Free Republic

Is it possible that a reasonable person could think President Obama doesn’t love America? Well, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has faced heavy criticism for saying just that, but Giuliani isn’t crazy. His thoughts are usually well-collected. He is a Republican leader, and his opinion matters. That said, his comments aren’t helpful in today’s election context, and attacking Obama is generally off-message for Republicans who want to win in 2016, but Giuliani has a right to say what he thinks.

There has been no shortage of news coverage—and criticism—regarding comments I made about President Obama at a political gathering last week in New York. My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart. My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance. Let me explain. (clip)........ Obviously, I cannot read President Obama’s mind or heart, and to the extent that my words suggested otherwise, it was...

Yesterday’s news became big news on the Fox News Channel last week when former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought up the name of President Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis. It was almost seven years to the day when we published our seminal piece about Davis, “Obama’s Communist Mentor.” Davis was a member of the Communist Party and a suspected Soviet espionage agent. He was included in the FBI’s security index, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI file on Davis documents his anti-white and pro-Soviet views,...

And I will prove it to you. A couple of days ago Rudy Giuliani violated the 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Ridicule a Black President Giuliani dared to rip into Barack Obama: WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani has delivered a political shot-in-the-gut to President Obama, charging the president doesn’t “love America.” “I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Giuliani told about 60 conservative business leaders gathered Wednesday night at the 21 Club to hear Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. According to the former mayor, Obama...

Democrats and Republicans play by different rules because the media enforces those rules, and members of the national press tend to be liberal Democrats. During the Bush years, we were often reminded, dissent was the "highest form of patriotism." Over the course Obama's tenure, dissent became dangerous, disrespectful, un-American and quite possibly racist. When a conservative figure says something that seems to impugn or question a prominent liberal's character or love of country, "civility" SWAT teams are dispatched to knock down some proverbial doors. Such transgressions mustn't stand. But when the dynamic is reversed, the civility police are curiously off...

Scott Walker was not planning to outsource the job of defining his presidential campaign to Rudy Giuliani, a last-minute add-on to his New York speaking appearance. But that is exactly what transpired. While unplanned, Giuliani expressed a question of fundamental importance within the Republican Party, which allowed Walker to define himself unmistakably. Giuliani defends his original claim in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today. In it, Giuliani argues that Obama is “criticizing his country more than other presidents have done, regardless of their political affiliation,” and likewise fails to express “a fundamental belief in the country’s greatness and the example...

eadership: "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America," candidate Barack Hussein Obama said on Oct. 30, 2008, just before his election as our 44th president. Was it just rhetoric? Many no doubt thought it was, chalking it up to boilerplate election-eve hot air. But now are we seeing — some would say tragically — what he meant. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is being raked over the coals for saying he doesn't really believe the president loves America, and he probably didn't do himself or the Republican any favors by saying that. Democrats...

The firestorm of denunciation of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, for having said that he did not think Barack Obama loved America, is in one sense out of all proportion to that remark — especially at a time when there are much bigger issues, including wars raging, terrorist atrocities and a nuclear Iran on the horizon. Against that background of strife and dangers on the world stage, it may seem as if Barack Obama's feelings, or Rudolph Giuliani's opinion about those feelings, should not matter so much, especially when it is hard to know with certainty how anyone feels....

One of the least interesting news manias of the week has been former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani discussing his opinion that President Obama doesn't really love America (or you, or me, or him). Obama has been the very living embodiment of American government power for the past 7 years, and not too reluctant to use it against enemies, and just random citizens, both foreign and domestic—whether it comes to foreign policy, spending, taxing, regulating, and arresting. Thus, I doubt any alleged lack of love for the U.S. of A matters in any way that Giuliani or the people delighted to...

Sunday at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago during his annual Saviours’ Day speech, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan attacked former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for his controversial comments saying Obama doesn’t love America.

Former New York mayor Rudy GiulianiÂ’s statement about President ObamaÂ’s lack of love for America has set off a firestorm of denunciation. Giuliani has been accused of racism, and he has even received death threats. Defenders of Obama have evoked everything from his grandfatherÂ’s (on his motherÂ’s side) service in World War II to the two years GiulianiÂ’s father served in Sing Sing to prove either that Obama does love America or that Giuliani has no standing to issue such criticism. The ranting has obscured the reasons why so many Americans take GiulianiÂ’s remarks to heart. Starting with his June...

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has generated a firestorm by asserting, at a fundraiser for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, “I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the President loves America.” Of course, that’s nuts. Barack Obama’s deep and true love for our country has been a hallmark of his career. “In no other country on Earth,” he said when he was seeking the presidency, “is my story even possible.” Obama said this, it should be noted, in his masterly speech on race — an issue that is America’s most difficult and...

Does it matter if Obama is a Christian or not? No, but it matters how Republicans answer stupid questions like that.Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been surging in recent weeks, and there is a sense he could be the guy to bridge the gap between the Republican establishment and the grassroots conservative base. But campaigns are crucibles, and if the last couple of days are a harbinger of things to come, heÂ’s in trouble. Could it be that the governor who fought so courageously against Wisconsin unions might not be ready for prime time on the national stage? No, IÂ’m...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Potential Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham has "no doubt" that President Obama loves his country, refuting comments made by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani earlier this week. “Well, I love Rudy, but I don’t want to go there. The nation’s very divided. President Obama has divided us more than he’s brought us together and I don’t want to add to that division,” Graham initially said on ABC's "This Week" today, before adding, “I have no doubt that he loves his country. I have no doubt that he’s a patriot. But his primary job as president of the United...

Those of us who have lived in the NYC area going back to his tenure knew Rudy Giuliani to be a petty, controlling narcissist all along, but when put on the spot to do so he could behave himself, as he did after 9/11 when the television cameras of the world were upon him. But lately he’s been letting his True Rudy flag fly. His recent comment that he doesn’t know if the President loves America has brought on a lot of commentary about Giuliani’s sad self-destruction, It’s been a long time coming; he pretty much lost his post-9/11 glow...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR: At one of the Scott Walker events this week, former New York Mayor, David, Rudy Giuliani made a statement that has gotten a lot of attention. He basically — he talked about President Obama and said, “He wasn’t raised like we were,” talking to the group. He said, “He doesn’t love this country as we do.” It’s gotten a lot of attention. Do we — how big a deal is it? DAVID BROOKS: Well, it’s — you know, it’s unacceptable. You can’t say that. He doesn’t know that. It’s not true. It’s self-destructive. There’s sort...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Gloria Borger was rebuked by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former Gov. George Pataki (R-NY) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for the media’s obsession with Rudy Giuliani comments last week accusing President Obama of not loving America. Borger twice called the comments “hateful,” as the panel continued to refuse her prodding to attack America’s mayor. “I don’t think Rudy’s ever going to get the dust from Ground Zero out of his lungs,” Issa said. “He was there during the fall of those towers so for him to take personally a president...

In the wake of his questioning of President Obama’s love for this country, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is catching flak from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “This kind of comment is unwelcome and dangerous,” Schultz said. “The President is the most powerful person on the planet. Insulting him like this is tantamount to poking a lion with a stick. What can Giuliani be thinking?” “What people need to understand is that President Obama is not a ‘rah-rah’ or ‘God bless America’ type of patriot,” Schultz explained. “He’s just the only president to be completely honest...

At the heart of the Giuliani-led critique of the president’s patriotism is the suggestion that Barack Obama has never expressed love for the United States. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, has even challenged the media to find examples of Mr. Obama expressing such affection. Has the president done so? Yes, he has. A review of his public remarks provides multiple examples.