So does Christie really believe that he is not overweight

[malaise]

and that no doctor should make that observation.

It wasn't long ago when he had to take a helicopter and then a limousine to one of his son's games and his breathing is atrocious.

The truth is that unless he loses weight he probably won't make it to 2016.

[immoderate]

1. No.

--imm

[Catherine Vincent]

2. what i want to know is

Who asked for her opinion? He knows he's overweight.

[malaise]

25. When you go on TV celebrating being overweight

and stuffing donuts to boot, anyone can comment including a doctor.
He's s a lousy example for people's children

[Ilsa]

69. I thought his playing in to Letterman's joke

Was a good move. He knows he's morbidly obese. He knows his health risk. What he did was claim the issue from the tv comedians.

I don't care for his political views, but I think he probably cares a lot for his constituents. I wouldn't vote for him, but I respect him for reclaiming the publicity surrounding his own health issue.

I hope he drops the weight and gets healthy for his family's sake.

[fadedrose]

75. No hard feelings - is what Christie said when he ate the donut

And did all the other jokes. Just like in Bruce Springstein's case - Christie can't stand when somebody he likes doesn't like him. Obama fixed that for him with the Boss, but he had to fix the Letterman situation on his own.

I think he was funny and enjoyed the segment. I'm a Democrat and like to leave the really mean remarks for Republicans to make.

Hoping he switches to being an Independent. The Rethugs will not appreciate his sucking up to Dave after the monkey business he gave to Romney. Who can ever forget that nightly clip of the dog hanging off the car's roof?

And David was a gentleman.

[HockeyMom]

3. Why should anyone care?

especially here on DU. I wouldn't vote for him if he was 175 lbs. either. His POLITICS mean more to me than his weight.

[malaise]

27. True but the man is unhealthy and

laughing about it won't work.

[BlueStreak]

81. I agree about the special concern about POTUS, but really

weight is not always predictive.

A high school friend called me the other day. He was always 250# or more. We are both in our late 50s now. We stay in touch, but not that often. Last time I saw him he was well over 3 bills.

Well, the purpose of his call was to say a close friend of mine had died. She wasn't overweight. She never weighed 120# her whole life. And in the process of catching up on news, we faced the obvious fact that many of our friends have already died. It happens at this age.

But what about my friend? He is from a large family and the majority of his siblings are dead already. But he is carrying his 400# frame just fine. He just bought a house to fix up and he was going back up on the roof to do some more shingles when we got done with the call.

Oh, and his wife? She's a practicing physician.

My point is that we really shouldn't go overboard in condemning people who carry more than average weight. Statistically it is not healthy, but it isn't the worst thing a person can do, either.

As far as aspirations to take the most important job in the world, well, I do think a person should demonstrate a fitness for that particular job, and unhealthy weight / lifestyle is part of that equation.

[malaise]

83. Valid point

Nice post

[quinnox]

4. Agree

I have a friend who has a friend who is morbidly obese, and we have discussed (me and my friend) that he (the friend of my friend) probably won't live very long if he doesn't lose weight. He already is having health issues and he is a young guy, in his early 20s. You wouldn't believe what his weight is, its a staggering number.

[malaise]

29. I believe

I know someone who is morbidly overweight. He absolutely adores food nad goes on these ridiculous diets to lose forty pounds before events where he just must eat.
We expect him to drop dead in the middle of a feast one day. Either that or his kidneys will fail after one more ridiculous diet.

[wake.up.america]

89. I know a kid who is 17. Big, very big. Smokes and drinks as well. Parents claim he has

Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2013, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

a glandular problem. His parents stuff him senseless, they blow smoke face, buy him cancer sticks, and provide him with every type of booze imaginable. Should I feel sorry for him? I don't know. Isn't he old enough to discern what is good for his health and what is not?

[jberryhill]

5. Here's what he has to say about it

[dsc]

6. the doctor didn't merely say he was overweight

she said he would have a stroke or heart attack before his term was over. She had absolutely, positively, no business at all saying it. She didn't see his records, she didn't see him, in short she had no idea at all what she was talking about. She should lose her license.

[Iris]

12. Exactly. Smacks of Tom DeLay trying to diagnose Teri Schiavo from a video tape

[dsc]

13. That was Bill Frist but exactly

[Angry Dragon]

15. Wasn't that Frist??

[Iris]

28. haha! Yes! Look up!

I just had Tom Delay, Bug Man, in my head this week. God help me.

[Angry Dragon]

37. After awhile they all sound alike .............

[Iris]

38. No kidding!

[lonestarnot]

72. Look and smell alike too.

[madinmaryland]

17. Well, I will have to disagree with you on this...

Morbidly obese have an extremely higher rate of diseases that will end their life much younger. That is what she was commenting about.

