Chris Christie

During MSNBC's live coverage of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman -- formerly of Newsweek -- complained that Chris Christie's speech was "nasty, and it was mean in tone," as he asserted that the speech failed to explain why Mitt Romney should be elected President. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., Fineman observed:

Just like his counterparts at MSNBC on Tuesday night, Fox News Channel political analyst Juan Williams thought it fit to continue forwarding the left's main attack on Ann Romney - that she just can't relate the average American woman. Minutes after Mrs. Romney's RNC speech, Williams bluntly remarked that she "looked to me like a corporate wife...[T]he stories she told about struggles – ah, it's hard for me to believe. I mean, she's a very rich woman. And I know that, and America knows that." [audio available here; video below the jump]

When anchor Megyn Kelly asked the former NPR personality what he meant by this loaded term, Williams claimed that Mrs. Romney wasn't "speaking, I think, for the tremendous number of single women in this country or married women...she did not convince me that, you know what? I understand the struggles of American women in general."

In an interview with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer was aghast at an off-the-cuff joke by Mitt Romney on Friday: "...he said, 'No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate,' an obvious reference to the birther debate. Is it – he says it was a joke. Is it funny to kind of pay attention to a fringe group and question the very legitimacy of the President of the United States's citizenship?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Christie replied: "Yeah, but he hasn't. I mean, he has been the clearest, the most affirmative of all the Republican candidates who are running for this nomination, in saying that he didn't think that was an issue." Lauer ignored the fact that President Obama himself has joked about his birth certificate on more than one occasion and that the Obama campaign actually raised money off the issue, selling mugs and t-shirts mocking the conspiracy theory.

Christie also appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning on Tuesday, no one asked him about the comment.

Former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday hit Chris Christie, the Republican National Convention's keynote speaker, with liberal talking points about his state. Reading off a sheet of paper, the Good Morning America host recited, "You know, the Democrats are already ready for you to talk about the New Jersey experience. They're pointing out, ahead of your speech, that New Jersey is near the bottom of states in unemployment." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Stephanopoulos parroted, "Forty eight in unemployment. Forty seven in economic growth." Christie shot back, pointing out that in the last 12 months "we're ranked fourth in the country in terms of the number of private sector jobs that have been created, according to CNBC. That we've had 90,000 new private sector jobs created since I've been governor."

In just a matter of days, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney will announce his choice for his 2012 running mate. No matter who Romney picks, however, the liberal media's line of attack is already clear. The Media Research Center reviewed news coverage of several potential picks, and found many have already been caricatured as too far right or outside the mainstream.

Bill Maher on Friday made another in a long line of disgusting remarks about Mitt Romney and Republicans being racist.

In the concluding segment of HBO's Real Time, the host encouraged Romney to choose Trayvon Martin's assailant George Zimmerman as his vice presidential candidate to "personify [his] campaign theme of 'I Think The Black Guy’s Up To No Good'" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On the April 30 edition of ABC’s The View, co-host Barbara Walters started a discussion about the preceding Saturday's White House Correspondent’s Association (WHCA) dinner. However, as usual, liberal comedian Joy Behar had to throw in a few cheap shots at a Republican.

During their discussion, most of the panel discussed the night's memorable jokes, including one made by comedian Jimmy Kimmel at Walters's expense. In all, the segment was supposed to be a light-hearted discussion about the WHCA dinner, which has a tradition of ribbing politicians of both sides of the aisle as well as journalists. [Audio here. Video below the jump.]

He's baaaaaack!

Bestselling fiction author Stephen King took to the liberal publication the Daily Beast Monday to hurl some classically left-wing attacks, filled with some classically left-wing vulgarity, at fiscally minded conservatives such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in a piece aptly titled "Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!" (serious vulgarity warning):

On Friday's Inside Washington on selected PBS stations, Charles Krauthammer floated his curiosity about what would happen if the Republicans chose a new candidate for the fall election if Romney or Santorum couldn't get to the magic delegate number. Mark Shields joked about how it would be unfair to pick to someone who hasn't slogged across the country and then made a fat joke: "Chris Christie, have a little ice cream, and come in."

