TRENTON — Even though a famous civil rights leader came to Trenton to scold him, Gov. Chris Christie Monday unapologetically defended last week’s controversial remarks on civil rights, calling one his Jersey critics "numbnuts."
Agitated and at times caustic, the governor went after Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, who had hammered Christie for saying that in the 1950s and 60s activists "would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets of the South." Christie was trying to compare his call for a referendum on gay marriage to the civil rights struggle.
"What I said was I’m sure that civil rights advocates would have liked to have this as another option but it was not available to them," Christie said at the Statehouse. "Yet you have numbnuts like Reed Gusciora who put out a statement comparing me to George Wallace and Lester Maddox."
Cristie had nothing but praise, however, for legendary civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) who held his own Trenton press to condemn the governor’s remarks.
Calling gay marriage a civil right, Lewis said Christie apparently "has not read his recent history books."
"People of color in the American South ... could not register to vote simply because of the color of their skin," he said. "Could not take a seat at lunch counters in restaurants. Could not take a seat in the front of the bus. Could not visit state capitals. If it had been put to a referendum, we would have never ever won."
Lewis said it was congressional actions, court decisions and presidential executive orders that chipped away at segregation.
He applied Martin Luther King’s comments about interracial marriage to gay marriage: "When it came to the question of interracial marriage, (King) would say races don’t fall in love and get married, individuals fall in love and get married. If two men want to fall in love and get married, if two women – it’s their business. It’s not the role of the federal government or state government to intervene."
Christie met with black leaders around the state and apologized. I found this rather interesting
Asbury Park Mayor Ed Johnson, who is African-American and openly gay, said he accepted Christie’s explanation after speaking with him. "He clarified it, I have to accept that," said Johnson.
To me that sounds like "This guy is an asshole, but I need to suck it up or get screwed", since Christie is known for being very spiteful to those who oppose him in NJ.
If he doesn't get the Republican VP nod for this year, you can be damn sure they are going to be pushing him to run in 2016. The Republicans just love this asshole.
27
Cash
USA
OLD SKOOL
FEB 01, 2012 05:39 AM
So let me see if I understand the formula:
Step 1: say something completely ignorant
Step 2: DEFEND the ignorant statement and resort to name-calling when people confront your ignorance
Step 3: issue a meaningless apology for people being offended by your ignorant statement...but not for MAKING the ignorant statement
Step 4: watch your support among knuckle-draggers soar
Cash said:
So let me see if I understand the formula:
Step 1: say something completely ignorant
Step 2: DEFEND the ignorant statement and resort to name-calling when people confront your ignorance
Step 3: issue a meaningless apology for people being offended by your ignorant statement...but not for MAKING the ignorant statement
Step 4: watch your support among knuckle-draggers soar
did i get that right?
You forgot:
Step 5: say you're not running for president, but spend the primary campaign season campaigning.
I'd like him to run for president. It would be interesting to see what dirt gets dug up in the vetting process. I have no doubts they'll find some pretty shady things in his past. And I'd love to see how his Jersey style tough guy antics play out with the entire country watching. I don't think that approach will go over well with most of the country.
minimalism said:
I'd like him to run for president. It would be interesting to see what dirt gets dug up in the vetting process. I have no doubts they'll find some pretty shady things in his past. And I'd love to see how his Jersey style tough guy antics play out with the entire country watching. I don't think that approach will go over well with most of the country.
The dirt came out in the governor's election. Some questionable moves while he was US attorney, but nothing to scare the Republicans from nominating him. The reason Mittens has him campaigning for him is Christie's popularity with the party. At one stop Mitt actually said "we'll go Jersey on them" after Christie had spoken earlier. They love the Jersey Shore stereotype arrogance.
The things that will hurt him with the far right will most likely be his appointing a Muslim to a high profile judgeship and his nomination of a gay black man to the state supreme court. The left is going to get a lot of support to fight him from the unions.
What scares me about him running in '16 (or '20 if the Republicans win this year) is I don't see too many current Dems that will able to beat him.
minimalism said:
I'd like him to run for president. It would be interesting to see what dirt gets dug up in the vetting process. I have no doubts they'll find some pretty shady things in his past. And I'd love to see how his Jersey style tough guy antics play out with the entire country watching. I don't think that approach will go over well with most of the country.
The dirt came out in the governor's election. Some questionable moves while he was US attorney, but nothing to scare the Republicans from nominating him. The reason Mittens has him campaigning for him is Christie's popularity with the party. At one stop Mitt actually said "we'll go Jersey on them" after Christie had spoken earlier. They love the Jersey Shore stereotype arrogance.
The things that will hurt him with the far right will most likely be his appointing a Muslim to a high profile judgeship and his nomination of a gay black man to the state supreme court. The left is going to get a lot of support to fight him from the unions.
What scares me about him running in '16 (or '20 if the Republicans win this year) is I don't see too many current Dems that will able to beat him.
Things come out in a presidential election that don't really matter as much in state runs. Each party is looking for any speck of dirt to stick on their opponents. I would hardly be surprised if he has ties to the mafia, even though he was the attorney for the state of New Jersey.
And while some of the Rethuglicans would love to have his style represent them, I don't think the general consensus nationwide would be the same.
And Governor douchebag proves that, in fact, and as promised, he is indeed a douchebag. (I'm hearing George Takei's voice as I type this).
This quote sums it up:
David Goldstein said:
He won't veto the bill because he's anti-gay. He'll veto the bill because the 2016 South Carolina presidential primary electorate is anti-gay.
...and this is why voting in state and local elections matters. A lot. A Democratic governor wouldn't have vetoed this bill, and gay NJ residents would now enjoy a fundamental right.
mydogfarted
Oakland, NJ
June 2003
JAN 31, 2012 09:21 AM