"Given my last position, that I was the first U.S. attorney post-9/11 in New Jersey, I understand acutely the pain and sorrow and upset of the family members who lost loved ones that day at the hands of radical Muslim extremists. And their sensitivities and concerns have to be taken into account. Just because it's nearly nine years later, those sensitivities cannot and should not be ignored."On the other hand, we cannot paint all of Islam with that brush. ... We have to bring people together. And what offends me the most about all this, is that it's being used as a political football by both parties. And what disturbs me about the president's remarks is that he is now using it as a political football as well. I think the president of the United States should rise above that. And should not be using this as a political football, and I don't believe that it would be responsible of me to get involved and comment on this any further because it just put me in the same political arena as all of them." -Chris Christie, Republican Governor of New Jersey.
I don't think that the President is playing football nearly as much as folks like Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin, but Christie's point is still a very valid one. Kudos to him.
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Photo: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger
