Time executive editor Michael Duffy on Thursday defended the magazine's newest cover declaring New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, "The Elephant in the Room."

The cover, which features the newly re-elected Christie in shadowy profile, seemed to be an obvious shot at the governor's weight, in addition to referencing the traditional elephant symbol for the Republican Party.

Image: Time Magazine

Asked by MSNBC's Chris Matthews what the cover was supposed to mean, Duffy responded: “Well, he’s obviously a big guy. He’s obviously a big Republican. But he’s also done a really huge thing here this week. He stood astride the Republican Party and said, ‘Stop. We don’t have to make our whole appeal about narrow base issues.’ And that campaign showed it with the demographics you talked about."

"There’s another thing that’s really big about what Christie achieved in the state that hasn’t voted for a Republican two times in a row since 1985," Duffy continued. "He’s made his campaign ... about sort of the cult of personality. He’s lifted himself beyond politics, into something of a kind of cultural figure here, the way Palin did, the way Clinton did, the way Bush even did at the start ... just brash, bold, bare-knuckled – a different politician than we’ve seen from Republicans in awhile."

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