- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey
Chris Christie, the next rising star of the Republican party and future contender for the Office of the Presidency, is praising his own efforts during the recent winter storm that dumped nearly 30 inches of snow in his state of New Jersey. The only problem is, hours before the snow started falling last Sunday, Chris Christie conveniently boarded a plane with his family and headed to Disney World for a vacation.
“We planned for this, and they executed the plan,” he said after returning from his trip on Friday, almost one week after the record amount of snow hit the east coast. He looked refreshed and well rested.
In the absence of the governor, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was next in line to command the business of the state. She too, it’s reported, was on a cruise to Mexico to look after her ailing father. The job to run the state then fell on the State’s Senate President, a Democrat named Stephen Sweeney.
Both Christie and the Lt. Governor are coming up against a tremendous backlash from the residents of New Jersey for their missing in action status during the storm. Chris Christie was having none of it though:
“I would have been doing the same thing here as I would have been there. I would have been in a room someplace. I would not have been out, like, driving a plow.”
Praising his miraculous efforts to man the storm from the warmth of 65 degree temperature in Florida, Christie made the claim that all was well in his state, and that no one lost their lives due to the storm. But according to a report by the Huffington Post,
Christie also said there were no reports of storm-related deaths or of ambulances that couldn’t reach homes in time, as there were in New York. That wasn’t completely true. At least one woman gave birth in her car, and emergency responders had to use a sled to reach another man who was having a heart attack at his home and later died.
As I mentioned earlier, there’s talk within the Republican punditry of a possible presidential run by Christie in 2012. We can only hope his catch-me-if-you-can attitude in the midst of a storm is not his primary way of handling the unscripted duties of elected office.
Related articles
- Chris Christie On Disney Trip: “I Was Not Going To Look At My Children And Say We’re Not Going” (mediaite.com)
- NJ Gov. Christie Defends Being At Disney During Storm: “I Had A Great Five Days” (alan.com)
- Christie defends blizzard vacation (philly.com)
