Republican presidential nominee Vivek Ramaswamy attempted to recycle an old statement from former President Barack Obama on Wednesday night — only to be called upon by rival Chris Christie to do so.
“Who the hell is this skinny guy with a funny last name and what the hell is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?” Ramaswamy said this while opening the GOP presidential debate on Fox News.
Obama called himself “a skinny kid with a funny name” during the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention — when he was a relative unknown nationally, an Illinois senator running for the U.S. Senate.
The Recount juxtaposed the two clips:
Christie quickly noticed the stolen line and called Ramaswamy on it.
“I’ve had enough of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT tonight,” Christie fired back. “The last person in one of these debates… who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘What’s a skinny kid with a strange last name doing here?’ was Barack Obama. And I’m afraid we’re dealing with the same type of amateur.”
“Come over and give me a hug!” Ramaswamy said, but the line was mostly drowned out as the crowd cheered Christie’s attack.
That’s a reference to Christie hugging Obama when the then-president visited New Jersey in 2012 to promise rapid relief in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the biggest natural disaster to hit the state.
