By Tim Binnall
The subject of UFOs briefly came up during last night's GOP presidential primary debate by way of a somewhat surprising question posed to former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The query was put forward by co-moderator Martha MacCallum, who began by citing "the recent spike in UFO encounters." Her observation drew laughs from the debate audience and their chuckles were compounded when an exasperated Christie jokingly cried "I get the UFO question?! C'mon, man." Despite the crowd's growing amusement, MacCallum pressed on, noting that "we’ve been hearing a lot of testimony in Congress and people are taking this a lot more seriously and we're hearing that there are things going on that people are not aware of."
With these factors in mind, she asked "if you were president, governor Christie, would you level with the American people about what the government knows about these encounters?" Alas, those hoping for a serious answer to the question were likely disappointed by the response. Christie first playfully declared that "it's horrible that just because I'm from New Jersey, you ask me about unidentified flying objects and Martians." The former governor then essentially pivoted away from the phenomenon by simply musing that "the job of the president of the United States is to level with the American people about everything" and to "stand for truth."
The fact that the subject of UFOs was even broached during a presidential debate is a testament to its current place in the American zeitgeist and the newfound seriousness with which the phenomenon is being treated. That said, the audience's reaction to the question would seem to suggest that there is still a significant giggle factor looming over the topic as far as the general public is concerned. Unfortunately, Christie was the only candidate who was asked about UFOs during last night's debate, though perhaps the admittedly amusing moment will wind up inspiring future inquiries about the subject being posed to other presidential hopefuls during this election cycle.