There goes svelte Shields again. NPR reporter Nina Totenberg promised the elite media would savage a new Republican candidate and pick apart everything "he" has ever done or said (no females are apparently allowed in this exercise):

On Saturday's World News, as he ended a report on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's dustup with a Rutgers University student who heckled him at a town hall forum, ABC correspondent Mark Greenblatt forwarded Rutgers Law student and former Navy SEAL Wiliam Brown's criticisms of Christie without noting Brown's  history of activism in the Democratic party, specifically that he ran unsuccessfully for a state assembly seat.

The ABC correspondent instead forwarded Brown's complaints about Christie's temperament as if the Democratic activist were concerned about the health of the Republican party. Greenblatt:

CBS’s Bob Schieffer, on Sunday morning’s Face the Nation, pressed Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over how Republicans have moved “too far to the right” to win before cuing up Maryland’s Democratic Governor, Martin O’Malley, to agree while fretting “we’ve spent the last couple of weeks here talking about running against birth control for goodness sake” – as if the media have nothing to do with that. Schieffer twice falsely credited President Obama for having “backed away” from requiring religious institution cover birth control.

Schieffer also marveled over Obama’s presumed success and so wondered: “How do you go after Barack Obama, though, right now? I mean, the stock market is up. It looks like the unemployment is going down. David Axelrod in his campaign said the other day Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive. It’s going to be a tough job for you, is it not?”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart got into quite a heated debate about same sex marriage on MSNBC's Morning Joe Thursday.

When Capehart aggressively tried to grill Christie, the Governor scolded, “I used to be a prosecutor. I don’t know if you did too, but I’m not going to be cross-examined by you this morning” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Cathy Areu, of the Washington Post Magazine, compared Sarah Palin to unsophistocated redneck Larry the Cable Guy back in 2010. She was back to her old self Thursday morning on CNN's Starting Point, railing against Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) as "a Tony Soprano" character.

CNN host Soledad O'Brien also had some fun with Christie's weight, chuckling at Piers Morgan's compliment that governor was doing well in his weight loss regimen. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

When CNN's Piers Morgan preached that corporations should consider actions in the national interest over the wants of their "ever-fattening shareholders," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) called him out for "demagoguing" the issue. In an interview that aired Tuesday night, Morgan suggested that companies like Apple should "take a hit" and bring a percentage of their jobs back to America from China.

Christie also challenged the liberal CNN host to act on his words and "leave CNN, be the CEO of a company, and lead them in a way that's both profitable and beneficial to all the different people you want to be beneficial for." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

According to Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos, an increase in unemployment from 7.8 percent to 8.3 percent is a recovery. The ABC co-host pressed Chris Christie to agree that, just as the Governor is proclaiming a New Jersey comeback, "...Can President Obama make the same claim about the United States?"

According to Stephanopoulos's talking points, "Across the country, unemployment has gone from about 10.2 percent to 8.3 percent...The United States is on a comeback?" Of course, the problem with this is that unemployment on January 20, 2009 was 7.8 percent. It's now 8.3. percent. An increase of .5 percent constitutes an American comeback? [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Worried that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was being too critical of President Obama on Sunday's Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory attempted to steer the discussion toward bashing Republicans: "Where have Republicans been culpable for the paralysis in Washington? You've spoken about the President....what role do Republicans play?"

Christie hit back, placing the burden for compromise back on Obama: "...my point to Republicans has been to you've got to force those conversations. Now if the President's not interested in having them, and if he's not interested in developing those relationships, then there's little the Republicans can do."

Charlie Rose ripped a new liberal line of attack on Mitt Romney right out of the New York Times on Thursday's CBS This Morning, as he interviewed top Romney backer Chris Christie. Rose played up that Romney "seems to be dancing around the idea of what his wealth is. This is the New York Times today: 'Romney riches are being seen as new hurdle; complex web of assets is difficult to assess.'"

