As a perceived moderate and potential 2016 presidential candidate, Chris Christie has long been a target for some of the more vocal members of the Republican Party’s right wing. Many GOP pundits and politicians still blame the governor for meeting with President Obama after Hurricane Sandy struck the New Jersey coast, supposedly guaranteeing the president’s re-election. Following Christie and Obama’s bipartisan cooperation, the governor further angered Republicans by lobbying for federal disaster relief, which pitted him against more conservative Republicans like Rand Paul.
Unsurprisingly, Christie’s GOP adversaries have not come to his aid in this time of need. Some Republicans have used the George Washington Bridge controversy to further distance themselves from the embattled governor; some have used it to make fat jokes. Overall, there has been no shortage of Republicans skewering Christie while his presidential hopes are spiraling down the drain. Here are the top five.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Lindsey Graham
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) offered a quick rebuke of Governor Christie on Thursday, calling him a bully. “It seems to me that this whole bridge thing reinforces a narrative that’s troublesome about the guy, he’s kind of a bully,” Graham told NBC News in Washington.
For what it’s worth, Graham later commented on Christie’s marathon press conference, expressing admiration for the governor. “I finally got to see portions of the news conference,” he said. “I’m very impressed with the contrite nature in taking responsibility. In today’s political environment it was a breath of fresh air and I think he handled it as well as he could.”
Despite this praise for Christie, Graham never did walk back his initial attack.
Photo: Secretary of Defense via Flickr
Rand Paul
There’s certainly no love lost between Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Governor Chris Christie. Their public sparring match over federal spending last year, in which Paul mocked Christie as “The King of Bacon,” certainly made that clear. And after Paul pointedly declined to defend Christie in this current scandal, the senator’s wish for a beer summit with the governor may be in serious jeopardy.
“I don’t know who emailed who and who works for whom,” Paul told NBC News.“I have been in traffic before, though, and I know how angry I am when I’m in traffic and I’ve always wondered, ‘Who did this to me?'”
Gage Skidmore via Flickr
Ann Coulter
Extreme right winger — and possible master of performance art — Ann Coulter did not remove herself from the national conversation about the bridge affair. While Christie took the podium to defend his reputation, Coulter took to Twitter to offer her two cents about the governor and the scandal. The result? The fiery rhetoric and conspiracy-laced thought process that made Coulter famous.
on one hand, using the IRS to harass political enemies is worse, but on the other hand, @GovChristie gave in-state tuition to illegals.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 9, 2014
@GovChristie press conference: The bitch set me up.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 9, 2014
This is the longest press conference since Mark Sanford announced he was in love!
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) January 9, 2014
Glenn Beck
#FatandFurious pic.twitter.com/uH32JjftPv
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) January 9, 2014
If you ask Glenn Beck, Chris Christie is unequivocally fair game — especially since the governor has a weight problem.
Aside from the above tweet, Beck told S.E. Cupp on CNN’s Piers Morgan Live: “Chris Christie is a fat nightmare. He is a nightmare.” Beck’s particularly radical brand of conservatism has always put him at odds with the moderate Christie. But the personal attacks on Christie’s size while he is bogged down in scandal seem juvenile and harsh, even by Beck’s standards.
Matt Drudge
For those who write off the influential Drudge Report as just another fringe publication, remember: Mitt Romney won the Drudge Report primary in the 2012 election. After the press conference yesterday, one thing now seems certain: Chris Christie will not carry that same primary in 2016. Drudge has long been a critic of Christie’s. After the governor’s 2013 re-election, Drudge wrote it was “a Republican’s nightmare.”
The publication’s anti-Christie stance has been as evident as ever since the George Washington Bridge scandal broke. With photos and headlines like the one above posted on the site every day, it’s clear Christie is losing the influential conservative press.