Bill Clinton was never "fat", but all that fast food did catch up to him. Dont' you think that Christie has a much higher chance of that happening than Bill Clinton did?

[dsc]

22. No she said he would likely die

and she had no business doing that. I realize that fat people are the scum of the earth and entitled to all the judgement that people can muster, but that doesn't give a doctor the right to run her mouth on CNN or any other network.

[madinmaryland]

42. It was an inarticulate way of saying what she did. Actuarily speaking, a 50 year old man, who is

the height and weight that he is risks a much higher risk of dieing prematurely. I'm 5'8" 225 and my doctor has me on meds to keep things under control.

How does wanting overly obese human being to get healthier make them scum??

[dsc]

48. If you want person x to become healthier you go to person x

and tell person x in private that you want person x to be healthier. You don't go on tv and pontificate about the health of person x and say they are going to die any day now.

[madinmaryland]

53. Christie has been talking about his weight for a while and has made it a public issue. Don't we

as the electorate the right to question the health of the people we put in highest elective office? That's what she was doing. pontificating about his weight and a network news jabber session.

Based on his statistics, he does have a higher chance of dieing any day now that someone the same age who has "good" statistics.

[dsc]

61. And Teri Schivo's condition was public

so Frist had every right to pontificate. Of course I am pretty sure you don't agree with that. Doctors have no right to go on air and make medical pronouncements about people they haven't seen.

[madinmaryland]

66. Not sure what the statistical chances are for someone who is clinically dead and has been

in a coma for nearly 20 years that they will regain consciousness. I would hazard a guess that they are quite slim.

We can go around in circles, but statistically Gov. Christie does face a shorter life based on his own body statistics.

[kestrel91316]

70. Terry Schiavo was a private person who never asked to be in the public eye.

Christie is a public figure and an elected official. As such, he is fair game for all manner of questions and discussions.

I applaud that physician for pointing out what a terrible example he is providing for young people. He ought to be ashamed of his out-of-control eating habits.

[wake.up.america]

92. Christie is a very good looking man. Just imagine what he could look like

without all that excess baggage.

[malaise]

35. And that's the point

100% correct - and then he's goes on Letterman and stuffs a donut to prove the doctor right...what an asshole. He's still an obese ReTHUG

[liberal_at_heart]

44. I would do the same thing he did

To hell with the fat haters.

[malaise]

46. haters?

Wow!!! He's still morbidly obese

[madinmaryland]

54. Huh? Morbidly obese is a medical diagnosis. NOT HATRED.

I have high BP. To hell with the high BP haters, based on your logic.

[liberal_at_heart]

56. people don't discriminate based on high blood pressure, they discriminate based on weight

My mother in law is very large. She was diagnosed as diabetic. She lost some weight, began walking and is no longer diabetic, but is still very large. Her cholesterol and blood pressure are just fine too by the way. But do people look at her and wonder if her numbers are good. No they look at her and see a fat, lazy, slob who needs to be skinny. I'm 5'1" 170 lbs and all my numbers are good. I'm not ashamed of my size.

[laundry_queen]

67. I'm obese.

My cholesterol is great (HDL and LDL are in perfect ratio). My blood pressure is on the low side. My last ECG was normal, no blockages. I do have blood sugar issues but have managed - for more than 10 years now - to keep my blood sugars and HBA1C in the normal range with diet alone (no type II diagnosis yet but I do have PCOS and thus insulin resistance). I also exercise quite a bit. I have asthma, as does Christie, and I have a tendency to cough, wheeze and sound out of breath. I'm sure people look at me and think I'm going to keel over from a heart attack at any moment despite perfect blood work. I'm sick of feeling ashamed to go out because of my size and the judgmental looks. And I'm sick of these fucking threads on DU.

[auntAgonist]

90. truth! +1

[marions ghost]

91. OK but

I agree that appearances can deceive. But be realistic. Politics has become a lot about image. It's wrong but that is how Christie as a presidential candidate would be viewed. He would have to overcome it somehow. Smart to be up front about it. Own it, if you will. But the pace and demands of the campaign and job are grueling. It could be hard on him for any number of reasons and people are going to ask if he is fit enough. I agree that it is a slippery slope. Would we want someone with other health minuses to be discriminated against? No. But it's harder to do that when the issues are visible.
It is a legitimate consideration from the perspective of political strategists..

[liberal_at_heart]

47. unless you know his cholesterol and blood pressure you don't know that he is more likely to have

disease than Bill Clinton.

[madinmaryland]

55. His weight does have statistical correlation with many diseases that shorten life.

No. No one can say for sure it will shorten his life, but statistically the chances are much higher, assuming you believe in statistics.

