Politicians–most recently N.J. Gov. Chris Christie–are known to change their previous views and opinions whenever they decide to run for office, co-host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday.
“I just wonder whether Chris Christie — “Mr. I Am Who I Am” — is now going to make this tight, twisted conversion to presidential candidate that they all seem to try to make,” he said on Morning Joe.
The Republican governor, a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, recently refused to sign three gun bills tightening state gun laws, including one that would prohibit the version of a 50-caliber rifle he supported earlier. Christie defied the gun lobby in the past by defending his state’s gun control laws, which are among the strictest in the nation. His new veto backtracked on his previous record.
“Chris Christie himself said this was the type of gun he wanted to ban; that he supported this ban. And now as the talk gets a little bit more intense about running for president of the United States…and suddenly it goes too far?,” Scarborough said.
Under Christie’s leadership, New Jersey this week became the second state to ban gay conversion therapy. The governor on Monday signed into law a bill that prohibits licensed professionals from counseling gay and lesbian minors into feeling attracted to members of the opposite sex.
“You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it, up-close and personal. These candidates that are great and then they announce they’re going to run, and the second they announce they’re going to run they round off all of the harsh edges,” Scarborough said.
In addition, the Senate approved a medical marijuana bill last week–upon Christie’s request–to include edible forms that sick children can take. “This is a guy whose greatest attribute is he doesn’t give a ‘bleep, bleep’ what anyone thinks or says about him,” Nicolle Wallace, former senior adviser for the McCain-Palin campaign, said on the show. “It makes his biggest fans and fiercest defender a little wary to see something that appears a tad politically calculated.” Christie recently earned the top slot among all voters as the country’s “hottest” politician in a Quinnipiac University poll. He ranked eighth among only Republican voters. (Watch more on Morning Joe):
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