Cardenas: Christie Not Invited to CPAC for Slamming Republicans, Expanding Medicaid

Al Cardenas, the head of the American Conservative Union (ACU), said New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie was not invited to this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) because he criticized Republicans and governed like a Democrat.

Cardenas, on Wednesday, said his group, which runs CPAC, left Christie off of the CPAC list because Christie criticized Republicans in Congress who wanted to take the pork out of the the Hurricane Sandy relief bill last year and agreed to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. Christie, much to the anger and chagrin of Republicans, literally embraced President Barack Obama in Sandy’s wake, allowing the mainstream media to frame Obama as a bipartisan politician, which they had been trying to do throughout the 2012 campaign. 

“This past year he strongly advocated for the passage of a $60 billion-plus pork barrel bill [the Sandy relief bill], containing only $9 billion in disaster assistance,” Cardenas said. “And he signed up with the federal government to expand Medicaid at a time when his state can ill afford it. So he was not invited to speak.”