Chris Christie Condemns Nikki Haley’s Slavery Remarks: ‘She’s Not a Racist, It’s Worse in Some Respects’
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie condemned primary rival Nikki Haley’s remarks about the Civil War and slavery on Thursday, though stated that he didn’t believe Haley had “a racist bone in her body.”
During a New Hampshire town hall of his own on Thursday, Christie addressed Haley’s controversial comments in Berlin, New Hampshire the day prior.
“If someone asked me what the cause of the Civil War was, it’s easy. It’s slavery,” declared Christie, who added that while he had stood up for Haley in the past “because she’s been my friend for 13 years,” he could not defend her in this instance:
She didn’t say what she said last night and today about this because she’s dumb. She’s not, she’s smart and she knows better. And she didn’t say it because she’s a racist, because she’s not. I know her well and I don’t believe Nikki has a racist bone in her body. But for purposes, this race, the reason she did it is just as bad, if not worse, and should make everybody concerned about her candidacy. She did it because she’s unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth, and so she isn’t willing to say the same things about abortion in New Hampshire that she says in Iowa because she doesn’t want to offend people in Iowa who have a different feeling than people in New Hampshire. But then she comes to New Hampshire, she doesn’t want to offend them either.And she’s unwilling to tell the truth about Donald Trump. She says he was the right president for the right time.
Christie argued that if Haley is “unwilling to stand up and say that slavery is what caused the Civil War because she’s afraid of offending constituents in some other part of the country,” she would be similarly unwilling to stand up for the country as president.
“She’s not a racist, it’s worse in some respects,” he continued. “When you want to be president, it’s worse to be able to be dishonest with people, and that’s what’s happening here, she’s holding back.”
Christie concluded, “I’m sure Nikki will see this, so I want to talk directly to her, okay. The Civil War was not a choice between change and tradition. It was a choice between right and wrong, and that’s it, and we got to stand on the side of right.”
Asked during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire on Wednesday, “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?” Haley replied, “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was gonna run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”
After her comments received heavy backlash, Haley said on Thursday, “Of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that that’s unquestioned. Always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery. But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government.”
Watch above via Chris Christie.
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