Politics truly ain’t beanbag in New Jer sey, so nobody should be surprised — or even much offended — by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s recent excoriation of Gov. Chris Christie.

“You know who he reminds me of?” asked Sweeney. “Mr. Potter from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ the mean old bastard who screws everybody. He’s a rotten prick.”

Also, a “bully and a punk — I wanted to punch him in the head.”

Strong words.

Sweeney apparently felt Christie fudged a little on a recent budget deal — hence the outburst.

The governor, who’s not one to mince words, held his tongue this time: “The language used was inappropriate and disrespectful to this office,” said Christie, “but [I] stand ready to work with Sen. Sweeney.”

And the fact is, the two men did work together, productively, during a legislative session that saw adoption of a responsible state budget and passage of a public-employee pension-reform bill that’s a model for America.

But what about the dog that didn’t bark?

Where were all the liberals who cough hairballs whenever a Tea Party type looks cross-eyed at one of their heroes?

A Democrat who says he wants to “punch [a Republican] in the head” gets a pass from the civility-in-politics types.

Well, sure. That’s how it works.

We suspect that both Christie and Sweeney are chuckling over their dust-up, or presently will be.

And we’ll take productive candor over phony “civility” any day.

When does Round Two start?