NJ Gov Chris Christie's foul-tempered, foul-mouthed ways show disrespect

Published: Saturday, July 21, 2012, 6:39 AM
Times of Trenton guest opinion column
By Thomas P. Ryan

... Recently, Democrats approved a budget using the governor’s own revenue estimates and allowing for a tax cut only if he was able to produce the revenue he had projected. The governor was having none of this accountability talk applied to him. He called the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), an “arrogant SOB.” The Democrats use his projections for growth, which are the most optimistic of any state, and he thinks a Democratic leader is “arrogant.” And in a fit of pique, when a reporter asked him about the special legislative session the governor himself had called with only 48 hours’ notice, he berated the reporter for asking an “off-topic” question and referred to him as an “idiot.”

In February, Gov. Christie had an exchange with Washington Post reporter Jonathan Capehart about same-sex marriage. When Capehart challenged Christie’s assertion that his position was the same as that of President Obama, Christie shot back: “I used to be a prosecutor. I’m not going to be cross-examined by you this morning.” Christie’s own words seem unambiguous: He doesn’t have to answer questions challenging his statements. Arrogance?

In June 2011, a woman called in to a television program on which Gov. Christie was taking calls. She asked: “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 funding to public schools.” He responded: “You know what, first of all, it’s none of your business. I don’t ask you where you send your kids to school. Don’t bother me where I send mine.” The exchange was typical Christie: Before he gives his answer, he attacks a citizen for having the audacity to question his policies. In this case, it should be noted that the caller had simply stated a fact and wanted to ask the governor if he thought that it was fair that public school funding should be cut. Only a few days before the phone call, it had become common knowledge where Christie’s son attended school when the governor used a brand-new state helicopter to take him to a high school baseball game in which his son was playing ...

When this governor doesn’t like what someone says to him or he doesn’t get his way, he is in a foul and foul-mouthed mood. It is time his outbursts be called what they are: temper tantrums from a 49-year-old man who alternates among bullying, ranting and insulting elected officials and everyday citizens. Maybe the governor believes he is entitled to his own set of personal behaviors, however disrespectful of others, but he should spare us his crudeness.

http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2012/07/opinion_nj_gov_chris_christies_2.html