I thought fat people were supposed to be jolly?
Giuliani Called 'Out of Control'
By David Bauder
AP Television Writer
Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999; 7:19 p.m. EST
NEW YORK –– Rosie O'Donnell used her talk show Tuesday to berate Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for his policies on the homeless, calling him "out of control" and urging viewers to call him and complain.
O'Donnell said she was willing to get arrested to protest Giuliani's policies. In October, the talk show host emceed a campaign fund-raiser for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Giuliani's likely opponent in a race for the Senate next year.
"He thinks he, like, runs the world," O'Donnell said. "Newsflash, Rudy – it's not good to arrest the homeless people."
The Republican mayor, in a later public appearance, dismissed the remarks as a partisan attack.
Under the mayor's plan, adults who refuse to work would be evicted from city shelters for at least 30 days, and their children could be put into foster care. A simultaneous police crackdown on the homeless followed a street attack on a woman by a brick-wielding man.
O'Donnell's criticism came at the beginning of her show, after she told viewers that Woody Harrelson would be a guest.
"I hope he doesn't take a nap while he's out there because Mayor Giuliani would have him arrested," she said.
Without mentioning that the policy would apply to people who refused to work, O'Donnell told viewers that Giuliani wanted to take children away from homeless people.
"Is that the most startling thing you've ever heard? In America, in 1999?" she said. "It's unbelievable. ... He's out of control, this guy." She did credit Giuliani, however, for cleaning up New York and making it better.
Her show flashed Giuliani's office phone and fax numbers on the screen and urged viewers to contact him if they disagreed with the policies.
Giuliani, at a news conference, said the remarks were a carryover of her campaign appearance for Mrs. Clinton.
"I remember her remarks at the fund raiser and she's obviously a very, very strong partisan and I think she's probably carrying over her politics in her show," the Republican mayor said.
During the Clinton fundraiser in October, O'Donnell mocked Giuliani's slim build, saying he looked like "a human Pez dispenser." The Giuliani campaign privately complained about the personal nature of the remark.
Talk television's "Queen of Nice" has gone on the political attack before, arguing with Tom Selleck over gun policy and the National Rifle Association.
The producer and distributor of her show said they have no problem with O'Donnell speaking her mind on political issues.
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