Will Christie's 'sit down and shut up' style work outside New Jersey?
'Iowans don't like Chris Christie, and they're never going to — he's not Iowa nice'
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's brash style of politics was on full display Wednesday when he told a heckler critical of the state's response to Superstorm Sandy to "sit down and shut up."
“Somebody like you doesn’t know a damn thing about what you're talking about, except to stand up and show off when the cameras are here," Christie told the heckler, later identified as Jim Keady, at an event marking the second anniversary of Sandy in Belmar, N.J. "I've been here when the cameras aren't here, buddy, and done the work. Turn around, get your fifteen minutes of fame, and then, maybe, take your jacket off, roll up your sleeves, and do something for the people of this state.
"So listen, you want to have the conversation later, I'm happy to have it, buddy," Christie continued. "But until that time, sit down and shut up."
"I still have plenty of Jersey in me," Christie later joked, "so when it comes to having a little 'back-and-forth,' I will not hesitate to have a little 'back-and-forth.'"
While that kind of "back-and-forth" might play well in New Jersey, where the governor won reelection in a landslide last year, it remains to be seen if it would play as well on the national stage, should Christie seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
"It might be appealing to enough people in New Jersey to win re-election," CNN "Inside Politics" host John King said Thursday. "But to the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond, do they find it presidential or bullying?"
Christie may be about to find out. On Thursday, he embarked on a five-day, 19-state tour stumping for GOP candidates before next week's midterm elections. On Thursday, Christie was scheduled to visit Iowa, where just five days ago, he attacked President Barack Obama while campaigning for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
“We have an extraordinary vacuum of leadership in this country, and people both inside America and outside America no longer know what America stands for,” Christie said at a Oct. 25 fundraiser for Branstad. “It’s because of the lack of leadership we have in the White House. It has been six long years, but I bring you good news: There are only two more years left.”
“Worse than the lack of accomplishment in Washington, D.C., and the frustration that our people feel is what’s happening around the world,” he said. “America is not being respected around the world the way we used to be, and we’re not being respected because we no longer mean what we say and say what we mean.”
There is some anecdotal evidence that Christie's tough talk could woo some Iowans.
“He’s not playing this political game," one Iowa voter told NJ.com. "It seems like he calls a spade a spade.”
“I think he’s one of the few people who could work with both sides,” another said. “I think he sticks out.”
But according to a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa poll released earlier this month, just 6 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers surveyed said Christie would be their first choice for president in 2016. (Seven others, including Mitt Romney and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, received better rankings.) And among possible GOP contenders, Christie received the highest unfavorable rating — 45 percent.
"Iowans don't like Chris Christie, and they're never going to," Steve Deace, a nationally syndicated Iowa radio talk show host, told Yahoo News. "He's not Iowa nice, and like a lot of self-important media concoctions, he mistakes phony bluster and being a jerk for passion and principle."
"Christie seems to think that channeling the Hulk like this will win him votes," Tom Moran wrote in the Newark Star-Ledger. "He might be right on the politics. American voters tend to pick presidents who are not like the last guy. Kennedy’s youth after Eisenhower’s old age. Carter’s integrity after Nixon’s treachery. Reagan’s strength after Carter’s weakness. President Obama is cool and detached, so Christie’s in-your-face combativeness may be just the ticket."
But in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the campaigning gets intimate in town halls and living rooms, Christie may have to leave his Hulk at home.
"Opponents of Christie, both Republicans and Democrats, are going to show up at those town halls if he runs for president, and try to provoke him," King said.
