Chris Christie came out swinging Saturday at Marco Rubio in the Republican presidential debate by attacking the Florida senator in a heated exchange in which the New Jersey governor eventually said, "He gets very ugly when he gets off his talking points."
"You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable," Christie told the Florida senator during the debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. "You just simply haven't.
"And the fact is, when you talk about Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments, you weren't even there to vote for it.
"That's not leadership," Christie said. "That's truancy."
Rubio hit back, saying that New Jersey's credit rating had been downgraded nine times under Christie — and later that he "had to be shamed" into returning to the state after a snowstorm last month.
"Here's the bottom line," Rubio said. "This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing … ."
"There it is. There it is," Christie interrupted. "The memorized 25-second speech."
"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 are never been responsible for that in your entire life."
"You said you weren't going to go back," Rubio said. "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, clean it up with a mop?"
Christie then said, "He gets very ugly when he gets off his talking points."
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