Some overstatements have worked their way into the governor’s routine public comments, like a claim that he balanced the budget last year without raising taxes; in truth, he cut deeply into tax credits for the elderly and the poor. But inaccuracies also crop up when he is challenged, and his instinct seems to be to turn it into an attack on someone else instead of giving an answer.

[…]

Mr. Christie fired Bret D. Schundler, his education commissioner at the time, accusing him of lying about the hearing. But Mr. Schundler said he had warned the governor before the news conference that what he was about to tell reporters was false.

“His entire point was he likes to be on offense rather than defense,” Mr. Schundlersaid days later. “He wanted to make this all about the Obama administration’s picayune rules rather than our error.”

via Governor Christie’s Talk Is Not Always Straight – NYTimes.com.

Christie’s strategy: Don’t get it right. Get it out first and be bully about it.