Jersey Sores

"Marco, Marco. When you are President, your memorized 30 second speeches on how great America is [won't cut it]"

Governor Chris Christie

February 6, 2016

When I was stationed on Okinawa back in 1970, I had a bunk mate who grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. I had never had close proximity with someone from New Jersey before. His name was Jim, but he preferred to be called "Ernie" because he felt it was more "East Coast". Well "Ernie" was the opposite of "Minnesota Nice". He could often times be very blunt and very rude. It took me a while, but I learned how to deal with it. Soon we became friends for the entire time we were stationed on "The Rock".

Last night during the debate, the Governor of New Jersey once again showed he was all East Coast. And his target last night was Marco Rubio. He unleashed a blistering attack on Marco's work ethic as a Senator from Washington D. C. And then he did something even worse - he tied Marco to the "Washington establishment". And poor old Marco, the young man so many are trying to like, fell right into the trap of this former prosecutor.

Marco had a snippet of a speech ready to go. As many of us know, when it comes to speaking, Marco is like an artist. He is gifted and he is fluid. I have said many times Marco Rubio can say quite a bit in a short amount of speech. And do it with style and grace. However, the man who some call the "Jersey Bully" had Marco rattled. 

As Marco finished his rebuttal to Christie with his snippet of speech about how great America is, Christie challenged him. If I many paraphrase as bit, Chris Christie looked over his podium and said, "Marco, Marco. When you are President, your 30 second memorized speeches on how great America is won't cut it." Then Marco showed just how rattled he was. As he was responding to Christie, he repeated almost the same thing all over again. Almost word for word. After Rubio was done, all Christie could say in so many words was he rested his case. The old prosecutor from Jersey knew he had won the day.

Like I say - painful to watch. It was painful to see Rubio go down in flames, it was painful to see the Republicans once again form a circular firing squad. That is all the Republicans except Dr. Carson. He remains quite often above the fray. Dr. Carson did say something interesting and profound. He reminded everyone that yesterday would have been Ronald Reagan's 105th birthday. He also reminded everyone what President Reagan's best gift to Republicans was - the 11th Commandment. For those who might have forgotten, it simply said, "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican."

Thank you Dr. Carson, for your gentle reminder of how we should act. And thank you Governor Christie for also showing how we can destroy one of our own long before the Democrats have a chance to do it.