Christie: ‘Last Night Showed’ Rubio Not Ready to Take on Hillary

TAPPER: "Now, the man whom many pundits are calling the star of last night’s extremely fiery Republican debate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who’s here with me. He sparred memorably with Senator Marco Rubio surging after his strong showing in Iowa. Let’s take a quick listen."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: "This country already has a debt problem. We don’t need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let’s dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing."
CHRISTIE: "That’s what Washington, D.C. does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information. And then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him."
RUBIO: "This notion that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing is just not true."
CHRISTIE: "There it is. There it is."
RUBIO: "He knows exactly what he’s doing."
CHRISTIE: "The memorized 25-second speech."
RUBIO: "That’s the reason why this campaign--"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: "That was — that was quite something to behold. I guess the big questions is you definitely scored points against Rubio, but did you score points for Chris Christie?"
CHRISTIE: "Well, I hope so. I hope that what I showed people last night is that I’m the person best prepared to beat Hillary Clinton. If Republicans want someone to get on that stage and hold Hillary Clinton to task for the things she’s done and the things she’s proposing, and they’re trying to choose between me and Marco Rubio, I think last night showed what they should do. You need some experience, someone tested and ready. Let’s remember this, Jake. This is not about me. It’s about the American people. They want an effective presidency and they need someone who’s tested and I’ve been tested and Senator Rubio is not."