Donald Trump and Ted Cruz’s more bombastic brand of extremism helps Chris Christie — an angry right-wing conservative in his own right — pretend he’s running in the “moderate lane.”
But if “moderate” is how you’d describe the New Jersey governor — who’s unabashedly anti-immigrant and anti-choice, and a staunch opponent of common-sense gun laws — then you haven’t been listening to him.
Christie was up front about his right-wing views at a Tuesday afternoon town hall event in New Hampshire:
- Christie dismissed the so-called “gun show loophole” as non-issue, because the people buying guns at gun shows, he said, are “not criminals who are wandering in.” What Christie failed to note is that he doesn’t support laws that stop criminals from buying guns, either. Just two weeks ago, Christie vetoed a gun safety measure that would’ve “banned those convicted of carjacking, gang criminality, racketeering or terroristic threats from purchasing or possessing guns.” Apparently that and the numerous other common-sense gun laws he’s vetoed over the years are the kinds of laws he described as “cotton candy” — “they taste good when it first gets in your mouth, right, and you’re like, “Oh, this is good,” and then like three minutes later you forgot you ate it. Because it’s nothing — it’s air.”
VIDEO: Attacking Marco Rubio For Supporting “Amnesty”
- “Marco Rubio ran for Senate in 2010, said he would never be for amnesty, he’d never be for legalization of people who came here illegally. Then he sponsors a bill with Chuck Schumer that allows for amenity and legalization. Now he comes back, “no, no,” a few debates ago, saying that the reason he now changed is mind is because of terrorism. OK. Did terrorism not exist in 2013, when he sponsored that bill. Was there that moment of time warp when it didn’t exist? I mean, stop insulting our intelligence.”
- “We defunded Planned Parenthood six years ago, and I’ve defunded it every year since then, because I don’t believe that the government should be funding that kind of activity — and you shouldn’t be forced with your taxpayer money to pay for that kind of activity.” And that’s relatively tame anti-choice rhetoric than usual for Christie, who supports a twenty-week abortion ban, thinks Roe v. Wade was “wrongly decided,” and has cut millions of dollars from women’s health services in New Jersey.
Published: Feb 2, 2016