Christie and Paul were on the national stage. The debate was broadcast globally. This was one for the ages!
Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) got into a verbal brawl with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over government surveillance that shook the rafters on Thursday evening during the first Republican presidential debate of the 2016. Even viewers using Twitter pulled for their candidate with some heated tweets:
@RandPaul You cut down @ChrisChristie for THANKING @POTUS for coming to see about NJ citizens? You are SAD! @cspanwj
— MiMi (@flint1963) August 7, 2015
@RandPaul Nice job owning Chris Christie. You are a most intelligent and clever fellow. With cool hair, to boot. Kinda like Buzz Osbourne
— Ben Foerg is Absurd (@bfoerg) August 7, 2015
Someone needs to teach @RandPaul the difference between “less” and “fewer”. @FoxNews #FoxDebate @ChrisChristie
— Furious Nation (@FuriousNation) August 7, 2015
OK, for a minute there last night I thought that Chris Christie was going to eat Rand Paul. #GOPdebate
— Kenneth McLaurin (@MclaurinKenneth) August 7, 2015
Paul criticized Christie’s call for the government to increase the powers of U.S. intelligence agencies, while Christie challenged Paul’s role in the Senate as grandstanding.
“I want to collect more records from terrorists but less records from innocent Americans,” said Paul, the Senate’s most prominent libertarian.
That’s a “completely ridiculously answer,” responded Christie, a former U.S. attorney who encouraged prosecution of cases involved powers used under the Patriot Act. “How are you supposed to know?”
“You support the Fourth Amendment!” Paul yelled in response. “Get a warrant! Get a judge to sign a warrant!”
“You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights,” Paul said. “Every time you filed a case, you got a warrant from a judge.”
“I don’t trust [President] Obama with our records,” the Kentucky lawmaker added. “I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, you go right ahead.”
Christie also blasted Paul for taking an academic tone on the issue while Christie himself had been in the field pursuing terrorists.
“When you’re sitting in a subcommittee just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like this,” Christie charged.
“You know the hugs that I remember: the hugs that I gave to the people who lost their families on Sept. 11, and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you’re doing,” he added, referring to Paul having temporarily killed a portion of the Patriot Act earlier this year, which his presidential campaign promoted heavily.
Check out this fiery exchange:
These two have certainly had their differences in the past which came to light front and center last night. Who do you think won this exchange? Comment below and ask your friends on Twitter and Facebook!
(H/T) – Fox News Youtube
