From time to time, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has proven to be an unreliable surrogate for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Christie's keynote address at the Republican National Convention, for example, largely ignored Romney's entire candidacy. It doesn't help that the Garden State governor is apparently planning his own presidential campaign for 2016.
Team Romney, however, continues to dispatch Christie as a high-profile surrogate, including several Sunday-show appearances yesterday, where Christie seemed to ignore the Romney script entirely.
For example, in recent weeks, Romney and his aides have been trying to lower expectations surrounding the first presidential candidate debate. Christie, however, did the exact opposite, insisting Romney "shines" in debates, will do "extraordinarily well" this week, and by Thursday morning, "this whole race is going to be turned upside down."
The Romney camp has also argued that the polls released by major news organizations are skewed against Romney to benefit President Obama. Yesterday, Christie said the opposite, explaining, "[D]o I think there's a concerted effort to skew the polls against Governor Romney? No."
Team Romney has argued that major news organizations and those covering the campaign are biased against the GOP ticket. Christie said about those who complain about the media, "[I]f you do that, you're losing."
A central element of the Romney-Ryan agenda is cutting taxes on the wealthy "job creators." Christie falsely claimed yesterday that the Romney-Ryan agenda doesn't give the rich a tax break.
The Romney campaign says its candidate offers voters plenty of specific details. Christie seemed to concede yesterday that Romney doesn't offer plenty of specific details, but said it's all right because Romney is "not an accountant."
Christie didn't even stick to the down-ballot script: as his party starts to re-embrace Todd Akin in Missouri, Christie said his party should do the opposite.
Is Christie confused about what a campaign surrogate is supposed to do? Or does he just not care?