Jindal Joins Democrats in Criticizing Christie Outburst

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “bully” image is coming under bipartisan attack this week, as the likely 2016 hopeful is crisscrossing the nation this weekend in a final campaign to help elect Republican governors before Tuesday’s midterm elections.

An incident Wednesday when the outspoken governor told a protester to “sit down and shut up” at an event marking the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy quickly became cable news fodder and fed into Democratic attacks. But it has also exposed a gap on his right flank, with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal distancing himself from Christie on Fox News Friday. “I do things differently,” Jindal, another likely presidential candidate said. “Look here in the South we do things maybe a little differently.”

As host Neil Cavuto pressed, Jindal continued his critique. “Chris can explain his own words,” he said. “I did say after the last presidential election, if we want voters to like us, we have got to like them first.”

There is little love lost between the two ambitious governors, who clashed over the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association, and Christie’s brash persona has been essential to his political identity on the national stage. His clashes with public employees as he pushed through pension reform legislation in his first term made him a household name across the country.

Meanwhile, Democratic opposition research group American Bridge released a video Thursday collecting many of Christie’s outbursts.