment. We are asleep and still see what is going on, but let it continue. Both repubs and dems have there roles. Deals are being readied right now and put on the shelf for the next “emergency” later in the year. Our “elected” politicians do know what is in these spending bills, the bills are now plug and play. The majority of taxpayer have no idea what their taxes are totally paying for or the “credits” that others receive. What a scam and what a mess.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
6:03 am
mornin’.
What Club Did You Think You Joined
It’s a bit amusing watching Peter King and Christie freak out because the a##holes in their a##hole club are acting like a##holes. And it’s too much to ask for them to generalize their current situation – sometimes people are down and need help, even without a hurricane.
Jack ®
January 3rd, 2013
6:04 am
Christie is making re-election noises. Maybe even presidential-hopeful noises. I’d rather not vote for a guy that’s dangerously overweight.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
6:05 am
For UnU, if she’s around this AM (pm for her), from same link as my post @ 6.03:
There’s something about inexplicable about austerity madness. Even liberalish people who should have known better would say stupid things like, “Gordon Brown is spending like crazy…even in a recession!” Criticize him for spending like crazy before, perhaps, but spending like crazy during a recession is what you’re supposed to do. And their economy was turning around, until the Tories came in and said AUSTERITY! SMASH!
And we’re about to follow.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
6:07 am
I’d rather not vote for a guy that’s dangerously overweight.
Doubt that NJians care much. I agree that it’s (unfortunately–for the same reasons Jay pointed out a few weeks back) an issue for any national aspirations.
/drive-by
TaxPayer
January 3rd, 2013
6:23 am
Billionaires donated less to charity in 2012. But… But… What about those historically low tax rates.
Common Sense isn't very Common
January 3rd, 2013
6:52 am
TP
What is charity? Isn’t giving and getting nothing in return?
They gave that money to the GOP Superpac that gave it to Romney.
If that wasn’t getting anything in return I don’t know what is.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
TaxPayer
January 3rd, 2013
6:54 am
Good point, common sense.
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:04 am
They donated to their FAVORITE charity, talk radio. It failed them.
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:07 am
I hope Jay is in a better mood while I’m on vacation. If not, without me here to harrass the rest of you are gonna have a hard time. get ready for the ban hammer Stands. I think you are the next in line as far as crossing the line. As an old friend told me years ago as he was pointing behind him……….
See that over there? No WAY back over there. That was the line. You crossed it a LONG time ago………
Common Sense isn't very Common
January 3rd, 2013
7:08 am
Fred
I do have to wonder how many of the fright wing entertainers made out like bandits in the last 4 years by selling their swill to their piglets.
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:09 am
Oh and Florida ONCE AGAIN embarrassed the SEC by losing to a crappy team in a bowl game. Thank God. It takes the pressure off of us (UGA) who did the same thing two years in a row.
LSU and Florida shame the conference………
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:11 am
Common: Rush Limbaugh didn’t get a 100 million dollar SIGNING BONUS, (his salary was never disclosed) from ad revenue……….
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
7:42 am
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/03/1175907/-Lawrence-O-Donnell-Segment-about-what-Harry-Reid-just-did
Makes a granny smile!
Does it matter?
January 3rd, 2013
7:46 am
Christie is fat! How can anyone listen and have respect for a person that has a preventable condition – obesity but fails to do anything about it cause he lacks discipline. It’s similar for Obama, can he help it if he doesn’t have the acumen to understand political negotiations? Shamefully he had 4 years to learn. The thought that Boehner had to request of al people ” what am I going to say stupid today” Biden is comical! Politics never learns!
mike thompson
January 3rd, 2013
7:47 am
It’s amazing if the Republican Teabagger Party was saving the 1% the money would be a done deal before sunrise today. Their policy is to take care of the rich the hell with everybody else!!!
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
7:47 am
For those just tuning in:
go back and look at Jay’s blog where he called him a fat slob with no discipline before you care what he said today.
our “TM” lied, and was called out on his lie.
Jay never wrote any such thing, nor anything remotely like it.
