Ron and Rand Paul Attack Christie Over RNC Speech

Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul and his son Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul went after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Thursday, criticizing him for his talk at the Republican National Committee meeting in Boston this week.

Christie said the party should be all about winning elections rather than debating ideological orthodoxy.

"We are not a debating society," he said. "We are a political operation that needs to win."

But the Pauls were having none of it, even though the speech was well-received by a number of conservatives in attendance.

"He offers nothing . . . There's more to it than just power," Ron Paul, a three-time presidential candidate, told CNN Thursday.

"To say and do anything you want just to be in government? You have to believe in something and understand economics, or you just keep doing the same things and deficits keep running up."

Paul claimed Christie doesn't really see much of a difference between the parties.

"That’s why nothing changes whether you have a Republican or a Democrat because, basically, it’s one party, and that’s where the frustration comes from. And now they’re arguing over power alone and not issues," Paul said, adding that if Christie is the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, he won't support him.

Doug Stafford, an adviser to Sen. Rand Paul, who may be a Christie rival for the GOP nomination in 2016, said his boss feels the same way as his father about the governor's RNC speech.

"So, if I translate Gov. Christie correctly, we shouldn’t be the party of ideas. We shouldn’t care what we stand for or even if we stand for anything. We reject that idea," Stafford also told CNN. "Content-free so-called ‘pragmatism’ is the problem, not the solution."