Christie At Town Hall: Don't Expect My Political Style To Ever Be 'Vanilla'
OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A teacher is urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to tone down his combative personality, warning the potential presidential contender that his temper won't play well across the country.
The comment came Tuesday as Christie took questions at a town hall in Old Bridge.
The teacher says she has trouble explaining to her students why it's fine for the governor to use words like "shut up" and "idiot" when they can't.
Christie responded by explaining that people are looking for honestly in their leaders, and he said people will always know where he stands.
"To the extent that people are looking for me to do that, to be kind of vanilla, plain, even like that, it's not going to be me," Christie said, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
Christie attributed his outbursts to having a bad day or a bad moment, like he says everyone sometimes has.
He jokingly defended his tactic of name calling.
"There are just some times when you look at somebody, and there's just no other word left," the governor said.
Christie has been touring New Jersey pressing his proposal to further overhaul the state's pension and health benefit system for public workers.
The governor is weighing a run for the GOP presidential nomination. He said he'll announce whether he's running in the next couple of months.
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