Chris Christie on why he responded to heckler

Apparently, New Jersey governor Chris Christie has a "two strikes" rule when it comes to hecklers.

While speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper about getting in the face of a fan who heckled him while he attended a Cubs-Brewers tilt in Milwaukee, Christie revealed why he decided to tell Brad Joseph he was "a big shot":

"Listen, Jake. When somebody swears at you publicly, and says some really awful things with a lot of children sitting around and my own son with me, I took it the first time he said it, and yelled it from about 15 yards and said some really lousy, awful stuff. And then I came back after having ignored it the first time, and he went in for seconds.

If you go in for seconds - I've always said this, whether it was at my town hall meetings or anything else - if you give it, you're going to get it back."

He thought his reaction was "mellow" and had another take:

"Public officials are public servants but they're not meant to be public punching bags."

Joseph later wrote on Facebook that he wasn't proud of his behavior and regretted not saying anything better than "you suck."