By Brent Johnson and MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger

SEA BRIGHT — If you didn't hear him the first time, Gov. Chris Christie made it clear again today: Yes, he thinks a New York Daily News sports reporter is a "dope" for pressing Jets coach Rex Ryan about embattled quarterback Mark Sanchez.

And no, Christie says, he doesn't care that the tabloid newspaper took him to task this week, plastering a photo of him on its cover with the words: "Who you calling an idiot, fatso!"

The front cover of today's New York Daily News.

"They're calling me names. That's fine. Okay," the governor said tonight on his radio call-in show on New Jersey 101.5-FM. "That's their choice. They get to express themselves, too."

On Monday morning, Christie co-hosted the "Boomer & Carton" show on the New York City sports-talk station WFAN 660-AM. During the broadcast, the governor criticized Jets reporter Manish Mehta for repeatedly asking Ryan about Sanchez.

"The guy's a complete idiot," Christie said of Mehta, who previously worked for The Star-Ledger. "Self-consumed, underpaid, reporter. The only reason he’s empowered is we're spending all this time this morning talking about Manish Mehta who, by the way, I couldn't pick out of a police lineup.”

In Tuesday's paper, Daily News columnist Mike Lupica wrote that Christie "can be just as thin-skinned with reporters asking somebody else questions as he is when they ask him something he doesn't like."

But speaking today at a news conference in Sea Bright, Christie didn't back down from his comments.

"I thought a particular reporter was a dope, I said so," the governor said. "He seems like a nice young man — a dope nonetheless, but a nice young man."

Christie, who's widely considered to be a 2016 presidential contender, dismissed claims in the media that his brash style works in New Jersey but won't be palatable on the national stage.

"I'm not running for anything nationally, so why would I care about that? If New Jersey people love me, that's good news for me in 69 days, isn't it?" Christie said, referring to the Nov. 5 gubernatorial election, in which he's running for re-election.

Christie also said people were taken aback by him calling the reporter an "idiot" because they expect politicians to "evade giving an answer."

"Let's also be realistic," he added. "I was on a sports-talk radio show. I wasn't on 'Meet the Press.' "Some of the reaction to this is a bunch of overwrought reporters who don't like being criticized either. It's not life and death. It's not war and peace."

"If they think somehow by calling me names they are going to get me to stop voicing my opinions for fear of incurring their wrath, they are sadly mistaken."

Gov Chris Christie tours Hurricane Sandy recovery in Sea Bright 11 Gallery: Gov Chris Christie tours Hurricane Sandy recovery in Sea Bright

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie blasted by N.Y. tabloid for verbal attack on Jets reporter

• More Politics







FOLLOW LEDGER POLITICS: TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOOGLE+