Chris Christie's 'Macaca Moment' on Health Care

New Jersey's off-year gubernatorial race has been pretty boring for outsiders, except for maybe the TV ad accusing Chris Christie, the Republican nominee, of "throwing his weight around." (Christie's on the heavy side.)

The ad was supposed to draw attention to the fact that Christie got away with some pretty obscene driving offenses, but really, no one cares about that stuff. New Jersey's race isn't about driving, it isn't about corruption, it isn't about President Obama -- it's about the state economy and taxes. The inability of Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, to find his footing on the economy has made him deeply unpopular for a long, long time. Pundits believe he's a surefire loser.

So do national Republicans. According to U.S. News & World Report, GOP strategists in Washington will milk a Corzine loss for all its worth, trying to delay the vote on health care reform in order to "[scare] moderate Democrats away from the Obama plan as they worry about their own re-election in 2010."

But like a lot of other outsiders, the Republicans in Washington haven't been watching this race closely enough.

If they had been, they'd know that the Christie camp is deeply concerned about the health care debate hurting their candidate. A little more than a week ago, while the rest of the country was buzzing about the 'Look At That Fat Guy' ad, Corzine also started airing a TV spot informing voters that Christie supports health insurance companies who deny coverage for mammograms.

The ad must have hurt in the Republicans' polling, because in no time at all, Christie -- long the frontrunner in this race -- was forced to play defense.

In light of Christie's response, the Star-Ledger says Corzine's ad "happens to be true."

Final word on this? No way. Christie, when questioned by a cancer survivor, was emphatic when explaining why insurance companies should deny mammograms to young women. The cancer survivor tells him that in fact she had been diagnosed with cancer in her twenties. To that, Christie continues to defend the health insurance companies -- and even gets nasty and dismissive with the woman -- insisting that dropping mammograms is A-OK because "that's an exception."

This is Christie's 'macaca moment,' unleashing his nasty side to show people what Republicans really think about providing all Americans with decent, quality health care. He's saying that insured or not -- if you're a young woman who wants a mammogram, a health insurance company shouldn't have to pay because "that's an exception."

Christie's nasty attitude and dismissive tone toward the cancer survivor only makes it worse for him. In July, I wrote that Republicans were endangering Christie -- perhaps their only rising star in the Northeast -- by stalling the health care reform vote and carrying the debate into October. That was before the rancor and lies of August. New Jersey is still a very blue state, with many more Democratic-leaning independents than Republican ones. The GOP's angry rhetoric toward the President and his efforts to reform the health care system do not endear Republicans to these voters -- voters Christie needs to win this election.

Now Christie is on film, getting short with someone for daring to question the whims of the health care industry. He's going to have a tough time not looking like just another anti-reform Republican, disdainful for the economic concerns of average citizens just trying to stay healthy.

If Corzine plays his cards right, Christie will have a hell of a time keeping voters focused on the issues he wants. Christie will win this race if GOP opposition to health care reform doesn't become the leading issue; he may even win it if it does. But if Republicans in Washington believe they can continue their antics without paying the price for it, they may soon think again.

 

Follow John R. Bohrer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JRBwrites

Comments

[FCruz12780]

Too late.

[born right]

Chris Christie couldn't even get elected to be a Freeholder in his OWN COUNTY!!! If we didn't want him in Morris County, why would you want him as governor?

[littlepuffycloud]

Ummmm...he doesn't look like anyone I'd want to be preached to about healthcare....I can imagine him saying 'Pass the mashed taters and don't forget the gravy.'

[sparky09]

This joker is talking down to a cancer survivor about health care? He reminds me of 'the Buttertons' commercial on the teevee machine, eating a stick of butter in every dish.

[lincutious]

I think I understand what he's trying to say; instead of mandating that every procedure be covered, (very expensive) we have a system that would somehow reduce the starting level costs of health insurance by having standards of age, and whatever other triggers can be pulled from medical statistics. These would be used to set up different levels of coverage dependent on the norms for each trigger type.
Of course there would have to be provision for the coverage of illnesses which are statistically rare compared to the triggers used to set the policy up. I'll have to ponder that before further comment.