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:52 am
Patti Page died. RIP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdfDnE59Q7I
Does it matter?
January 3rd, 2013
7:52 am
I just wish that “getalife” would not be so angry sounding in 2013, dem or con. Make your comment with facts and not emotions. When he states facts and has a solid point, actually worth reading!
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
7:54 am
Does it matter
please reread your own 7:52 and then your 7:46
facts and emotions indeed.
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
7:56 am
My favorite song that Patti did was a duet with George Jones who I also love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnvlFFUaQ5U
USinUK - not very ladylike (and former Girl Scout)
January 3rd, 2013
7:57 am
dB – 7:47 –
this is why I’m glad I miss the night crew drama
Fred ™
January 3rd, 2013
8:00 am
this is why I’m glad I miss the night crew drama
dang USinUK, you miss my fainting couch drama queen moment then………..
UNCLE SAMANTHA
January 3rd, 2013
8:00 am
liberals are so funny
go ahead and push JOHNNY boy out
Cantor is not who you want to go against………….. he is a little more shrewd than JOHNNY
its the same principal when the republicans cheered when they pushed HILLARY out
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:03 am
Cantor is not who you want to go against………….. he is a little more shrewd than JOHNNY
Remember, it is us silly emotional liberals who believe in messiahs, not rock-ribbed conservatives.
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
8:03 am
Uncle Sam
Cantor? Boehner? Ryan?
Moe? Larry? Curly?
independent thinker
January 3rd, 2013
8:04 am
Danny X-yesterday at 5:47:
“”"”"”"”“Woman arrested trying to buy iPad with food stamps…”
The Black Panther member she was with was able to escape, police said he ran into a nearby Whole Foods where he used food stamps to buy 10 pounds of filet Mignon then escaped in his BMW.”"”"”"”"”"”"
Typical white Southern trash talk from the mainstay of the Republican Party- Long live the Southern Strategy started by Nixon-screw the Northeast liberals.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:07 am
UnU, not to re-play the original post from Jay and the discussion it spawned. But here is the money graf:
Some have raised the question of whether Christie’s weight reflects a character flaw or lack of personal discipline, but I’m with the governor on that one: “It’s ridiculous.” That alleged “lack of discipline” doesn’t show up in other aspects of his life, and as Christie aptly noted, it doesn’t affect his work ethic.
That is perhaps quite literally as far as calling an overweight politician “a fat slob with no discipline” as one can be, I think.
TaxPayer
January 3rd, 2013
8:08 am
Cantor! He’s still in training pants.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
January 3rd, 2013
8:12 am
poor granny
doesn’t remember when she laughed at reagan and he buried her
or when gingrich came in and she said she was crazy and wouldn’t last
she’s dancing after drinking the coolaid that democrats will win elections for eternity now
she probably believed during the internet bubble when they said we would have surpluses as far as the eye can see
trouble was we took off our glasses and realized we can’t see far
the book of the year
GULLIBLE’S travels
Madmax
January 3rd, 2013
8:12 am
A. The immediate needs on the ground have already been taken care of so it is not an impending disaster.
B. The annual budget for NJ is $30 billion
C. The request is for $60 billion
D. This is not Obamacare; let’s read the bill before we pass it and see how much waste can be cut before we authorize it.
GT
January 3rd, 2013
8:13 am
One of the great things about this wing nut faction, the longer they stay around to demonstrate their total lack of sensitivity, or anything else you can think of, the more they teach the American public why being a red just ain’t cool. The very people that can’t seem to pull themselves out of this hole of ignorance are the ones that want to keep everybody else in it with them.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:13 am
Makes a granny smile!
Lawrence O’Donnell is kind of hard to take at times (more of a style, vs. a substance issue, for me), but I see a segment like that and I remember just how good he can be.
And yes, I was not even remotely aware of those “unanimous” confirmations, and probably would not have been, had he not troubled himself to point them out.
Escaped from Email Purgatory
January 3rd, 2013
8:15 am
Might we be seeing the coming out party for a true national leader?
