Some of Chris Christie's political allies have a telling way of describing the man who has become the most talked-about candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, even though he's adamant he's not running.
They have in recent times called the New Jersey governor "a bully and a punk", "vindictive", "deranged" and "a rotten prick".
Then there are Christie's political enemies – and that's how many regard themselves, not merely as opponents. They describe the governor, who claims to be the leader who can reach across the ideological divide and break the partisan deadlock in Washington, as conducting a "rule of anger", of having "a remarkable inability to have a civil dialogue" and of using his powers as an "instrument of revenge and rebuke". He has also been derided as "the king of liars".
Christie burst into the race for the presidential nomination, even without declaring his intention to run, with a speech at the Reagan Library in California last week that electrified many conservatives who fear their party's existing crop of candidates – led by Rick Perry and Mitt Romney – are not cutting it. » | Chris McGreal in Trenton, New Jersey | Saturday, October 01, 2011
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