Unrest in the Middle East
KING: Chris Christie is the flavor of the moment in the Republican Party, and don't think for a minute he doesn't know it and love it.</s>GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I'm not stupid. I see the opportunity. I see it. That's not the reason to run.</s>KING: Got it? The New Jersey governor is not running for president. You don't believe him? Really? How about this?</s>CHRISTIE: I threatened to commit suicide.</s>CHRISTIE: I did. I said, what do I have to do short of suicide to convince people I'm not running? Apparently, I actually have to commit suicide to convince people I'm not running.</s>KING: Well, I take him at his word. Well, I did -- until our CNN contributor Erick Erickson of Redstate.com told me earlier he's told Governor Christie has had at least a few what ifs hypothetical 2012 conversations with GOP consultants. Now, Erick still thinks after talking to people the answer is no. But maybe with a little wiggle room. So, why is Governor Christie getting so much attention? Let's ask CNN contributors Alex Castellanos and Paul Begala. Let me start with the Republican in the room. Is it because he's a star in the party or is it because people look around at the other 37 people thinking about running for the Republican nomination and say, nah?</s>ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think you wrapped it up pretty well. This is the vacuum in the Republican Party. The horses that ran the last race didn't do so well, and the new ones aren't quite there yet. So, there's a place for a fresh face in the Republican. But, you know, we always pick the last guy who almost made it, not this time. This time, I think the Republicans are going to pick a new face. But also, what's the best way to run for president, John, not to run. You don't stick your face on the dartboard for your media, for your rivals. So, he's running the best non-campaign of any candidate so far.</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I defer to Alex about all things Republican.</s>KING: All things?</s>BEGALA: All things Republican. I will say, I think one of these are clip shows. It's maybe he's a wise man for not running. OK. He's got basinful of problems in his state. He just allowed property taxes to go up on the middle class while cut taxes for millionaires and he's cutting education funding. So, he's got a lot of problems in his own state. But that comment -- maybe I'm oversensitive. That comment about suicide is not funny. You know, it's just not. And he is a sort of a guy -- I don't know him -- but you see him on TV, and he tends to really pop off. And at one moment, he's charming and I kind of like it, but, you know, those kinds of comments if you're running for president --</s>KING: Risky.</s>BEGALA: It's very self destructing.</s>KING: Hang on. I want to go through some of the policy here. He can be brusque. He can be flippant and some people would find that to be insensitive. You're exactly right, there's a risk in that. But he does talk policy and he talks deep in policy. So, we don't just want to make it about the stuff -- the tongue getting him in trouble. Here he is talking about the president's State of the Union address and the president's budget. Governor Christie, remember, is a Republican. He's dealing with horrendous state budget problems in New Jersey. You may like or not like what he's doing, but he's not impressed with President Obama.</s>CHRISTIE: He says the big things are high-speed rail, the big things are high-speed Internet access for almost 80 percent of America or something by some date, a million electric cars on the road by some date. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the candy of American politics.</s>KING: Pretty tough critique of the president for a guy who -- what he's trying to say is, again, we can debate what he's doing in New Jersey, but he says, I have to do this. I have to take on the teachers' unions. I have to deal with the state employees pensions. I have to deal with huge budget gap, and he thinks the president is not being serious.</s>BEGALA: Right. This is why -- in that sense, if he ran, that would be a wonderful contrast. He seems to believe that the way to the future is cut education, cut taxes for millionaires and raise taxes on the middle class, that's what he's doing. President Obama -- a very different view -- cut taxes on middle class. Yes, he's going to raise them on the rich and invest in education. Obviously, I'm pro-Obama, but those are two very different visions about how you compete in this world.</s>CASTELLANOS: They are very different visions. President Obama, by his own numbers, is going to grow this country's debt to $21 trillion by 2016. That's his idea of cutting up the credit card. He's cut maybe one small corner. That's about it. America can't keep spending money it just doesn't have. Chris Christie represents that. That's why Democrats just lost 66 seats in the House. If that's their campaign again next time --</s>KING: So, you think even if it offends people, the plain-spoken, authenticity, call it like you see it, and make a lot of people mad, that's OK.</s>CASTELLANOS: Independents are petrified that we're digging ourselves into a hole that our kids won't be able to get out of. Chris Christie represents that straight talk. He's a populist. He's a bottom up, I believe in you, I don't believe in Washington.</s>BEGALA: He cut taxes for millionaires. And, I mean, literally people who make more than $1 million a year, he cut those taxes and he raised the property tax. That's populist.</s>CASTELLANOS: But you need to get businesses, the small business --</s>BEGALA: Whatever, that's not populist. He cut taxes for millionaires and raised taxes -- property taxes on working people.</s>CASTELLANOS: Elitism is what you have in Washington.</s>KING: Let's listen to this. He takes most of his shots at Democrats and he's more than happy to criticize the Democratic president. But also thinks Republicans in this town here in Washington are shying away from some of the tough choices. Listen to him here. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans, including speaking at a conservative place, the American Enterprise Institute. A lot of Republicans talking about American exceptionalism, and at the White House the president himself takes it as code that they're trying to say that he doesn't think America is an exceptional nation. Here's Chris Christie -- this is not a shot at the Democratic president.</s>CHRISTIE: And I love when people talk about American exceptionalism, but American exceptionalism has to include the courage to do the right thing. It cannot just be a belief that because we're exceptional, everything will work out OK. Part of truly being exceptional is being willing to do the difficult things, to stop playing the political games, stop looking at the bumper pool of politics, and to step up and start doing the right thing.</s>KING: I don't know whether I agree or disagree with Governor Christie's positions. That's not my job. But I like -- Washington is engaged at the moment in a bit of a bumper pool.</s>CASTELLANOS: Bumper poll and the man who speaks truth to power is going to find a constituency in this election. If he does not run, the closest thing we've seen to it in the Republican side is Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, who has a similar message and may be gearing up to run.</s>BEGALA: Spare me from politicians who say they hate politics. This guy is where he is because he loves politics and donuts, OK? And the notion that he can stand up and attack either Dunkin' Donuts or playing political bumper pool, that's what he does. It's his job. And, by the way, what they're doing here in Washington is exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted, which is making political deals. It's just called democracy.</s>CASTELLANOS: This guy is where he is because he is an anti- politician, because he's actually done what he said he'd do in New Jersey. He has cut tough budget cuts that people didn't think he had the courage --</s>BEGALA: He cut education and he's cut taxes for the rich and he's raised property taxes on the middle class. That's the Christie agenda. Just so we know.</s>CASTELLANOS: What he's done is he's asked teachers in that state to suffer the same economic downturn that the people who pay them are suffering.</s>BEGALA: So, he's going to beat up -- he's going to beat up on -- mostly on retired teachers but not take on millionaire bankers. That's nuts. I'm sorry, this is not my idea of --</s>CASTELLANOS: He just thinks it's unfair for teachers unions to hold kids' education hostage so they don't have to endure the same hard times --</s>BEGALA: If those teachers were millionaires, he would love them. He would cut their taxes.</s>KING: You know, I'm going audible here. I'm going audible here. I have something I wanted to play for you, guys, but we don't have time. We'll get to talk about something else. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, just gave an interview to "Harper's Bazaar" and she says something that is both funny but given some of the other things that have gone on, I wonder if you think it's harmful or whatever. She's talking about the WikiLeaks. And so, she has to travel to the world and explain to all these foreign governments -- sorry, sorry, sorry, your cable is cut out. The cable is criticizing for this, for making fun of you for that. Here's what she told the magazine. "I told somebody, 'You know, the rock groups that go on these global tours? I should have a jacket that says 'The Apology Tour' because everywhere I go, I'm apologizing for any embarrassment." Now, there was a time when some Republicans, Governor Romney comes to mind to us, for saying that what the president of the United States was doing. That's all part of their American exceptionalism critique of the president. It's funny and the secretary of state has a sense of humor and pretty good sense of humor if you don't know that. Whether you like her or not, she's got a pretty good sense of humor. What do you make of that?</s>CASTELLANOS: You know, I don't think she intended to resuscitate the president, one of his weaker moments when he was being criticized for apologizing to everybody under the sun for not believing in American exceptionalism as Governor Christie said. I think she was just having a light moment. She gets a pass.</s>KING: She gets a pass?</s>BEGALA: Yes. You know -- yes, she's got one of the most difficult jobs in the whole wide world, made more complicated by this deeply dishonorable leak of confidential documents and then so -- yes, she's just making jokes about it.</s>CASTELLANOS: As long as she doesn't say she is the one getting the phone call at 3:00 a.m.</s>KING: Here's my favorite part of the conversation, OK, since we're talking politics at the moment: "And what of 2016, the next date Clinton he could conceivably run for president, quote, 'I have no thoughts for 2016,' she says with a benevolent smile. 'Beaches, speeches.'"</s>BEGALA: That's pretty good. That's pretty good.</s>CASTELLANOS: Hey, there's life after politics.</s>KING: Do you believe her?</s>CASTELLANOS: No. Not a bit. Not a bit. Look, after -- she's got a pretty strong hand to play. President Obama has moved pretty far to the left in his first year. He's trying to move now to the middle. If he does not do that successfully and loses, the opening is for a new Democrat or a new Republican. Hillary Clinton has the best hand of cards of any candidate in the Democratic Party.</s>BEGALA: And she's made it clear she's not running for anything. I think she's been an extraordinary secretary of state. I can't imagine a harder portfolio right now.</s>BEGALA: I love her anyway, and I think she's done a terrific job. I hope she does go out and make $1 million.</s>KING: What the esteemed Democrat is saying is she has been cured of the bug for now and he believes it for now. He believes it.</s>CASTELLANOS: Running for president is like sex, right? You don't do it just once.</s>BEGALA: Although Karl Rove I think -- that's probably -- I don't think --</s>KING: Playing Switzerland on that one. Paul, Alex, thanks for coming in. I'm just going to avoid that. When we come back, your tax dollars -- do you watch NASCAR? See the Army? Your tax dollars pay for that. Should it? Some people in Congress say as we look for budget cuts, that money should go.