Might Christie be the guy we’ve been waiting for? A competent, results-oriented, no-nonsense pol who suffers not the fools on both sides of the aisle.
A guy who appeals to moderates and alienates the fringe elements who’ve paralyzed our political process?
At long last. Somebody with true national appeal who embraces pragmatism rather than ideology.
Chris Christie, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. But 2016 is a long time away. By my reckoning, it will mark 16 years of suffering incredibly incompetent leadership from our president as we shift from a plutocracy to a nanny state.
By 2016, what kind of a cluster-f— of a country would Christie be assuming responsibility for?
Here’s hoping he’s still interested. Here’s hoping he can push away that third hoagie and stay healthy so he’s around for the job.
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
8:17 am
Christie is a moron
And he also happens to probably be shooting himself in the foot for prez
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
8:18 am
Uncle Sam has apparently lost it.
fair and balanced
January 3rd, 2013
8:21 am
Here’s how it works when you have a con as President and a con as NY governor; federal funds and tax breaks for NY is no problem-screw the deficit:
“”"”"”"”"”ov. George E. Pataki has asked President Bush to allow New York to use billions of dollars in unspent Sept. 11 aid to build a rail link connecting the former World Trade Center site to the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy International Airport, according to the governor’s aides.
In a rare direct appeal to the president, Mr. Pataki urged Mr. Bush, a fellow Republican, to provide cash in place of unused parts of a $5 billion tax-incentive package that Washington allocated to help spur construction of new office towers, residential buildings and retail shops in Lower Manhattan.
Mr. Pataki has yet to specify the precise amount that he is seeking from the federal government. But his aides say that he may ask the president and Congress to convert about $2 billion in unused tax breaks into hard cash for the $6 billion project. The money, if approved, would provide significant financing for the rail link, which has been promoted by the governor as a way to reinvigorate downtown while solving the riddle of providing direct access to the airport from Manhattan.
olitically, the timing of Mr. Pataki’s request is intriguing, coming two months before national Republicans gather in New York City to nominate Mr. Bush in a party convention that is scheduled to coincide roughly with the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack.
As one of the main hosts of the event, Mr. Pataki appears to have some leverage with the White House, though the governor’s aides dismissed such assertions, saying that the president had already been extremely helpful in New York’s recovery effort. The governor has also been a major fund-raiser for the president, traveling the country in recent months on his campaign’s behalf.”"”"”"”"”"”"”"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/30/nyregion/pataki-asks-bush-for-city-rail-aid.html
Ah, those were the good old days for the cons in the Northeast when pork was on the plate every day
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:22 am
Here’s hoping he’s still interested. Here’s hoping he can push away that third hoagie and stay healthy so he’s around for the job.
I’m not going to allow myself to go overboard and erase from memory the nearly-unforgivable things CC has done, to wit: Equating firing PATCO workers with fighting the Soviets; halting badly needed rail tunnel construction under the Hudson; and being both anti-choice and anti- marriage equality.
But he’d likely be an improvement of most any other national GOPer, and in any case, I do hope for his own sake that he manages to get himself into better physical shape.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:24 am
The annual budget for NJ is $30 billion
The request is for $60 billion
One of these things is not like the other.
One of these things, doesn’t belong
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
8:26 am
No more yanks in office please
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:26 am
No more yanks in office please
WTF?
can I have some of what you’re injecting?
bob
January 3rd, 2013
8:29 am
If Christy can explain why his people need millions for a fish hatchery in Alaska then I will listen.
Adam
January 3rd, 2013
8:30 am
Anyone else notice td is deciding on being the blog tattle tale?
*GASP* Did I just call him a name? OH NO!
*Runs away in fear*
Sorry, but I have done far worse than merely call people names, and I’ve been called out for it without td’s help, and I’ve had posts taken down. I don’t say it as a point of pride, but to point out we don’t need a tattle tale.
