Christie Fires Up Republicans In Boston

Governor Christie sounds a lot like candidate Christie during a speech before the Republican National Committee's summer meeting in Boston.

The Governor, seen as a possible candidate for the 2016 presidential race, attempted to get the GOP to stand up for its beliefs and act upon them in the speech at the Westin Waterfront hotel in Boston which got a standing ovation according to the Boston Herald.

“See, I’m in this business to win. I’m in it to win. I think that we have some folks who believe that our job is to be college professors. College professors are fine I guess," Christie said according to an account of the meeting provided to Time magazine. "Being a college professor is — they basically spout out ideas, but nobody ever does anything about them. For our ideas to matter we have to win. Because if we don’t win, we don’t govern. And if we don’t govern, all we do is shout into the wind.”

He welcomes discourse from the moderate wing of the party and believes Republicans are “bound for defeat” if voters require a candidate to agree with them on every issue.

Christie's speech, officially delivered behind closed doors but recorded by some in attendance, took a shots at Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who called the party "stupid" at the RNC Winter Meeting according to Politico.

“I’m not going to be one of these people who’s going to come and call our party stupid,” Christie said. “There’s nothing wrong with our party and its principles and its core. We’ve got to get back to deciding that the RNC is about electing Republicans.”

“In New Jersey, that bully is the New Jersey Education Association.”

The governor also brought up his battle with the New Jersey Educators Association and fellow govenor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin)'s union issues. "When you come to a new school yard and you’re the new kid in school – like you are when you’re the governor and you come to Trenton for the first time — and you walk onto the school yard and you see a bunch of people lying on the ground bloody and beaten up, and you see one person standing there with their arms folded across their chest staring at you. That’s the bully,” he added. “In New Jersey, that bully is the New Jersey Education Association.”

The speech generally got praise from attendees. “His style is really good,” Ron Kaufman, a Republican National Committeeman from Massachusetts told the Boston Herald.   “It works in New Jersey, it works in this room.”  Texas Republican chairman Steve Munisteri told Politico. “He made the case for why he is electable, so you saw the foreshadowing of 2016. He didn’t say he was running, but I took all that to mean, ‘I’m going to run in 2016 and I’ve demonstrated a winning formula. If you want to win and don’t just care about ideology, I’m your candidate.’”

Christie went out a back exit but still ran into some reporters. He told a WFXT TV reporter that the party "gotta get back to winning" before heading off.