When the going gets tough...

...some folks would rather step off than step up...

Chris Christie, the Republican Governor of New Jersey frequently touted as a contender for the R presidential nod in 2012, likes to talk tough about about things, especially public employees, but when the going gets tough, he can be found...

...vacationing at Disney World (from a Washington Post piece by Rachel Weiner) -

As New Jersey crawls out from under piles of snow, it's being helped not by Gov. Chris Christie or Lt. Gov Kim Guadagno but by Senate President and acting governor Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat. Why? Because the state's two top executives skipped town before the storm hit. (Christie is at Disney World in Florida; Guadagno is in Mexico.)

{snip}

Christie left for Florida on Sunday, the same day Sweeney declared a state of emergency in New Jersey. (He rescinded that call Monday night.)

While this is an outrageous desertion of duty (doubly so because Christie's Lieutenant Governor, fellow Republican Kim Guadagno, whose sole real job is to serve as governor when Christie is out of state, chose to go on vacation at the same time), it shouldn't be a surprise.

Christie (and obviously Guadagno, his hand-picked running mate) is part of the Republican clique that exhibits the same contempt for public service that they show toward actual public servants.

This is the sort of thing that while it will negatively impact his chances for reelection as governor, it could help him win the GOP nod in 2012.