Keep it up and I’ll hound the conservatives on here by tattling on all of THEM just so you guys can feel again like you are more persecuted than the liberals. Because anything less than free speech for you and censorship for the rest of us is unfair, apparently.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
January 3rd, 2013
8:30 am
democrat blue book rule # 86
when you are confronted with your own ignorance and cannot find a way out
accuse the other person of something
use terms like: so and so has lost it
it will deflect the emphasis away from you lack of logic and knowledge
GT
January 3rd, 2013
8:31 am
The Republican Party is showing up with a better candidate than they have in the last eight years. They cannot carry a country on the diet they are feeding them with McCain or Romney. Christie sees an opening, first sign of intelligence, Jeb Bush is right there with him. The next presidential debates for the Republicans won’t look like a freak show at the county fair, for once their will be some real substance. You can get all the religion you need in church, this crowd is over that pretty package no substance junk.
AU Liberal in ATL
January 3rd, 2013
8:32 am
The t-bags will be the death of the GOP. Sometimes you get what you deserve.
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
8:34 am
uncle sam
sorry, i hurt your feelings
but honestly that 8:12 was a silly mish mash
Adam
January 3rd, 2013
8:35 am
Actually I take some of that back. It’s quite possible I may simply go away if this blog becomes a liberal censorship frenzy because of a conservative tattle tale or two being loud about the incorrect perception that they are persecuted. Hell, I’ve never even been to Kyle’s blog and I hear stuff on here all the time about liberals being banned just because they’re liberal. And that’s why I continue to stay away. If he did it to conservatives, it would be the same.
I come here because both sides can freely speak. Screw that up, and I’m going to let you stew in your own epistemic closure because frankly I like winning elections and I will only sparingly spend my time in such vitriolic hate-filled pockets of the bubble.
skipper
January 3rd, 2013
8:38 am
Christie may in fact run for prez…..who knows. He apparantly can work with folks, as he showed when President Obama showed up after Sandy. However (the devil made me do it) if Candy Crowly does an interview with him, what size lens will be needed for the cameras?????????? Can one lens get both if them in the same shot?????
Escaped from Email Purgatory
January 3rd, 2013
8:38 am
One rule of thumb for identifying a good leader is that he pisses everybody off. Maybe Christie’s that kind of leader. A point in his favor in a country with an electorate as diverse as ours.
Maybe he’ll leave the GOP. Not saying he’d jump to the dems, but perhaps become independent.
If Christie has to pass muster to win the 2016 GOP primary process, he’ll come off as extreme. The RINO’s burden, I guess you can call it.
Any candidate who passes all your personal litmus tests will be considered an anathema by your neighbor. That’s the dance we’ve been doing for four PTTUS elections now.
stands for decibels
January 3rd, 2013
8:39 am
O’Jays SHEETZ.
ITS ALL BUSH'S FAULT
January 3rd, 2013
8:42 am
GOP , Red state vs Blue state = Dumb asses from north to south
GT
January 3rd, 2013
8:42 am
Al Jazeera buys Current TV, will launch new channel
The competition for nuts watching television has just risen. There use to be a time in this country where an even hand was appreciated, now nuts of all kind are looking for endorsement of their insanity.
tiredofit
January 3rd, 2013
8:49 am
So the GOP (the party of higher taxes) can’t help their fellow Americans in need, how fiscally responsible of them. If they are worried about funding, just take it from the bloated DOD.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
January 3rd, 2013
8:56 am
rule 86A
use again and again rule 86 to deflect your ignorance
eventually your enemy will tire and move on to something else and you will not have to face yourself
GT
January 3rd, 2013
9:22 am
One of the things this budget battle does is throw the American public off the real problem in America, Wall Street. You got cancer over there but we are taking vitamins for a cold over here. Wall Street threw the right out of office by abusing its freedom, and then paid lots of money for the right to think the bullies was the government. We should have never bailed WS out of the last recession, we would have this problem fixed by now, but we did and it still out there ticking away in its not so capitalistic way, while the state of New Jersey, who is a surplus state of giving to receiving rots.
AmericaShrugged
January 3rd, 2013
10:28 am
The guv has seen the relentless tide of liberalism and doesn’t want to drown in it. Watch for him to switch parties and run as a Dem Presidential candidate in 2016!