Midway through the segment, the anchor held up the copy of left-leaning publication and read the headline for the front page, above-the-fold article by Nicholas Confessore, David Kocieniewski, and Michael Luo. He continued by citing the New Jersey governor's own rebuttal to this class warfare tactic: "Your philosophy seems to be, tell him how much you're worth, and say you're proud of it. Every American wants to be rich."

CBS comedian David Letterman teed off on the Republican presidential field on Monday night while barely batting an eye toward President Obama or the Democrats. The Late Show host joked at the expense of Newt Gingrich's first marriage and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's weight, while comparing former First Lady Pat Nixon to a reptile from Star Trek.

In addition, the CBS comedian dismissed the entire GOP presidential field as he insinuated that none in the group of rich boring white guys would beat President Obama in the general election. [Video below the break.]

In an effort to once again run defense for Barack Obama, NBC's Today co-host Matt Lauer on Wednesday pushed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to agree that the President's sustained effort to pit economic classes against one another is just a matter of fairness: "Talk to me about that word 'envy.' Because I asked Governor Romney about this last week as well....why is it envy as opposed to unfairness?"

As Lauer mentioned, he did ask Mitt Romney an almost identical question on the January 11 broadcast: "Do you suggest that anyone who questions the policies and practices of Wall Street and financial institutions, anyone who has questions about the distribution of wealth and power in this country is envious? Is it about jealousy or is it about fairness?"

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday called Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson an ignoramus for criticizing his weight last year.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the Governor said, "As far as I’m concerned, guys like that shouldn’t have a platform to speak because they’re so ignorant” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Warning: Frequent guest appearances on MSNBC can render a person predictable and disingenuous. Exhibit A: Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson.

There was Robinson schmoozing with guest host Melissa Harris-Perry on the Rachel Maddow show Friday about the looming Iowa caucuses. (video after page break)

Laura Ingraham comes closest to nailing Ed Schultz's persona -- Ingraham sees him as the hothead "Heat Miser" of the mid-'70s animated Christmas special, "The Year Without a Santa Claus."

But Schultz isn't miserly when it comes to what he considers hate speech. Just about any criticism of President Obama qualifies. (audio clips after page break)

Welcoming Chris Christie onto the set of Morning Joe today, Joe Scarborough warned Mika Brzezinski that the New Jersey governor "has come to straighten you out."

Christie was good to Scarborough's word, bluntly telling Mika, among other things, that "you're diving deeply into the Obama tank."  Video after the jump.

Chris Christie on Monday perfectly illustrated the beef conservatives have with MSNBC's Morning Joe and its host.

Apparently fed up with the show's parade of liberal guests, New Jersey's Republican governor texted Joe Scarborough in the middle of the program, "Who's next this morning on Morning Joe to talk about the GOP race - George Soros?" (video follows with commentary):

CBS's Early Show was the only morning show of the Big Three networks on Monday to cover the controversy over a ranch leased by the family of Texas Governor Rick Perry that formerly used the racist "N" word in its name. Political analyst John Dickerson hinted that the Republican's presidential campaign may not "weather" the controversy, adding that "it's a real problem."

Fill-in anchor Jeff Glor led the 7 am Eastern hour of the CBS program with a teaser on the news story: "Texas Governor Rick Perry faces tough questions over a family hunting camp named with a racial slur. Fellow presidential candidate Herman Cain calls Perry 'very insensitive,' as Perry insists the word were removed decades ago." Nine minutes later, Glor labeled the issue a "race-related firestorm," as he introduced correspondent Jan Crawford's campaign 2012 round-up, which began with the story.

The juvenile bashing of Chris Christie's weight hit a disgraceful low on PBS's "Inside Washington" Friday when a panel absent the guiding sanity of syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer chuckled and guffawed over the size of the New Jersey governor.

What posterity will certainly view as one of the more embarrassing episodes on this political talk show stalwart came when PBS's Mark Shields quipped, "When you sit in the bathtub, and the water level in the toilet does rise, it’s a pretty good indication that you probably ought to cut the second dessert" (video follows with transcript and commentary):