MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lit up the debate stage Saturday with a series of fierce attacks against fellow Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, and said his current job as a U.S. senator has only trained him to deliver speeches.
“Let’s remember something, every morning when a U.S. senator wakes up, they think, ‘What kind of speech can I give?’ or ‘What kind of bill can I drop?’ ” Christie began.
“You have never been involved in making a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable,” he added, turning to Rubio. “And the fact is that when you talk about your Hezbollah sanctions act, you weren’t even there to vote for it.”
“That’s not leadership, that’s truancy,” Christie said.
Minutes before, Rubio had responded to a question about his track record by suggesting Vice President Joe Biden would be the most qualified to serve as commander in chief if the leading criteria for a candidate’s success is their accomplishments. In that case, Rubio suggested “we should all rally around Joe Biden.”
Christie shot back, turning his attention away from Rubio and to the viewers. “I want the people at home to think about this. That’s what Washington, D.C., does: the drive-by and then the memorized 20-second speech.”
“Marco, the thing is this, when you’re president of the U.S., when you’re governor of a state, the memorized speech doesn’t solve problems,” he said.
Christie continued, “I like Marco Rubio. He’s a smart person and a nice guy. But he simply does not have the experience to be president.”
“The people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again,” he cautioned.
Less than 20 minutes later, Christie was pursuing a new line of attack against the Florida senator, accusing him of abandoning his 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, which offered a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, as soon as he started to face backlash.
“We can’t get that legislation passed,” Rubio claimed. “The American people will not support doing anything about people who are here illegally until the law is enforced first.”
Christie was quick to interject. “I’d just like to listen again, everybody. This is the difference between a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems, and not answering a question.
“The question was, did [Rubio] fight for his legislation? It is abundantly clear he didn’t,” Christie added, touting his own battle to pass teacher tenure reform in New Jersey.
Christie’s ferocious criticism of Rubio has become a staple of his stump speech since the Florida senator finished a strong third in the Iowa caucuses and received a slew of endorsements thereafter.
Recent polls indicate nearly a third of New Hampshire Republicans remain undecided. Christie, who’s polling below 5 percent in the RealClearPolitics state-level average, appears to have made it his mission to convince voters his 44-year-old opponent is too naive to be president and too conservative to appeal to moderates in a general election.
“Unlike some of these other campaigns, I’m not the boy in the bubble,” Christie charged during a town hall Tuesday. “We know who the boy in the bubble is up here, who never answers your questions, who’s constantly scripted and controlled because he can’t answer your questions. So when Sen. Rubio gets here, when the boy in the bubble gets here, I hope you guys ask him some questions.”
Christie and Rubio have both scheduled campaign stops ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, giving them each an opportunity to do damage control following tonight’s debate.