Even Gov. Christie's doctors have told him he needs to lose weight. Why do you think they are telling him that?

[liberal_at_heart]

65. that is between him and his doctors.

If he decides to lose weight that is up to him. There is a reason why we have a chain of command. If for whatever reason our president goes down there is a long list of people who can take over for him/her. Oh, never mind. People are going to be judgmental and discriminatory and I'm certainly not going to change their mind. I think I'm going to trash this thread.

[R B Garr]

71. Exactly right. And I thought Republicans were all about Personal Responsibility

So here's this GOP Gov. who is telling everyone to go bleep themselves and he'll do whatever he wants. That's what I thought the issue with Christie was more about - personal responsibility, which GOP'ers insist all of us peons have to have, but not so much when it comes to them. More hypocritical claptrap.

[HockeyMom]

19. Husband's doctor told him he was obese

He's 6'1" and 225 lbs. Doctor said he needs to go on a diet. Big problem with that since I am 100 lbs. I am supposed to eat "diet food" too? How did he get "obese" and not me? I once went with him to his appointment. The doctor's mouth literally dropped when he said me!!!!! Hey, doc, diet food? Should I weight 85 lbs????

[Tx4obama]

23. Your husband can eat smaller portions, cut out sugar and fats, and exercise more.

Those things will not affect your weight.

There is nothing wrong with eating the proper healthy foods: lean meat, lots of veggies and fruits, wheat bread instead of white, cut out processed sugars, etc.

Two people can eat the same meals but if one of the folks is more sedentary then one will gain or maintain their weight and the other will not.

[nobodyspecial]

51. Actually, I don't think anyone should eat "diet" food.

It's all a big marketing scam. Just not eating a bunch of overprocessed crap with unpronounceable ingredients will go a long way in helping people get healthy.

I don't know why you think his losing weight would mean you have to as well. Do you eat the exact same foods in the same proportions for every meal? In any case, you probably have two different body types and metabolisms. He should eat according to his needs. And what about exercise?

[laundry_queen]

68. This happens

My mom has been thin her entire life - me, not so much. Growing up she shamed me into starving myself but once I moved out and ate 'normally' I gained. Then with 4 pregnancies, I ended up obese. After my split from my ex, I lived with my mom temporarily. For 5 months, we ate the same things. The same portions. We exercised together. She lost more than I did, even though she started out with less to lose. And I was even exercising more than she was, since I also walked my kids to school. Some people are just built differently.

[trumad]

88. Your husbands Doctor is a moran.

[malaise]

30. Well I told some friends that he's unlikely to make it to 2016 and I'm no medical doctor

Just listen to his breathing. You think a doctor can't see me on TV and know something is wrong with me.

[WinkyDink]

39. Not the point. This doctor doesn't even practice in NJ, so what's it to HER?

[malaise]

45. That doesn't matter - he went on TV stuffing a donut into the mouth of that

visibly morbidly obese body. A first year medical student or a student nurse would draw the obvious conclusion.

[WinkyDink]

57. Wow, humor-impaired? Again, WHAT'S IT TO HER OR YOU? Planning to marry him? Vote for him?

[goclark]

58. In 2013 "being way overweight" is not considered a great thing

for anyone - especially someone that would be a "role model" for our country.

In my view Barack Obama and Michelle are role models.

I recall when he first came into office, he was a smoker. He still may be but I have not heard that he still smokes -- of course Michelle Obama is amazing with children and adults.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_US_president_weighed_more_than_300_pounds

[WinkyDink]

62. My rear is smaller than hers, and that's saying something. SORRY if that is non-PCDU.

[liberal_at_heart]

63. Michelle Obama is a role model because she leads by example not by fat shaming

[liberal_at_heart]

7. Obama made it and he smoked.

[malaise]

31. Any 40 something smoker can make it

Try it at 50 something.

[JI7]

8. he knows he is overweight , but he was saying based on his own doctor

and tests done not everything is as bad as one may assume based on his physical appearance.

[malaise]

32. Sorry he's a RETHUG

He was probably lying

[Mass]

9. No. He said that he knows that he has a problem on Letterman.

This said, I hate doctors who diagnose people they do not know. If she wants to talk about obesity and its problems, good, but why focus on one person, even a very public one like Christie.

[liberal_at_heart]

16. exactly. Does she know what his cholesterol or blood pressure is?

Unless she does she shouldn't have anything to say about his weight. I loved that he ate a donut on Letterman.

[Ian David]

10. Don't tell him. Maybe he won't notice until he collapses after winning the GOP Primary. n/t

[ecstatic]

11. I was a little surprised to see how big he was

on Letterman. He's not just overweight, he's morbidly obese (at least 100 lbs overweight) and a lot of men his age have strokes and/or heart attacks when carrying less weight than that!

