Not just the victims' families, either: Giuliani Defends Bush on 9/11 Ad
NewsMax.com
Monday, March 8, 2004
New York's former mayor Rudy Giuliani strongly supports President Bush's use of images of 9/11 in his early campaign ads.
Giuliani made his comments during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert. Giuliani also denied rumors that he may replace Vice President Dick Cheney on the Bush ticket for this November's election.
Referring to the controversial ad, Giuliani said, "Well, if you left out September 11, 2001, I think people would be asking, 'Why is he leaving it out?' That was probably the biggest challenge that he's faced."
Giuliani, who won praise for his handling of the 9/11 catastrophe, said Bush deserved praise for his efforts nationally.
"Those of us who support him think he did a terrific job in getting the country through it," Giuliani said. "You know, other people on the other side have taken shots at him for not doing as good a job. So it's kind of unrealistic to think you're not going to have that as part of the political debate."
Commenting on criticism that President Bush did not appear at Ground Zero immediately, Giuliani said the president took significant risks in visiting the World Trade Center site.
"The fact is President Bush was there," Giuliani said.
"I was there when he was there. He was there on September 14, 2001. He came there, particularly to Ground Zero, against the advice of the Secret Service. He remained there an extraordinary length of time. And it was dangerous for him to be there because there were fires of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit under the ground and there was no place to put him that would be absolutely safe."
Giuliani said that Bush's visit "inspired the men and women who worked there by remaining there so long."
He recalled the scene vividly to Russert: "They could see the Secret Service coming, trying to take him out, you know, touching his arm to say, 'OK, Mr. President, it's time to leave.' The president wouldn't leave. He made a connection with those men and women that's real. It happened at that time. He was there when it was dangerous. He was there when the action was going on."
Giuliani made the point that Bush using his 9/11 experience was no different from John Kerry focusing on his days in Vietnam as a combat leader.
"And John Kerry isn't particularly shy about using, you know, Vietnam and the whole backdrop of Vietnam," Giuliani noted. "It was kind of like the core of his campaign. So I think this is a – they want to run their campaign and then they want to run our campaign and take out of our campaign the things that may be the most favorable about the president."
Host Tim Russert also honed in on the president's decision to give the 9/11 Commission investigators only a limited period of time to debrief him on what information had crossed the presidential desk in the days and weeks prior to the deadly terror attack.
"I can't think of a president in the last four or five that hasn't had an issue like this when an investigation starts," Giuliani responded.
"And people often misunderstand it, but a president can't be open to, you know, hours and hours and hours and hours of questioning the way us lawyers do when we have depositions. So to put some kind of a limit on it is OK.
"I imagine if they go through the inquiry and there are some very relevant questions that need more answering, I'm sure the president will give them more time if it isn't just a kind of fishing expedition. You give a lawyer an hour, we can get all the questions done in an hour. You give us two hours? It'll take two hours. You give us five days? We can take five days, since we charge by the hour."
Russert noted that Vice President Cheney joked at the recent Gridiron Dinner in Washington that Giuliani would like to replace him on the ticket with George Bush.
"I'm very, very happy where I am now and I'm very happy with Vice President Cheney," Giuliani said, endorsing the Bush-Cheney ticket.
"I think Vice President Cheney has been a great vice president. He's a critical part of this administration. And he's a very, very important part of one of the things that I think is not only important for our country but important for my party."
"We can show we're going to keep this team together. We've won some very, very significant victories against terrorism. And if we hope to continue along that road, we should keep the team together for the next four years. So I'm a big, big supporter of the vice president, both externally and also to whatever extent my voice has any meaning within the party."
When pressed about any future plans, Giuliani said: "I'm very happy doing what I'm doing now. You know, whatever focus on 2008 exists is going to happen after we get the president and vice president re-elected and then I'll think about my own future. After the 2004 election, I'm going to sit down and think very seriously about what do I want to do?
"I'm very, very happy with what I'm doing right now. I have a business with the former police commissioner, Bernie Kerik. We do a lot of interesting things. We're getting involved now in trying to stop a lot of this spreading importation of illegal medicines where people think they're getting real medicines and they're getting animal medicines and other things."
The former mayor emphasized President Bush's leadership and inspiration at Ground Zero: "I developed a very, very strong bond with President Bush on and after September 11, 2001. I can't tell you personally how much support he gave me. There is a picture that I keep, you know, in my home of his putting his arm around me, and George Pataki is right next to us."
Giuliani noted further that he admired Bush's consistency and strength, comparing him with former President Ronald Reagan: "Ronald Reagan is probably my biggest political hero. I wrote about it in my book, I talk about it in my speeches. And the reason I respected Ronald Reagan was his consistent leadership, even though I didn't agree with all of his positions."
Full transcript of Meet the Press interview at:
msnbc.msn.com |
