d ‘I didn’t dump the nachos on him’: Chris Christie is okay with his handling of heckling fan

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Washington Post

Leave it to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to get the last word in concerning his confrontation with a heckler at a baseball game over the weekend.

In a moment that was captured on video that went viral, Christie, toting a bowl of nachos, wheeled to face a Chicago Cubs fan who had said “you suck,” among other things, as Christie walked past him at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. Christie got into the man’s face and fired back, “you’re a real big shot.”

On Wednesday, the governor said that he let the fan, Brad Joseph, off lightly.

“For those of you who know me, I was very restrained,” Christie told reporters (via NJ.com) during a news conference in Trenton. “I didn’t dump the nachos on him or anything, which I think was an option.”

Christie made the unlikely appearance at a Brewers-Cubs game because his son works for the Brewers and the experience isn’t going to keep him away from the ol’ ballyard. “I’m going to more [games],” he said and went on to defend his right to be a fan in peace.

“When I’m at a baseball game with my son on a Sunday afternoon, I do have a right to sit there and enjoy the game,” he said. “You get one shot to call me a name or curse me out. And I gave him that first shot to do that, but when you go at it a second time, you’re going to get a response.”

On Monday, Joseph had offered an apology to Christie in a Facebook post and explained why, as a Republican who voted for President Trump, he had heckled Christie, whose actions he described as “aggressive.”

I’m not proud of my behavior … and I regret shouting “you suck!” at Christie. So Chris, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. I didn’t have much time to think of anything to say, and I wanted to express my displeasure with you. I could have done better than “you suck.” What I do not regret is calling Chris Christie a hypocrite. This is a man who made a career out of demonizing public corruption only to become exactly what he denounced.

Christie’s approval rating may have plummeted to 15 percent in New Jersey, but he pointed out that his experience at games in Milwaukee over the weekend had been positive and that he had posed for about “200 pictures” with fans.

“The fact was there was one guy over three games who decided he wanted to act like a big shot,” Christie said.