Hosts of ABC's The View GANG UP on Giuliani for Backing Bush (TRANSCRIPT & FREEP ALERT)

MRC ^ | Wednesday September 1, 2004 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

The heated argument consumed nearly eight minutes, so space permits only some limited excerpts as provided by the MRC's Jessica Anderson who caught the August 31 exchange:

Joy Behar: "Did you really say that, 'Thank God he was our President'? That's the first thing you said? You didn't say 'Oh, expletive,' or something?"

Rudy Giuliani: "No, no, that wasn't the first thing I said. That's one of the things that I said on September 11th to my police commissioner. It really came out because that was just a few months after that disputed election, and so I had called the White House to ask for support, and I felt very, very comfortable that he was in the White House because I know him, and because I knew he would be tough about it."

Behar: "I know, but so would Al Gore. Don't you think he would have been as tough on it? Of course he would. Any President would respond."

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "I don't think so." [Audience applause]

Giuliani: "No."

Behar: "You don't?"

Giuliani: "No, I don't think there's any chance at all that Al Gore would have been as determined. I think Al Gore would have backed off now about four times with the kind of criticism that George Bush– [trails off]" [Audience applause and boos] . Giuliani: "Taking out Saddam Hussein was critical to defeating global terrorism."

Vieira: "But one is terrorism and one is the particular war in Iraq, and that's what I think people are upset about, because we went to war believing there were weapons of mass destruction. I was at the demonstration there on Sunday, that's what people were talking about. There were mothers of soldiers there. People weren't arguing against terrorism, it was the war in Iraq in particular."

Giuliani: "There's a tremendous amount of emotion always against war, always. In 1863, New York had tremendous riots against the Civil War and against Abraham Lincoln because they didn't want to be in the Civil War anymore. A President has to be able to withstand that. He has to be able to stand up to that." . Hasselbeck: "It's a long process."

Giuliani: "The idea that taking out Saddam Hussein wasn't part of the War On Terrorism really misunderstands the War On Terrorism."

Behar: "No, but people say it was a distraction from going after bin Laden."

Giuliani: "No it wasn't! Saddam Hussein was one of the principal supporters of international terrorism. He was sitting on top of $4 billion or $5 billion, he had used weapons of mass destruction, and Abu Nidal, who killed Leon Klinghoffer and maybe about 25 other Americans and a hundred other people, was operating out of Iraq."

Behar: "So were the Saudis!" .

Giuliani: "But the reality of that, that followed a quote of John Kerry's about an $87 billion supplemental budget that was to support our troops. And John Kerry voted against it, and then he explained it by saying, 'Before I voted against it, I actually voted for it.'"

Hasselbeck: "Right."

Giuliani: "And it seems to me you can't have it both ways and that's what he's been trying to do."

Behar, not joking: "He change his mind based on nuance."

Giuliani: "Everybody changes their mind. He makes it a rule to change his mind."

Vieira: "But being consistent isn't necessarily right if you're wrong in the consistency. You can be consistent, but if you're-" [Audience applause]

Behar: "You could change your mind. You change your mind."

Giuliani: "Sure I do, occasionally, but I don't change my core principles." [Audience applause]

Jones: "Come on, Mr. Mayor. You stand at that podium and support that President when you disagree with almost everything the Party socially says. You don't change your core issues? That's not fair, Mr. Mayor." [Audience applause]

Giuliani: "No, those aren't, my core issues are the national defense of this country, national security, and the economy. To me those are the two things on which I assess candidates that have the biggest impact on us."

Jones: "What about patriotism, Mr. Mayor? Because you know, you quoted something the President said that scared me. You said, you quoted him as saying 'either you're with us or you're with the terrorists,' and the President did make that statement. Don't question people's patriotism because they don't believe in the war."

Giuliani: "I do not."

Jones: "We love America! So why would the President make that statement? That scared me."

Giuliani: "It shouldn't because the president made that statement on September 20th."

Jones: "I don't care if he made it yesterday."

Giuliani: "He made it on September 20th of 2001, just a few days after the horrible attack on this city and Washington, DC."

Jones: "But you quoted it last night, Mr. Mayor!"

Giuliani: "I quoted it and gave you the date, because this country was united then."

Jones: "Do you believe that?"

Giuliani: "This country was united in the effort to go after terrorists and prevent what happened from happening again."

Jones: "Do you believe that today? 'Either you're with the terrorists or you're with us' -- that's not American!"

Giuliani: "Of course it's American."

Jones: "No, it's not! With 'us' -- who is 'us'?"

Giuliani: "You're either with the Nazis or you're with us. You're either with the Communists or you're with us." [Audience members boo]

Jones: "No, that's still not fair, Mr. Mayor. I'm surprised at you."

Giuliani: "Well, I'm surprised at you."

Jones: "I'm surprised you would say that."

Giuliani: "The terrorists killed almost 3,000 of our people. So what side are you on? Are you on their side or are you on our side?"

Jones: "I am on the side of men and women fighting in Iraq right now, and I want us to support those people."

Giuliani: "You can't be on their side and be on the side of the terrorists."

Jones: "No, being against the war is not on the side of the terrorists, okay?"

Giuliani: "Nobody is saying you can't be against the war. Nobody is saying that."

Vieira: "The implication is that if you disagree, I think, with the administration that somehow you are on the side of the terrorists."

Giuliani: "That isn't who George Bush said that to, that isn't what it means. That's a way of misunderstanding what he's saying, which is what people do to him all the time."

Jones: "Well, please clarify it for us."

Giuliani: "No, I'm not going to clarify. You're either with the terrorists or you're with us."

Jones: "Why not?"

Giuliani: "Because there is no distinction."

Audience member yells out: "Who's 'us'?"

Giuliani: "'Us' is the United States of America. The terrorists are the people who kill innocent people, the people who killed people in Madrid."

Behar: "We agree with that."

Jones: "We agree with that."

Giuliani: "Good, now we agree. Then why try to misunderstand it?"

Vieira: "Can you be on the side of 'us' and also believe that the war in Iraq is flawed and wrong?"

Giuliani: "Yes."

Vieira: "Fine, fine, fine. So you're running for President in 2008, correct?"

+ Check the posted version of this item later this morning for a RealPlayer clip of the contentious session.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

I think I could better, more reasoned, opinions from my 18 month old daughter than any of the shriveled special ed yentas on The View.

[SunkenCiv]

:')

[AmericanChef]

-"Vieira: "Fine, fine, fine..."

("Using logic against me...can't compute...can't compute...must change subject...brain overload...overload...")

[SunkenCiv]

Lisa Ling was moderately cute, but...

[beansox]

too bad stars dress size is bigger than her i.q.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Don't Republicans ever get tired of going on these liberal shows?