I'm not very knowledgeable on health care inner workings, I'm sure it shows.

[larmarch5]

Well he certainly blew that. Simple answer: Ma'am I'm sorry to hear about your problem. Certainly, it should be up to your daughter's doctor to decide if she should have a mammogram, and he would probably require it since there is a family history.

[nwmother]

Pay your income-specific premium directly to the government rather than an insurance company. They'll take 4% to cover overhead and the rest will go to the doctor(s) of your choosing for care that directly benefits you. Insurance companies do nothing that involves actual health care; they merely take your money, skim 30% off the top, tell you what care is eligible for compensation, and pass the payments on to a doctor in their network after his staff fills out a buttload of paperwork. Then you get a bill for your portion of the care above what you pay in premiums and copays!?! Why do we pay middlemen in order to receive care? The system is broken, single payer fixes it.
Medicare for everyone!!!

[Rory Ryan]

I think what's going on here is that the man's position on covering mamagrams is being taken out of context. It's not like he's advocating that mamagrams get dropped just for the heck of it. Not covering mamagrams would make insurance more affordable for people who currently have no insurance at all. I happen to disagree with Chris Chrisite on this issue ( I do think Mamagrams should be mandated), but a lot of people are twisting his position into something it's not for political purposes.

[Michael Valentine]

Not covering doctors visits would make health insurance more affordable too. But what good would it be to have an insurance policy that doesn't cover one of the leading causes of death by cancer for women? Or do you think that it would be cheaper to treat the advanced cancer rather then to catch it early?

[nwmother]

Reminds me of Senator Kyl's remark about not covering prenatal care because he doesn't need it...clueless...

[larmarch5]

Well that would leave all the resources for ventilators and feeding tubes to keep you alive after denying you basic care.

[truthglow]

Anyone who can allow themselves to become as morbidly obese as Chris Christie, without taking some kind of action, has a big problem, and I cannot trust that person to become Governor of my State of NJ. If one cannot take care of one's own body, one cannot take care of an entire state!!!!!

[BlueFloyd]

Jeb Bush for President!!!

(hot wings are on me)

[Helloise]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say as much as NJers are disappointed with Corzine, when they get a good look at Christie, they won't be able to vote for him. That goes against all conventional wisdom, but I'd put money on it.

[Rory Ryan]

I doubt it. It's more likely that the Democrats who dislike Corzine but won't vote Republican will either stay home or vote for Chris Dagget.

[Cea80]

Whoever wins... the people lose.

[Jimmyboyo]

Ha

I said a month ago that NJ likes to wink and flirt with R's and every time they fall for the tease, but in the end victory always slips from their grasp and NJ stays true to its beloved DEMs

NOW is the time Corzine to unleash all that cash you have and run the ads to remind NJ why they love to support dems and hate Rs. PLAY the clip 24/7 in ads

[devadasi]

Exactly Jimmyboyo,­....Christ­ie's attitude and lack of empathy was horrible. I hope he loses big time.

[elmoor]

It drives me crazy when voters are so shortsighted to blame their governors for not being able to spin gold out of frap. We're in an economic collapse, there has not been one new job in the private sector created for the last ten years due to the tax cuts to the rich (which were invested in derivatives and not industry) and they are trying to blame all this on their governor??

Everyone wants to place blame on the people trying to fix this mess- and expect instant results. Go with who seems to be trying to do the right thing. That's the best you can do.

[Cea80]

Before becoming senator in 2001, Corzine was the CEO of Goldman Sachs. So yeah, it is fair to blame THIS governor.

[Jesster]

I agree about blaming Governors - unless (of course) you live in Illinois...

[BlueFloyd]

...or Alaska.... ...or South Carolina.... ....or Texas.....

