The trash-talking feud between prospective 2016 nominees Christ Christie and Rand Paul is showing no signs of letting up.
In a speech to the Republican National Committee in Boston yesterday, Christie took a veiled swipe at Paul, who he has previously accused of holding “dangerous” views and having an affinity for “esoteric” debates.
“I think we have some folks who believe that our job is to be college professors,” Christie said Thursday. “Now college professors are fine, I guess. Being a college professor, they basically spout out ideas that nobody does anything about. For our ideas to matter we have to win. Because if we don’t win, we don’t govern. And if we don’t govern all we do is shout to the wind. And so I am going to do anything I need to do to win.”
Senior Paul adviser Doug Stafford shot back on Friday, dissing the “content-free” New Jersey governor. “So if I translate Governor Christie correctly, we shouldn’t be the party of ideas,” Stafford told CNN. “We shouldn’t care what we stand for or even if we stand for anything. We reject that idea. Content-free so-called ‘pragmatism’ is the problem, not the solution.”
Even Paul’s father, former representative Ron Paul (R., Texas), has joined the fray, telling CNN on Thursday that he could not support Christie because the New Jersey governor “offers nothing.”
“You have to believe in something and understand economics or you just keep doing the same things and deficits keep running up,” the elder Paul said.
Rand Paul has called Christie’s dismissal of libertarian views “a big mistake,” and has also referred to the New Jersey governor as “the king of bacon,” in reference to Christie’s record on government spending.
“It’s not helping the party for him to pick a war with me,” Paul said in late July. “It’s not very smart. And it’s not a good way to grow the party. Why would he want to pick a fight with the one guy who has a chance to grow the party by appealing to the youth and appealing to people who would like to see a more moderate and less aggressive foreign policy?”