New Jersey Governor Chris Christie challenged former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for his meandering answers on whether, as president, he would have taken the nation to war in Iraq.
“You have to answer simply and directly on this stuff,” Christie said, during an radio interview with conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham.
Christie admitted that Jeb Bush’s brother President George W. Bush probably made the correct decision to invade Iraq at the time, based on the intelligence he was given, but that proved to be faulty. In hindsight, Christie added, it probably wasn’t the right decision, knowing what we know now.
“I think the only common sense answer to give, an honest answer to give, is if we knew then that there was no weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq that would threaten the United States National Security, that we would not have put American men and women in harms way in Iraq,” he said.
Christie ridiculed Jeb Bush for his multiple, meandering responses to the questions of whether the war in Iraq was a good idea.
“I understand that in politics sometimes there are certain questions that you just don’t want to answer, but I think you have to answer questions like this,” Christie said. “These are questions of extraordinary importance to the country and if you’re considering running for president, you need to answer the question.”
Christie mocked Bush for bragging that he gave better access to the press than Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“Listen, if the bar your comparing yourself to is – are you more accessible than Hillary Clinton, that’s a fairly low bar,” he said, boasting about his own record of doing more honest more open town halls.