I had a lot to come back from. I mean, you know, the fact is that I didn't have the greatest year in the year before, and so you, so you needed to reintroduce yourself to people. And that's a process. But I always had confidence that if I spent the time up here and more people got to see me, the more they got to know me, they'd remember why they liked me. And I think that's what we see happening.

Chris Christie

Categorized in : Politics

We need a president who is going to understand what actionable intelligence looks like and act on it. And we need a president and a cabinet who understands that the first and most important priority of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of Americans.

Chris Christie

priorities safety president

The three top issues have to be restoring jobs and private sector job growth to our country, getting the entitlement mess under control, and restoring back to our country a sense of self-confidence that Americans can achieve whatever we want to achieve.

Chris Christie

self-confidence jobs country

I am pro-life, I believe in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That's my position, take it or leave it.

Chris Christie

pro-life mother believe

I am not going to make any commitments to the teachers union to do anything until they do something that's other than in their own self-interest. And everything they have done so far is in their self-interests, and that's it.

Chris Christie

self teacher commitment

The message [of Donald Trump ] is that if anybody lives in those circumstances in this country, that's something that the government should be working to try to change.

Chris Christie

government trying country

I would rather die than be in the United States Senate. I would be bored to death. Could you imagine me, banging around that chamber with 99 other people, asking for a motion on the amendment in the subcommittee? Forget it...You'd watch me just walk out and walk right into the Potomac River and drown. That would be it.

Chris Christie

leadership work reality

I feel passionately about issues, and I don't hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now that has always made some people, you know, uneasy. Some people like that style, some people don't. [...] But I am not a bully.

Chris Christie

issues party blow

I believe we have become paralyzed, paralyzed by our desire to be loved. Now our founding fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity were fleeing, and that this country's principles needed to be rooted in strengths greater than the passions and the emotions of the times.

Chris Christie

believe country father

And the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me though was this one. She told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected. Now she said to always pick being respected.

Chris Christie

lessons mom would-be

They said it was impossible to touch the third rail of politics, to take on public-sector unions and to reform a pension and health benefits system that was headed to bankruptcy. But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions. We did it.

Chris Christie

reform health years

No parent at home is saying my gosh, if we can just get a higher minimum wage, all of our aspirations have been realized.

Chris Christie

minimum-wage parent home

If you're sick, take your sick day. If you don't take your sick day, know what your reward is? You weren't sick - that was the reward.

Chris Christie

rewards sick ifs

The truth was you can't continue to spend the kind of money our spending on all these entitlement programs. I think we need more people in public life who are willing to say, no, we can't afford certain things. No, we can't do certain things.

Chris Christie

people needs thinking

And Donald Trump is not going to give in to the special interests in this country, like the teachers' union, who say that substandard education in our urban areas can only be fixed by giving it more money and that that's all they're going to do about it and not change the underlying problems that we have on violence.

Chris Christie

teacher giving country

I don't compromise my principles for politics.

Chris Christie

compromise principles

Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution.

Chris Christie

selfish sacrifice hurt

The President's biggest problem right now is he's gotta tell the truth. And we've seen this in New Jersey. I've told lots of hard truths in New Jersey that people didn't necessarily agree with, but they give you credit for looking them in the eye and telling them the truth.

Chris Christie

health eye leadership

We need to support our police officers and make sure that community policing becomes something that becomes the standard across the country.

Chris Christie

support community country

Everyone wants to demagogue everyone else. That may be good politics, but it's awful policy.

Chris Christie

awful want may

Someone has to stay on the line and say, no, we can do this by cutting spending and reducing the size of government. That's what I was committed to doing.

Chris Christie

lines cutting government