Christie Hits Four Sunday News Shows
Governor Chris Christie goes into the national spotlight on by making four appearances on the Sunday news shows.
On NBC's Meet The Press, Christie says his Republican Party needs to "show up" in places that aren't traditional GOP strongholds such as Hispanic and black communities if it wants to expand its reach. He says the party should explain to minority neighborhoods why GOP policies are better.
Host David Gregory asked Christie is he is a moderate or a conservative, a subject debated by some of the governor's critics. Christie called it the "Washington D.C. game" and he doesn't "get into those labels."
Christie called Obamacare a "mistake" and a failed policy. He brought it right back to New Jersey in saying that the president should have told people the truth about their existing policies like he does in New Jersey. "I tell folks in New Jersey the hard truth they need to hear...they've come around to support me because they say 'at least this guy is looking us in the eye and telling us the truth.'"
Christie stuck with similar themes on CBS' Face The Nation and Fox's Fox News Sunday. On ducked a ducked a question about talks to freeze Iran's nuclear program running into problems. “I’m the governor of New Jersey, and I think there are a lot of people you can have and probably will have on the program who are significantly better briefed on this than I am," he told Norah O'Donnell. "And I think when guys like me start to shoot off on opinions about this kind of stuff, it’s really ill-advised.”
Christie told the Fox progrram his first priorities are focusing on New Jersey and heading the Republican Governor's Association.
George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week tried unsuccessfully to get a comment out of Chrisite about the same issue. He brushed aside the allegations made in "Double Down," the new book about the 2012 presidential campaign. "All these issues have been vetted and if I ever run for anything again, they’ll be vetted again," said Christie.
Fellow guest Texas Governor Rick Perry on ABC's This Week questioned if "a conservative in New Jersey is conservative in the rest of the country" in a separate interview while he was in Iowa, site of the first event of the campaign season.
Christie is scheduled to also appear on the ABC's This Week, Fox's Fox News Sunday and CBS' Face The Nation.
MORE COVERAGE:
- MTP Recap / Meet the Press
- Christie's advice to GOP lawmakers: Follow my lead and 'Get the job done' / Fox News
- Christie points to N.J. success as model for GOP / Face The Nation
- Christie: Advice From Romney Campaign Something Nobody Should ‘Really Give a Darn About’ / ABC This Week
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The Associated Press contributed to this report