Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie is keeping the pressure on Marco Rubio, arguing Monday that last weekend’s GOP presidential debate exposed his glaring weaknesses.
“I don’t think there’s anybody — even his most loyal donors — who think he’s the most electable now,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
{mosads}“I think what Saturday night showed was when the lights get really bright, one of two things happen — you either shine or you melt,” Christie said of the debate at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, N.H.
“[Rubio] gets told what to say and he just repeats it. That’s what he does. He’s scripted, and he’s not spontaneous, you know, he’s not a leader.”
The New Jersey governor fiercely attacked Rubio during the debate on Saturday night, calling him a scripted candidate without the qualifications to be president.
“There it is, the memorized 25-second speech,” Christie quipped after one of Rubio’s answers.
Christie said Rubio should have better prepared for their confrontation given that he had telegraphed his attacks beforehand.
“It wasn’t like I came at him that hard, or it wasn’t a sucker punch,” he said. “I was telling him all week. It wasn’t like Saturday should have been some big surprise.
“Here’s the thing — that great political philosopher Mike Tyson, he had a great saying,” Christie added, referencing the retired heavyweight boxing champion. “He said, ‘Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face.’ “
Christie added that a rough GOP presidential primary is vital for fielding the strongest opponent against Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton next November.
“What the Republican Party wants more than anything else is to get the presidency back,” he said. “If we want to get the presidency back, we have to nominate someone who is going to go on that stage against Hillary Clinton and do the very same thing to her that happened to Marco Rubio on Saturday night.”