Lawrence O'Donnell last night ran through Chris Christie's various excuses for his decisions about using taxpayer resources for his family time, and wondered about when it is that Christie will deign to discuss his family and his parenting skills in public. It seems the only people worthy of asking him such questions are his fellow Republicans.
First there were the trips -- such as going on a vacation to Disney World while New Jersey was digging out from a blizzard (which Lawrence O'Donnell defended him for), using the state's helicopter to watch his son's ball game (which he did not defend him on). Then Christie told a constituent that it was "none of your business" where he sent his children to school, which Christie defended this weekend on Meet the Press.
O'Donnell wound up his Rewrite segment by slamming Christie for who he thinks it's appropriate to discuss his parenting skills with, and it's not his constituents. After all, Christie appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe the day after his appearance on Meet the Press and answered a similar question from Joe Scarborough on sending his children to private schools, which O'Donnell showed a portion of. Then he went after Christie for his double standard on who he thinks is worthy of his respect.
O'DONNELL: So Joe Scarborough quickly and smartly goes straight to what Chris Christie had declared a forbidden zone on Meet the Press the day before and asks Chris Christie why he doesn't send his kids to New Jersey public schools. Are they not good enough for your kids? And Chris Christie doesn't dare say to Joe Scarborough, “it's none of your business.”
He simply answers the question, says he wants his kids to go to religious schools and be taught religion every day. And he says that, he gives that answer, to that question, about his parenting decisions the day after telling David Gregory, “I'm not going to let people question my parenting decisions in public.”
He had no problem allowing Joe Scarborough to question his parenting decisions in public and last week on the Today Show, he had no problem allowing Matt Lauer to ask about that same parenting decision about where he sends his kids to school.
In Chris Christie, the Republicans' dream candidate for president, who will never be president, we can now see the inconsistent, temperamental man, who is capable of showing flashes of anger at his constituents like Gail, the woman who asked him about his children not attending New Jersey public schools, but is very well behaved in formal interview settings.
Now that we know that Christie has no rule about discussing his parenting decisions in public, let's look at how he treated Gail one more time.
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So now we know what Christie really was thinking. Hey Gail, you know what? First off, it's none of your business, because you're a nobody. You're just a constituent. If you want me to actually answer your question get your own T.V. show. Who do you think you are? Joe Scarborough?
You can watch the entire segment here.
John Amato: It's OK for someone other than Gov. Chris Christie's constituents to ask about his family except when he uses them for cover. Typical coward.
The Bully in Chief appears to really love verbally smacking around NJ voters too. However, if you're an ex-Republican politician or current TV host, asking about his family is just fine.
