Newest GOP presidential contender Gov. Chris Christie has a "big problem" in a Republican field of current and former state executives whose records on jobs, taxes and regulation outshine that of the blue-state governor, former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey tells
Newsmax TV.
In a panel discussion led by Newsmax Prime host J.D. Hayworth on Tuesday, McCaughey said Christie will have little trouble "garnering attention."
"Even in this crowded field he's brash, he's big, he's bold and he's irresistibly likeable," she said. "But here is the problem: There are six governors in this mix and some of them have very strong records of job growth, lowering taxes, reducing regulation, promoting fossil fuel energy growth."
"He doesn't have that because he's in a blue state and it is still blue even with Chris Christie as governor and that's a big problem," she said.
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on
DIRECTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
But David Goodfriend, the former deputy staff secretary to President Bill Clinton, said Christie's politics are the problem.
"The question I have is whether a relatively —and I say relative to the rest of the field —relatively moderate Republican from a blue state can actually win the Republican nomination in this day and age," he said. "The nomination is going to go to a more conservative person from a more conservative state and that will ironically pose a greater problem for the Republican Party in the general election."
McCaughey also slammed NBC's duplicitous action against GOP contender Donald Trump, saying she found it laughable the network
severed its ties with Trump's Miss Universe pageant because of disparaging remarks he made about Mexico in his campaign announcement speech.
"I laughed my guts out when I heard that NBC was worried about what Donald Trump said. NBC, that hires the biggest, racist demagogue of them all, Al Sharpton," she charged.
Goodfriend noted, however, Sharpton, though controversial, is "not running for president."
"The bigger question is can somebody who is wearing two hats at the same time really function," he added. "Donald Trump is a very wealthy man with a lot of business interests. He's trying to operate those businesses at the same time that he's running for president … and the things he says to win votes among conservatives in the Republican primary are harming his business interest. Maybe he doesn't care but he's wearing two hats at the moment, and that can get very awkward."
The panel also sparred on President Barack Obama's proposal to make millions of salaried workers eligible for overtime pay, with McCaughey predicting a "devastating" effect on job growth if the plan goes through.
"Every time you add regulations that make it more expensive for employers to hire, they hire fewer people, they hire more part-time people and here's the problem: we have a president currently in office and a woman running for president and both of them have absolutely no experience running anything," she said.
"Mrs. [Hilary] Clinton couldn't run a gas station and that's the problem," McCaughey added. "Anyone whose run a business of any size knows that regulation destroys job growth and that's what we need in this country."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.