Superstorm Sandy left wreckage in its wake "beyond anything I thought I'd ever see," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at a news conference today.
"The level of devastation at the Jersey Shore is unthinkable," he said.
The state is "nowhere near" allowing many residents to return to that area, Christie said.
He plans to fly out today to visit one of the worst-hit areas, but there is nowhere for him to land at the barrier islands because of all the damage.
Also, every rail line in the state has faced major damage, he said.
Christie said he's confident that President Barack Obama and the federal government will work with New Jersey and that the state will rebuild.
The federal government is too big; the people of all these states "should foot the bill" themselves. I think FEMA should be for profit only. Obama big government must go; The storm victims should have the freedom to take care of themselves and not get the city, state or federal government involved; each person is for themselves.
Coincidence that all of the destruction occurred in democrat-voting states (Maryland, Delaware, NJ, NY, NC, Vermont, Mass., etc.)???? Sandy must be a huge GOP conspiracy... LOL.
Seriously, God bless all those affected (regardless of political persuasion).
But this radical democrat crap spread on CNN is really a joke. Face it...Obama was not the great "Hope and Change" promised. We got bland, indecisive and misguided instead... Neither candidate is believed to be worthy of election and the fact that Romney is running neck & neck says alot about the ineffectiveness of Obama's 1st four years. Get a reality check democrats...
Wow, what a change from the natural disasters that usually hit red states – hurricanes (TX, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, NC, SC), tornadoes (OK, KS, IA). Makes you wonder why the repubs want to get rid of FEMA.
Gov. Christie's "confident" President " Obama and the federal government will work with New Jersey and that the state will rebuild"? So he already knows Obama's gonna win Nov. 6? What's up with that?
And if his man, Romney, wins then Christie should know better than to be so confident. FEMA will be eliminated and everything will be privatized. In other words, it's up to a slew of private contractors and hoping the insurance covers for everything (and being from Texas' Hurricane coast, I'm well aware it falls quite short of that!) In other words, no federal aid at all. Period. I thought Christie supported Romney/Ryan and their policies. That's a very strange comment to come from a supporter!
Oh even Christie has no faith in Roms
Regardless of who wins, Obama will be the president until January 20th...
I'll say this as politely as I can, since maybe you really don't understand how it works. Obama is guaranteed to be the president for the next 12 weeks, regardless of who wins next Tuesday's election, as that is when the next presidential term begins.
Is Christie supposed to wait until after the January inauguration to start the rebuilding process? Methinks BO has to be involved in this whether he is re-elected or not...
That's the worst Esperanto I've ever seen!
Obama should be arrested for TREASON!
Romney should be arrested for Tax Evasion!!!!!!!!!
Bob Dole 2012
Sit*
I hope they don't rebuild the Jersey coast with taxpayer funds. If you live on the waterfront, and the water takes your property, your insurance should cover it. If you don't have insurance, that's your fault. It's outrageous for taxpayer dollars to be used to enrich waterfront landowners.
I agree. It is the one's who live away from the coast that I feel sorry for.
You are exactly right. It is incredibly foolish to rebuild in the path of natural events that are a likely to repeat.
Remain ideologically pure Gov. Christie and refuse any federal assistance to your state.
and then LIFE happens......
I'm not begrudging the people of N.J. their rebuild in the least. They will need the help of the federal government and should have it, however, Gov. Christie is a hard-line, tea totalling republican that not only champions the party line but blazes the party line "trail" path.
So Gov. Christie, how will you, and the state of N.J., PAY FOR YOUR OWN rebuild- with no "government handouts", no FEMA assistance? This should be the state's responsibility, with the "community" coming together and pitching in...right?
If the state of NJ had not contributed any of the money the Fed uses for disaster relief, I might agree with you. The thing is, that money belongs to the people of NJ just as much as it belongs to anybody else. So why shouldn’t they get some of their own money back?
And furthermore, even the most diehard tea partier recognizes certain roles for the Federal Government. And disaster relief is one of those roles. How you can equate this to the Feds spending money on studying the mating habits of dung beetles is beyond me.
Typical Republican hypocrisy – "Christie said he's confident that President Barack Obama and the federal government will work with New Jersey and that the state will rebuild." Federal goverment – BAD, taxes – BAD, bailouts – BAD.... except for me. Sorry NJ – you elected him, you obviously want small government, you shouldn't get help....
He's not asking for a bailout. He's asking for the Federal Government to perform one of its most basic services. His request is perfectly consistent with all of his stated positions. Hypocrisy? I don't think so.
I have new respect for Gov. Christie. He's being honest and giving credit where it's due. He's not distancing himself from this terrible disaster – he is obviously deeply affected. His answer "We HAVE to afford it" is right on. And I'm speaking as a Democrat.
Democrats / republicans are the same you just don't get it and never will. That is why your country is going down the toilet as the whole world watches and laughs. There's nothing you can do about it because you are an AmeriCAN'T. Your politicians are AmeriCANS but they just AmeriWONT. That is only just the tip of the iceberg.......
I have new respect for him as well... he'd make a wonderful berm instead of all those sandbags.
This is all Karma why else would the jersey shore be wiped out? If the world wont hold Americans accountable for their actions.The Planet will.....
So because you don't like the jersey shore it got hit by a hurricane due to Karma? Interesting rationale. Maybe Karma will come back to haunt you for laying judgement on a lot of good people who lost or had their homes and businesses damaged.
Because it's a 'blue' state? It's just a coincidence that the area hit by Sandy was made up only of 'blue's states. God doesn't work that way. If He did, California would have fallen into the Pacific years ago.
The singer is somewhat attractive. The horn playing is terrible.
After seeing a destroyed doughnut shop: "The level of devastation at the Jersey Shore is unthinkable."
LMAOI!!!!!!!!!!!
"Christie said he's confident that President Barack Obama and the federal government will work with New Jersey and that the state will rebuild."
Now all of a sudden the states do not want to be "on their own". Should this not be the states responsibility to clean up, or maybe the private sector could just go ahead and take care of this as they would do a "better job". Would that not be Mitt Romneys plan? Think about it folks, if Romney is elected you will be "on your own". But then of course if you are fine with that cast your vote accordingly.
Interesting that Christie should say that after the president's already called him 3 times to find out what New Jersey needed and Christie said that if New Jersey needed help, he has the president's phone number.
When are we, as a nation, going to wise up and stop rebuilding property that is destroyed by hurricanes? They are really quite predictable – they do most of their damage at or near the shore. So isn't the logical course to let the shorelines stay natural, and provide a buffer against the mainland? We enjoyed many years of low hurricane strength. In the meantime, people built on those really pretty barrier islands and other coastlines, that are very vulnerable. Now it seems that hurricane strength is picking up, and it is predicted to stay that way. So let the coastline stay natural. We also get some really nice open spaces for all of us to enjoy that way, when the hurricanes aren't thrashing them.
Because for some reason unknown to me.... Ocean front property is in high demand and thus expensive to buy. Not because of threats like this but becasue there are idiots out thare that will pay top dollar for it. Oooohhhh I want to be by the ocean.... WELL THE OCEAN DONT WANT YOU NEXT TO IT. Case & point.