Christie’s epitaph
by digby
Is there anyone in the GOP race who is poor enough to hang this around his neck?
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat are not wealthy, according to them and them only. Never mind that their $700,000 income last year puts them easily in the top one percent of earners. That’s not how Christie defines wealth. “Wealth is defined a whole bunch of ways,” Christie said in an interview with the editorial board of the Manchester Union-Leader. Wealth is a feeling, and he just does not have that feeling.
The reason Christie does not feel wealthy is that he has four children, he said, and that he has worked “really hard.” Also, other people don’t think of him as wealthy, he argues, and therefore, he is not wealthy.
The subject came up because the Christies, along with the rest of America, filed taxes last week. But Christie, unlike the rest of America, reported earnings of $700,000, a figure that puts him pretty solidly in one percent land.
“The fact that my wife and I, who are not wealthy by current standards, that we have to file a tax return that’s that thick … is insane,” Christie told the editorial board. “We don’t have nearly that much money.”
He doesn’t “feel” wealthy making only 700k a year. Just like the average All-American Joe he is.
Now New Jersey does boast the second highest median income in the country. It’s 71,000 a year. So, except for that one little zero, Christie right in line with his constituents. Or, you could say that except for the extra 630,000 he makes he’s right in line with his constituents.
But he deserves it. Because he works that much harder.
.