{"id":27440,"date":"2016-01-30T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T14:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=27440"},"modified":"2016-01-30T09:12:42","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T15:12:42","slug":"gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Martin<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAVENPORT, Iowa —<\/strong> Just three days before Iowans make their choices for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told supporters and undecided residents of this Mississippi River town that he is the candidate who will \u201ctell is like it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need a president who is steeped in Washington talk, because it\u2019s what driving us crazy,\u201d Christie said to a largely middle-aged crowd at St. Ambrose University. \u201cIt\u2019s Washington talk that is making everyone in this country angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Exhibit A, he pointed to Thursday night’s debate and the struggles of two of his Washington-based rivals, Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz , to explain their shifting views on immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat performance last night was pitiful,” Christie said. “You\u2019re not going to get that from me tonight.\u201d
\n
\n

\"Campaign<\/a>
Click here to check out all of Medill Reports’ coverage of the Iowa Caucus and the road to the white house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Trailing badly in recent Iowa polls that show him with only two percent support, Christie showed off his policy chops when a volunteer from Take a Stand \u2013 an advocacy group for social security reform – asked his views on the federal retirement program.<\/p>\n

He said he was the \u201conly candidate with any kind of reform plan\u201d and explained part of his 12-part plan that he says would save \u201cover a trillion dollars.\u201d It would also raise the retirement age, a point of contention among some soon-to-be seniors. Christie proposed cutting Medicare subsidies to 10 percent for citizens who earn more than $200,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living 15 to 20 years beyond what the government can support,\u201d Christie said.<\/p>\n

When asked what his healthcare plan would look like, Christie promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has added more than 17 million Americans to the insurance rolls. Christie would allow states to create their own health care systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot have a national solution to healthcare,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n

The former federal prosecutor promised to enforce federal marijuana laws, but he quickly turned to the need for drug treatment, relating a story he often tells about the danger and allure of narcotics.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrug addiction is a disease,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not a moral failing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seated on a stool in front of his audience, Christie described a law school friend who had been badly injured and needed Percocet to cope. The friend got hooked on Percocet and overdosed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can happen to anyone,\u201d he said, adding that addiction “doesn\u2019t discriminate.\u201d<\/p>\n

If elected as the 45th president, Christie wants to offer treatment options rather than incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.<\/p>\n

Several of Christie\u2019s other goals, including defunding Planned Parenthood, drew applause while others drew laughs. If China ever hacks into U.S. servers again, he said he will would authorize a cyber invasion of his own, instructing his \u201ccyber warriors\u201d to find China\u2019s most embarrassing secrets and publishing them on the front page of The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Christie also warned that the country was heading into a \u201cPost-American era\u201d \u2013 one in which the U.S. doesn\u2019t lead the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

While there were strong Christie supporters in the crowd, many came into the meeting with open minds, knowing very little about Christie and his policies.<\/p>\n

Iowan Brenda Grunder has attended rallies for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Christie was her first Republican presidential candidate. Before the meeting, Grunder didn\u2019t know how to read Christie, saying he came off \u201cin a variety of ways.”<\/p>\n

Tamara James, interim state director of AARP in Ohio and a member of Take a Stand, is also making the rounds. Given her interest in the embattled social security program, she was listening carefully.<\/p>\n

After hearing Christie\u2019s plan, James said she was \u201cvery interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate that he goes on the record,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The town hall meeting was Christie’s fourth of a busy day, with Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses looming on Monday night. As the gathering came to a close, Christie only asked for their vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of you who want to win the game,\u201d Christie said, \u201cwe need to put real players in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Gov. Chris Christie speaks to Iowan voters in Davenport. (Alison Martin\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Martin DAVENPORT, Iowa — Just three days before Iowans make their choices for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told supporters and undecided residents of this Mississippi River town that he is the candidate who will \u201ctell is like it is.\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t need a president who is steeped in Washington talk, because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":27460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,766,30,978,585],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-27440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-election2016","category-public-affairs","category-iowa-caucuses","category-winter-2016","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nGov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alison Martin DAVENPORT, Iowa — Just three days before Iowans make their choices for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told supporters and undecided residents of this Mississippi River town that he is the candidate who will \u201ctell is like it is.\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t need a president who is steeped in Washington talk, because […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-30T14:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-30T15:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alisonmartin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alisonmartin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-30T14:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-30T15:12:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/b6d8b8efab1cb1b1ae38f8d83c771a1b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg\",\"width\":3264,\"height\":2448,\"caption\":\"Gov. Chris Christie speaks to Iowan voters in Davenport.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/b6d8b8efab1cb1b1ae38f8d83c771a1b\",\"name\":\"alisonmartin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/943dbbdfe8582962490ddb378bd125698ec437cddec377906d0507e155f7b894?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/943dbbdfe8582962490ddb378bd125698ec437cddec377906d0507e155f7b894?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"alisonmartin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alisonmartin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Alison Martin DAVENPORT, Iowa — Just three days before Iowans make their choices for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told supporters and undecided residents of this Mississippi River town that he is the candidate who will \u201ctell is like it is.\u201d \u201cWe don\u2019t need a president who is steeped in Washington talk, because […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-01-30T14:59:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-30T15:12:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3264,"height":2448,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alisonmartin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alisonmartin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/","name":"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019 - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-30T14:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-30T15:12:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/b6d8b8efab1cb1b1ae38f8d83c771a1b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/IMG_3208.jpg","width":3264,"height":2448,"caption":"Gov. Chris Christie speaks to Iowan voters in Davenport."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/gov-chris-christie-pushes-policy-calls-for-end-to-washington-talk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gov. Chris Christie pushes policy, calls for end to \u2018Washington talk\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/b6d8b8efab1cb1b1ae38f8d83c771a1b","name":"alisonmartin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/943dbbdfe8582962490ddb378bd125698ec437cddec377906d0507e155f7b894?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/943dbbdfe8582962490ddb378bd125698ec437cddec377906d0507e155f7b894?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"alisonmartin"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alisonmartin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}