New Jersey Governor Chris Christie responded Wednesday to comments by a former White House physician after she expressed concern over him “dying in office” because he is overweight.
“I find it fascinating that a doctor in Arizona who's never met me, never examined me, never reviewed my history or medical records, knows nothing about my family history could make a diagnosis from 2,400 miles away,” Christie said yesterday.
“She must be a genius,” he added.
Dr. Connie Mariano, former physician to Democrat President Bill Clinton, says she is a Republican and a Christie fan who would like to see the governor run for higher office, but she wants Christie to lose weight before his health suffers.
“I'm a physician more than I'm a Democrat or a Republican. And I'm worried about this man dying in office,” Mariano told CNN in an interview.
Christie responded to the remarks by calling them careless.
“She should shut up,” he told reporters who asked about it during a news conference Wednesday in a town that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
“My 12-year-old son came to me last night and said ‘Dad, are you going to die?’ I mean, c'mon. This is irresponsible stuff,” Christie said.
Nevertheless, Mariano stood by her remarks Wednesday.
"It doesn’t take a physician to look at him and observe that he’s overweight,” she said in defense.
Christie has publicly discussed his longtime battle with the bulge, and even joked about it Monday when pulled out a doughnut from his coat and ate it during an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman”.
During the show, he said that in spite of his weight, he was otherwise healthy.
“I'm basically the healthiest fat guy you've ever seen in your life,” he said.
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