Christie – in his own words
Kick-off presidential campaign fundraiser raises $1.3 million
A steady stream of Gov. Chris Christie supporters made their way through Asbury Park’s historic Convention Hall into the Paramount Theater Tuesday night.
Having paid anywhere from $250 to $5,400 to attend the 2016 presidential candidate’s kick off fundraiser, they gave resounding applause for the second term New Jersey governor.
For most of the evening the crowd seemed to balance near and estimate count of 500 but as his wife Mary Pat took the stage, the crowd swelled.
She told the crowd that their attendance raised $1.3 million.
Christie, who spoke for over 45 minutes, challenged President Barack Obama’s time in office and had little to say about the 16 other candidates vying for the Republican Party’s nomination:
“Seven years ago the majority of the American people were sold a bumper sticker from the President of the United States – Hope and Change,” Christie said. “Now those are great words. There are very few people in this country who aren’t for hope and who aren’t for change but I don’t think the American people knew hope and change meant higher taxes, more government spending, more government intrusion in your life and a weaker America leading to a more dangerous world. We would have not taken hope and change and we are going to kick hope and change out in November 2016.
“What our country needs more is a president that believes in you than he believes in himself. See this president believes he’s the smartest guy in the room. This president believes he’s got the answer to every question. This president believes that government is what creates change and opportunity and jobs in this country. See, I feel much differently. People should have watched New Jersey for the 8 years before we elected Barack Obama.”
“The story was that America was the cause of violence in the world,” Christie said. “That if we just pulled out of Iraq and we just pulled out of Afghanistan and we gave some nice speeches around the country and around the world and we told everybody that we liked them that the world would be a safer place. Yet look at the world that Barack Obama is leaving for the next president. Iraq on fire, Libya of fire, Syria on fire, Egypt under martial law, Yemen on fire, Russian marching across Eastern Europe from the Crimea and then Ukraine, china building artificial islands in the south China Sea to land military planes on.”
He told the standing room only crowd that his vision for America’s future starts here, in New Jersey.
“If you want to know who I am or what kind of leader I will be, or more importantly what kind of president I will be you need come home to New Jersey,” he said. “People need to see the awful circumstances we were in when we embarked on our race in 2009.”
He reminded the crowd not to forget the state’s state of affairs when he took office in 2010.
“People have forgotten just how bad off Jersey was,” he said. “We had 8 years in a row of no private sector job growth in our state. Then we had 8 years in our state where taxes and fees were raised on the people of New Jersey 115 times. We had 8 years where state spending went up 56 percent. We had a governor who was out of control, in your pockets, blocking your way and your children’s way to a better future.”
Since taking office Christie said, “We haven’t raised taxes once, not once…”
“In fact we cut taxes $2.3 bill for businesses in our state and we cut taxes on the working poor by 50 percent because everyone in New Jersey needs a hand up to have a better future for their children and their grandchildren,” he said. “In the last 5 ½ years, New Jerseyans have created $192,000 new private sector jobs when the government got out of their way and let you take charge of building the economy that’s the same thing we are going to do for the United States of America.”
As for his specific and detailed campaign strategy, an about face from the last time he ran for office, he said the American people have ‘the absolute right to know what direction we want to take the country if you are asking them to lead the country.”
Christie, who made the cut for participation in the Thursday night’s Fox Media sponsored debate in Cleveland, said “We’ll not only bring our ideas to the campaign and to the White House, we’re going to bring a little Jersey to the campaign and the White House.
“This adventure begins where it began,” he said. “We are going to bring our approach, our ideas, our leadership, and yeah a little Jersey-style to the other 49 states in this country.”
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