Love him or hate him, Christie quit with grace

It was in the middle of our show yesterday when word came down officially that Governor Christie called it quits for his presidential run. Chris Christie has always been one of those figures that parts a crowd like the Red Sea; you're either on one side or the other, love him or hate him, no in between. Lately more people are hating him. He's used to it.

I never saw him as "one of us" the way many people did. I always saw him as a master political craftsman that could hold an audience spellbound and give the appearance of the 'everyman'. I greatly supported some of the things he's done. I greatly disapproved of others. I voted for him in his re-election bid.

Then came Bridgegate. The denials. The Mastro whitewash. Unbecoming of someone with his political talent. Was it the biggest thing that sank him so deeply when just 4 years ago he was the GOP's shining star? It will be forever hard to quantify.

I will tell you this though. We should be very proud of how he ended things. He knew when it was time to leave the race, and he did so with respect and grace. Yesterday afternoon he put out this statement. As you read it, I want you to think about how Donald Trump acted after coming in 2nd place in the Iowa caucuses.

"I ran for president with the message that the government needs to once again work for the people, not the people work for the government. And while running for president I tried to reinforce what I have always believed - that speaking your mind matters, that experience matters, that competence matters and that it will always matter in leading our nation. That message was heard by and stood for by a lot of people, but just not enough and that’s ok. I have both won elections that I was supposed to lose and I’ve lost elections I was supposed to win and what that means is you never know what will happen. That is both the magic and the mystery of politics - you never quite know when which is going to happen, even when you think you do. And so today, I leave the race without an ounce of regret. I’m so proud of the campaign we ran, the people that ran it with me and all those who gave us their support and confidence along the way. Mary Pat and I thank you for the extraordinary display of loyalty, friendship, understanding and love." - Chris Christie

Compare that to Donald Trump's temper tantrum at coming in second to Ted Cruz in Iowa. His bitter griping of how Ted Cruz stole the Iowa caucuses, stole votes from Ben Carson, sent out "voter violation" notices (it's called slick, creative marketing that only an idiot would actually think was real, and you should know Donald, you've been a slick marketer your whole life), and demanded the results of the Iowa caucuses be thrown out.

Basically Governor Christie bowed out with the style and grace of a Peyton Manning whereas Donald Trump finished second in Iowa with the childish petulance of a Cam Newton. On this level, Chris Christie was a clear winner.