Rand Paul vs. Chris Christie sparring escalates

The Rand Paul vs. Chris Christie spat appears to be getting nastier.

Paul, a Kentucky senator, escalated his attacks on the New Jersey governor, saying on Fox News that it is "kind of sad and cheap" that his fellow Republican is using "the cloak of 9/11 victims" to criticize him on national security.

Christie followed up Tuesday with a shot about Kentucky's federal spending, along with his trademark straight talk. "Get in line" if you've got a personal problem with his bluntness, the governor said.

While Christie and Paul are both mentioned as potential Republican presidential candidates in 2016, their verbal fusillades aren't a sideshow. Their dispute about national security and federal spending exposes the fissures within the GOP -- similar to another battle being waged now over immigration -- that will likely be played out in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina during the presidential primaries.

This all began last week when Christie said at an Aspen Institute forum that there is a "strain of libertarianism" within the Republican Party by those who oppose the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program and other counterterrorism techniques. The governor said Paul and others in the GOP could come to New Jersey and explain their opposition to the "widows and orphans" who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Paul's first response Sunday was to go after Christie on federal spending, and what he called a "gimme, gimme, gimme" attitude when it came to Superstorm Sandy aid.

During a Fox News appearance Monday, the Kentucky senator teed off again. First, Paul said the Republican Party in the Northeast is "on life support" and that "it's not real smart for Republicans to be attacking Republicans." Then Paul threw 9/11 back at Christie before repeating the federal spending charge.

Christie said Tuesday that he's got "nothing personal" against the senator, but said Paul's words seem as though "he has something personal against me, but that's OK. He can just get in line on that front."

As for the charges on federal spending, Christie noted that New Jersey gets back 61 cents for every dollar sent to Washington while Kentucky receives $1.51. "Maybe he should start cutting the pork-barrel spending that he brings home to Kentucky," the governor said.

Sounds like the ball is back in Paul's court. Over to you, senator.

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Rand Paul hits back at Christie over surveillance

FRANKLIN, TENN. — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the two Republicans? ongoing spat over national security.

Christie last week criticized Paul?s opposition to warrantless federal surveillance programs, saying it harmed efforts to prevent terrorism. Paul told reporters after speaking at a fundraiser outside Nashville on Sunday that Christie?s position hurts GOP chances in national elections, and that spending priorities of critics like the governor and Rep. Peter King of New York do more to harm national security.

?They?re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their ?Gimme, gimme, gimme ? give me all my Sandy money now.?? Paul said, referring to federal funding after the hurricane last year. ?Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.?

King in a phone interview late Sunday called Paul?s criticism of Sandy aid ?indefensible.?

?This was absolutely life or death money that was essential to New York and New Jersey,? King said.

Christie, at a forum in Colorado on Thursday, pointed to a ?strain of libertarianism? coursing through both parties as a ?very dangerous thought? more than a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks. Christie was asked whether he was referring to Paul, a fellow potential Republican presidential candidate who has been at the forefront of the party?s libertarian wing.

?You can name any number of people and he?s one of them,? said Christie. ?These esoteric, intellectual debates ? I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won?t, because that?s a much tougher conversation to have.?

Paul on Sunday rejected arguments that the National Security Agency?s collection of hundreds of millions of U.S. phone and Internet records are necessary to prevent terrorism.

?I don?t mind spying on terrorists,? he said. ?I just don?t like spying on all Americans.?

Paul said the issue resonates particularly with young people, a key demographic Republicans need to attract in order to succeed in national elections.

?If you talk about some privacy issues like that, I think you will find youth coming to you,? said Paul, who said his own decision on whether to run for president won?t come until next year.

King called that argument misguided.

?When it comes to natural defense, we shouldn?t be pandering to any demographic,? he said. ?We need to do what?s best for the country.?

Messages left with Christie?s office late Sunday were not immediately returned.

As for the back-and-forth with Christie, Paul said he wasn?t the one itching for a fight.

?I didn?t start this one and I don?t plan on starting things by criticizing other Republicans,? he said. ?But if they want to make me the target, they will get it back in spades.?

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