New Jersey Governor Chris Christie loves to promote his own tough-guy image. So yesterday, when Christie was confronted by a protester at a press conference about the progress New Jersey has made in Hurricane Sandy relief, he immediately started talking himself up. "You all know me," Christie said to the audience. He then addressed the protester: "So if we're going to get into a debate here today, it's going to get very interesting and very fun." This is the kind of self-promotion Christie loves to do. In his own mind, he's a Noo Joisey tough guy out of The Sopranos, a rough-edged brawler. He loves to think his in-your-face, argumentative style is "interesting and very fun."

Except it isn't. The protester was carrying a sign reading "GET SANDY FAMILIES BACK IN THEIR HOMES—FINISH THE JOB." Christie immediately launched into one of his favorite rhetorical devices, promising that his door is always open to critics: "I'd be more than happy to have a debate with you. Anytime you like, guy." Christie says some variation of that throughout the video, insisting that he can throw down intellectually with his opponents at any opportunity. Next, he elaborates that he's not interested in talking with "somebody like you who doesn't know a damn thing about what you're talking about, except to stand up and show off when the cameras are here."

This is a classic response to critics: You don't like my movie? Make your own fucking movie! It's a bullshit response, because we are human beings who necessarily specialize our skills, but we also have big brains with opinions about many subjects. It's unfair to demand that someone else be quiet unless they work as governor of New Jersey when there can only be one governor of New Jersey at any given time. Christie concludes, "I've been here when the cameras aren't here, buddy, and done the work."

The protester continued to argue that Christie hasn't, in fact, done the work, that a lot of the Sandy relief money is sitting in Christie's government and that he only moved the high-profile projects forward at the expense of ordinary citizens who are still waiting for relief. Christie launched into the final weapon in his rhetorical toolbox: the brash shutdown. "Listen, you wanna have a conversation later, I'm happy to have it, buddy," Christie said, changing the goal posts from having a conversation "any time" to "later." Then he used his best trick: "but until that time, sit down and shut up."

This is often portrayed as cute in the media. Aw, Christie doesn't take guff! But the prospect of a governor telling a taxpayer in his state to "sit down and shut up" should be horrifying to anyone who believes a government should serve its people. This is diva-ish, rock star behavior, and it's unbecoming of a public servant. Having used his tactical nuclear weapon, Christie then talked around the protester for a while, falling back on his old tricks: "Anytime you like, buddy. Wonderful. Absolutely." When the protester decided to take him up on his promise of meeting "anytime" and "later," offering to buy Christie dinner to talk about the issue, Christie blew him off: "I'll tell you, there's about a thousand things I'll do tonight. Going to dinner with you is a thousand and one." So much for debating anytime, I guess.

Later, after he was removed from the event, the media interviewed the protester, whose name is Jim Keady. Keady is an activist who also served as a council member for the city of Asbury Park, and he's very clear about what he'd say to Christie if he was given a chance:

I think that seems like a debate worth having. Don't you?