[ulfur]

It appears that Christie is just a Republican. He approves of the insurance industry rationing healthcare. This is what they believe in. If you like that view of the world, by all means vote for him. I, for one, oppose his world view.

[Rory Ryan]

Calling this his "macaca moment" is just wishful thinking. If anything it was Governor Corzine who had a "macaca moment": he's the one whose on tape talking about the state's 9.7% unemployment rate, telling people that if they want to live in a state with low unemployment that they should move to South Dakota!

[Cat401]

I live in NJ and lost my job in Dec (under Bush watch) and I worked in NYC. Me losing my job had nothing to do with Corzine. All Corzine did was raise taxes that's it. The Family Medical Leave was the best thing he did and Christie is totally against it.

Unemployment rate is high in many states with GOP Gov. SC, FL, NV and CA, etc.

Corzine got my vote.

[Rory Ryan]

I didn't say that unemployment isn't high in states with Republican governors. However let's not forget that New Jersey's economic troubles predated the recession.

Also, other governor's didn't tell the people of their state that if they don't like it here, they can move.

[johnpseudo]

This doesn't strike me as a particularly damaging video, much less a "macaca moment". Is he even in the wrong here? Should states be mandating that insurance companies cover preventive mammograms for young women? Most radiologists won't even perform mammographies on women younger than 35 years, because the risk induced by radiation is greater than the benefit of the screening!

[Palito]

young women can get early mammograms if they have a history of breast cancer in their families.

if these things weren't mandated NO insurer would ever cover them or the coverage would be outrageously expensive, sending more women to an early death.

[elmoor]

My insurance is mandated to cover an annual mammogram, but the co-pay for this mammogram is $250. For a policy that costs me $900 month.

Yep, makes sense to me.

[BBackSoon]

I don’t understand your comment. When we talk about coverage of mammograms for younger women being mandated by the state, what are we talking about?

If you are saying that a state should not mandate what preventative medical testing should be done, I would agree with that.

But I think we are talking about forcing and Insurance Company to Pay for a Mammogram for younger women, IF REQUESTED BY THEIR PHYSICIAN. I don’t think you can just go to a radiologist and say, ‘Hello, I would like a mammogram.’

But if you or a loved one feel a strange lump or see something out of the ordinary, you go see your doctor and he/she agrees that it requires further testing, are you really saying that your insurance company does not need to cover that test, because statistically your too young to have this kind of problem?

[johnpseudo]

Well of course! And even if nobody feels anything, it's easy to see a circumstance like the one the questioner's daughter had where a family history would make a preventive mammogram for a young woman entirely reasonable. But you have a good question- are they talking about mandating preventive mammographies for all young women? From the limited amount of video there, we can't really tell. But if they are, Christie might not even be wrong. And either way, it's certainly not a big gaff on Christie's part.

[ESerafina42]

Excellent points! I just had one (I'm over 40), and with no history of breast cancer in my family and no unusual lumps, I wouldn't be caught dead going to my doctor and saying, "Doctor, doctor, PLEASE let me have a mammogram!" Decidedly not fun!

[mcgreen]

Gosh - only one out of eight women will get breast cancer so I guess with your thinking and his why should mammograms get covered because not all women will get breast cancer.

When young women get breast cancer it is MUCH more serious. You are like one of my doctor's who told me I was too young to have cancer - he was wrong and so are you.

[niblik]

So John, how are your breasts? If you found a lump in one would you still advocate mammograms not being covered because you might happen to be under 35 years of age.

[johnpseudo]

Who is advocating mammograms not be covered? Certainly not me, and it's not even clear Christie would hold that position, because the questioner in the video doesn't even let Christie finish saying what his position is. All that I'm saying is that mammograms for young women are not always good. Diagnostic mammograms- for when you or your doctor has felt something- are a completely different question than preventive mammograms. And mandating coverage for preventive mammograms for young women with a family history of early-onset breast cancer is a completely different question than mandating preventive mammograms for all young women.

[S1m0n]

If your name was 'Janepseudo', you'd get it.