Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, took on New York City’s woes in an appearance that immediately followed one by the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio.
First, Christie took aim at de Blasio for suggesting this summer was the “safest” summer in the history of New York City and blamed the mayor’s liberal policies, which he said have been encouraged by President Barack Obama.
“Listen, Mika, here’s what leadership is all about,” Christie said. “What leadership is about if there is problems with a particular policy, fix them. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water and what you have seen in this city and everybody out there who is in New York and watching this or New Jersey knows it who comes to New York City that it is not a safer place. This mayor is sitting heard and deluding the American people on national television — that this is the safest summer.
Later Christie took aim at de Blasio and Obama, explaining that while the economy has struggled, a lot of that has to do with the economic policies, which he said have been much too favorable for public sector labor unions.
“Listen the mayor is right,” he added. “Because he and this president have ushered in the weakest recovery from a recession since World War II. So, yeah, he’s right the economy is not what it should be, and that jobs are not created at the rates they should be because we have a government that over taxes, overregulates and thinks that all decisions need to be made in Washington, D.C., Harold. And you got the president yesterday on Labor Day standing up for all his public sector union friends, where he wasted all the money on the stimulus package on and he’s criticizing me and Scott Walker yesterday. I’ll tell you this, I have no regrets for taking on the public sector unions. You know, you saw the story, Joe, a teacher in New Jersey who was at, who was late over 100 times in two years — the teacher’s union stands up and protects that person. You know what I’m outraged about? The president is outraged that I said something about the unions. I’m outraged about the kids in our cities who haven’t gotten the better education for seven years under Barack Obama because he and Hillary Clinton are in bed with the AFT and the NEA and don’t care. They care more about protecting the worst members of those unions than working on the potential of the best kids in our schools.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.