[graham4anything]

14. as someone in NJ -when Christie ran against Corzine it was neck and neck

the day Corzine ran a fat joke, was the day Corzine lost.

for whatever reason, people of all types like Christie personally, and they felt Corzine was bullying him. He gained a quick five points and never looked back.

Me, I voted for Corzine, and I know the real Christie.

but my advice to his opponents would be not to do fat jokes.

I predict he will be the vp nominee of Jeb Bush's and lose in November to HIllary45.

[madinmaryland]

20. Question for you, graham...

When Martin O'Malley is sworn in the Jan 2017, will you be on the bandwagon of O'Malley45??

We look forward to you joining us in 2016!!

[madinmaryland]

24. the most Progressive Governor in the country. nt

[graham4anything]

43. I will vote for the Democratic candidate in 2016. Whomever she is.(Hillary,Eliz,Janet)

but it will be Hillary.

[madinmaryland]

50. I, also, will vote and support whomever the Democratic Candidate is in 2016...

I would be fine with a Clinton/O'Malley ticket (assuming she runs), but I think it might end up being an O'Malley/Dean ticket!

[graham4anything]

18. BTW-it is possible to be overweight, but have good other numbers

The other numbers can be based on his relatives(genes) and he might have all low numbers but his blood pressure and weight.
Blood pressure can be controlled.

[BainsBane]

34. or to have normal blood pressure

without medication. Being overweight doesn't necessarily mean you have high blood pressure. Mine is lower than that of many thin people.

[malaise]

40. We should ask the DU medics

Christie is morbidly overweight but I agree with DUers who say let him eat his heart out

[liberal_at_heart]

52. exactly

[BainsBane]

33. of course he knows he's overweight

and your statement about "the truth" is absurd. Smoking is a greater risk to health than being obese. It would make more sense to worry about the President making it through his term.

[WinkyDink]

36. DUH. He was simply commenting that one should MTOB if they haven't examined him. Do you

think HILLARY knows she's overweight? Should any old doctor who wants TV time discuss her weight?

[malaise]

41. Hillary is not morbidly obese and any doctor worth his or her salt

knows that Christie is morbidly obese

[WinkyDink]

49. I didn't know the qualifier "morbidly" was in play.

[Cleita]

59. Maybe he has one of those mirrors they have in carnivals in the House of Mirrors

that make you look thin.

[Mr.Bill]

60. His weight has nothing to do with why I would not vote for him.

Even if he weighed 165, he's still be a 165 lb arrogant asshole who talks down to his constituents and has no respect for anyone.

Actually, I hope he stays obese. If he lost a lot of weight it would give him credibility he would not deserve. And it would probably make him a lot more arrogant.

All I will give him credit for is that on Letterman the other night he was at least a funny arrogant asshole for a few minutes.

[liberal_at_heart]

64. weight is a non-issue for me too. His attitude and policies are definitely the real issue.

[Demo_Chris]

73. Respectfully, what would Ruby Bridges or ML King say to a thread like this? -nt-

[jsr]

74. He's fine. He should be encouraged to eat more.

A lot more.

[malaise]

84. ROFL

but you have a point - give him the donuts.

[wake.up.america]

76. It's like smokers. They don't smoke around me - that's their business...

I don't want Christie to fall on me, nor do I want him to scarf up the last doughnut.

[ScreamingMeemie]

77. Should we really be sticking our noses into the health decisions made by

a fellow American, whether we respect him or not?

[gateley]

78. I think he's painfully aware of it, malaise -- and I've no doubt it

makes him miserable and angry at himself that he hasn't conquered it.

As someone else stated, I think he was just taking the wind out of Dave's sails. I think he handled it well, but I sure wish -- for his sake -- he gets some help to get healthy.

[rdharma]

79. He's just "big boned"!

[fujiyama]

80. I saw the clip of the doctor earlier today

and while I totally agree with others that she has no business saying "he'll drop dead by X years old", I think it's valid for a doctor to say that kind of weight should be concerning and is definitely in the danger zone. The reality is the guy is at a heightened risk for a lot of diseases and an early death.

For his family's sake, I hope he makes an effort to lose a lot of weight.

[wake.up.america]

82. Agreed. He' taking a huge risk at his present weightage. But, you never know

Helmut Schmidt is 94 and smokes like a chimney.

[malaise]

85. Are you suggesting that he should smoke as well?

[AngryOldDem]

86. I had a friend who once claimed that.

Even said her doctor discouraged exercise.

Please note the verb tense I am using here.

[malaise]

87. That simple