Classy: Desperate Corzine Reduced to Poking Fun at Christie's Weight

He has no record of accomplishments, the state is in dire fiscal condition, we have the highest property taxes in the nation so what can Jon Corzine possibly use as campaign fodder? The fact his opponent is overweight.

You stay classy, Jonny the Beard.

It is about as subtle as a playground taunt: a television ad for Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows his challenger, Christopher J. Christie, stepping out of an S.U.V. in extreme slow motion, his extra girth moving, just as slowly, in several different directions at once.

In case viewers missed the point, a narrator snidely intones that Mr. Christie “threw his weight around” to avoid getting traffic tickets.

In the ugly New Jersey contest for governor, Mr. Corzine and Mr. Christie have traded all sorts of shots, over mothers and mammograms, loans and lying. But now, Mr. Corzine’s campaign is calling attention to his rival’s corpulence in increasingly overt ways.

Mr. Corzine’s television commercials and Web videos feature unattractive images of Mr. Christie, sometimes shot from the side or backside, highlighting his heft, jowls and double chin.

Meanwhile, Mr. Corzine, 62, is conspicuously running in 5- and 10-kilometer races almost every weekend, as he did last Saturday and Sunday, underscoring his athleticism and readiness for the physical demands of another term — and raising doubts about Mr. Christie’s.

Next, he and a fellow fitness buff, Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, will run through the streets of that city together next Tuesday.

The governor denies that he is deliberately ridiculing Mr. Christie’s weight, and tries to make light of such suggestions. “There isn’t a candidate in the world that likes how they’re depicted in their opponent’s ads,” Mr. Corzine said on Friday, smiling as he lamented that some have shown his bald pate. “Seems to be some sensitivity going on here.”

But the unflattering depictions of Mr. Christie, a Republican who has long struggled with his size, have been the talk of the political world in New Jersey, with Democrats snickering and Christie supporters privately complaining. The governor’s latest ad, which featured the “threw his weight around” line and was expected to be seen by some viewers as many as 10 times, brought sharp reaction, even from those who like Mr. Corzine.

“There’s no subtlety there,” said Bill Baroni, a Republican state senator from Hamilton who lost 130 pounds starting 15 years ago. “That’s not a randomly chosen phrase. It’s purposeful. And it’s offensive.”

Mr. Baroni said that Mr. Corzine risked a backlash from the “tens of thousands” of New Jerseyans who struggle with their weight. “It is a lifetime battle,” he said. “And it’s made harder when people that you expect better from make fun of you.”

Mr. Christie calls the ad “silly” and “stupid,” but there are signs that the images may be contributing to a more negative view of Mr. Christie.

In a recent survey conducted by Monmouth University, voters were asked to say the first thing that came to mind about Mr. Christie. “Fat” was one of the most frequent responses, said Patrick Murray, the director of the poll, who attributed the results to the Corzine ads.

Sure, Christie has struggled with his weight and he obviously aware it's a problem. But have we come to the point where Democrats are so desperate they're reduced to making fun of someone's appearance? I thought they were the party of tolerance and sensitivity? Maybe Christie should make jokes about Corzine being a crash-test dummy. Would everyone find that amusing?

It's one thing for pundits and bloggers to crack jokes. Lord knows we've heard endless jokes about Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore, but they aren't politicians. But when you have a sitting governor injecting it in a campaign, it's just distasteful and insensitive.

Even some on the left find this out of bounds.

On the one hand, this seems like it couldn’t possibly work. Who’s going to be anything but repulsed from Corzine by these tactics? On the other, it does often seem that prejudice against the overweight is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice. But this really looks to me like a (deserved) backlash waiting to happen.

Again, this is just a sign of desperation from a sitting governor who can't even get above 44% of the vote right now. I doubt if he were cruising to victory he'd be reduced to this childish stunt.

Update: From former FDA chief David Kessler:

"This ad reflects a total lack of understanding, empathy and tolerance. No one should be criticized for being overweight. We're all wired to respond to different stimuli -- sex, gambling, alcohol, illegal drugs -- and for many people it's food. I would rather have this problem than some of these other problems. Some of the world's greatest leaders, from Winston Churchill to Ted Kennedy, struggled with their weight. This struggle has nothing to do with leadership abilities. It doesn't translate into a lack of control in any other part of a person's life. In any case, voters identify with people who are honest and open about their struggles. To be cruel to someone because of this struggle is just unacceptable. It shows a lack of understanding about human nature, and about the environment in which we live."

Can you imagine if, say, an opponent of New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler poked fun at his girth? They'd call it a hate crime.

Corzine needs to man up and apologize.