Chris Christie went after Marco Rubio with a vengeance during Saturday's debate, and nowhere was that more evident than during Marco's scripted answer to a question about why another first-term senator should be the next President of the United States. That was the same one where he repeated himself four separate times about how President Obama knew what he was doing.
Christie repeatedly hit Rubio on his "memorized 25-second speech," which Media Matters notes is a speech lifted straight from Glenn Beck's radio show.
Indeed, as Media Matters Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone pointed out, Rubio's comments echo Glenn Beck's oft-repeated claim that President Obama was engaged in the "fundamental transformation of America," deliberately trying to damage the country so he could "chang[e] America into something other than it always has been."
Christie was out for blood, and he got enough of it to render Marco into a walking zombie by the end of the exchange.
Here's part of the transcript, via Time.com:
CHRISTIE: There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.
RUBIO: Well, that’s the — that’s the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion — I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we’re going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows what he is doing. That’s why he’s done the things he’s done.
That’s why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he’s done to America is deliberate. This is a president that’s trying to redefine this country. That’s why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake.
This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I’m elected.
MUIR: Governor Christie, we will — we will…
BUSH: Chris, why don’t you mention my name so I can get into this.
CHRISTIE: You know what the shame is — you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you’ve never been responsible for that in your entire life.
RUBIO: Chris, you didn’t want to go back. You didn’t want to go back.
(APPLAUSE)
CHRISTIE: And the fact is, I went back, it got done and here’s…
RUBIO: You didn’t want to go back, Chris.
CHRISTIE: Oh, so — wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don’t think it is.
RUBIO: Chris, everybody — you said you weren’t going to go back. He told everyone he wasn’t going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding?
CHRISTIE: It gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points.
MUIR: Governor Christie — thank you, Governor. I will mention — listen…
RUBIO: … It’s your record, it’s not a talking point…
MEOWWWWW.
