Chris Christie Cautions GOP From Hyperbolic Rhetoric On Iran Nuclear Deal

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie cautioned fellow Republicans from being overly hyperbolic in reaction to President Obama’s proposed deal with Iran, explaining that they were only giving the president an “escape hatch” from talking about his failure to get a good deal.

“There are so many substantive things to talk about in this agreement, I think we distract from our effectiveness in opposing the agreement by being hyperbolic,” he said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News last week in New Hampshire. “I think what we need to be is factual.”

Christie has made his opposition to the deal a central focus of his campaign, running ads on Fox News and in New Hampshire explaining his opposition to the deal.

In the ad, Christie accuses President Obama of conceding to the Iranians instead of walking away from the deal, like President Ronald Reagan did in during the Reykjavik summit with the Soviet Union.

“This was negotiated so badly that you wouldn’t let this President buy a car for you at a car dealership,” Christie says in the ad. “Now, he’s lying to the American people about how the deal’s going to work.”

Christie explained that he wanted to focus on the president’s poor negotiating performance.

“I want to talk about serious deficiencies from the agreement, which the president doesn’t want to talk about,” he said.

In Africa last week, Obama slammed Republicans like Governor Mike Huckabee for saying the deal would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven,” Sen. Tom Cotton for comparing Secretary of John Kerry to Pontius Pilate, and Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting that he was endorsing Iran’s sponsorship of terror.

Christie pointed out that Obama was using Republican rhetoric from opponents of the deal to distract from his own failings.

“I think any hyperbolic rhetoric just distracts from having the substantive argument …
it lets the president go off on a toot in Africa, and not talk about the substance of the deal and talk about other things,” Christie said. “Why would we ever let him do that? Because that’s his escape hatch from how bad this deal is.”