Chris Christie Interrupts ‘Tribute’ to Dead Storm Victims to Yuk It Up with Local Pol

New Jersey Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie is feeling the heat over his decision to return to New Hampshire even as his home state recovers from one of the worst snowstorms in history. That heat has Christie lashing out at young girls during New Hampshire town hall meetings, lying about the storm’s damage, and blaming dead people for their own deaths.

At a town hall meeting in Hooksett, NH Monday night, Christie began with a long recital of all the reasons he didn’t need to be in New Jersey now, but right in the middle, gave a stirring tribute to the 23 year-old woman and her one year-old son who were killed during the storm. Christie took the opportunity to repeatedly hammer the dead woman for not staying in her home, and for failing to clear away snow from her tailpipe, and even took a break right in the middle of his “eulogy” to laugh it up with a local Republican official. Very classy:

A young mother and her one year-old child who were in their car and did not clear the snow away from their tailpipe and died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and her 3 year-old child was also in the car, is in critical condition, so I hope that tonight, you’ll keep that family in your prayers, cuz that is a tragic loss of life. But that’s what happens in some of these storms, people don’t know where to go or exactly what to do, and you try to tell them stay in your home… Jennifer! Come on up here! We’ve got seats up here for you,, you’re the chairman of the Republican Party in New Hampshire!

We got special seats for you up here! We don’t let the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party stand in the back if she doesn’t have to! Thank you for coming, Jennifer, um, but, you never know in these storms, you know, you have to be smart about this. You know, I continue to tell people to stay in their homes, and don’t go out in your car, and sometimes people just have to, and feel like they have to.

It was good of Christie to interrupt his glad-handing of local party official Jennifer Horn to remind the surviving 4 year-old, Saniyah Rosa, that her mom and her little brother would still be alive if they had just been “smart about this.”

Christie wasn’t done yet, though. His first question came from a young New Hampshire girl who said she was from New Jersey, and asked why he hadn’t stayed in his home state a little while longer as the people tried o recover. Christie lit into her viciously, asking where she was getting her information from, and wondering if she thought he should “go down there with a mop?”

Girl: I have friends, family, sending me pictures…

Christie: Where?

Girl: All over he state.

Christie: ‘All over the state?’ Really? There’s been one county that’s flooded, one county, Cape May County, so I don’t know where you’re getting ‘from all over the state,’ since we have 21 counties where that’s happened. Um, second, I don’t see co… what you espect me to do, you want me to go down there with a mop?

Setting aside the viciousness of Christie’s response to this nervous young girl, Christie is dead wrong about the flooding. I live on Ocean County, and there was extensive flooding all up and down our coast, with many businesses and homes affected by it. Christie’s Lt. Governor was even sent to counties other than Cape May Monday to assess damage from the flooding, so I don’t know what he’s even talking about. In his full six-minute harangue of the young woman, Christie himself even acknowledges that they are anticipating reports of flood damages from businesses around the state.

Whatever you think of Christie’s decision to flee the state so quickly, which to my mind does amount mainly to some horrible optics, yucking it up while talking about dead people and yelling at young girls is not a good look, not even in New Jersey. This moment is going to get a lot of play in New Hampshire, and given Christie’s already-tenuous grasp on the race, I don’t think he’s going to be stronger than this storm.

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