Posted on 03/29/2007 12:04:15 PM PDT by pissant
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani says if elected, he'd be open to his wife attending Cabinet meetings on issues in which she's interested. In an interview with Barbara Walters to air Friday on ABC News' "20/20," the former New York city mayor and his wife, Judith Nathan Giuliani, answered questions about the six marriages between them and whether she was the "other woman" who caused the breakup of his second marriage to TV personality Donna Hanover.
Rudy Giuliani, the current front-runner in the 2008 GOP race, discussed what role his wife would play if he wins the White House. In 1990s, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton played a prominent role in her husband's administration, including a failed effort on health care reform. Her policy efforts created some problems for the couple.
Asked whether his wife would sit in on Cabinet meetings, Giuliani said, "If she wanted to. If they were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean that would be something that I'd be very, very comfortable with."
Giuliani described his wife as a close adviser who has as much involvement in his campaign as she wants.
Asked if she would sit in on policy meetings, Mrs. Giuliani, who was a nurse, said: "If he asks me to, yes. And certainly in the areas of health care."
He disputed suggestions that she was responsible for the messy and very public breakup of his marriage to Hanover, with whom he had two children, Andrew and Christine. Giuliani's relationship with his children has been strained.
"No, she was not," he said. "I tried to keep that all as private as possible. ... I think I should be very, very clear, that she was not the cause of the break up in any way at all."
Calling Judith Giuliani "the light of my life," the former mayor declined to say whether his marriage to Hanover had been in trouble.
Judith Giuliani, who recently revealed that she had been married twice previously not once, said it was difficult to be seen as the "other woman."
Giuliani's first marriage to his second cousin, Regina Peruggi, ended after 14 years in divorce and later an annulment. Giuliani said he doesn't think the nation has reached the point in which divorce is not important in choosing a president, but argued that voters will evaluate the whole person.
"None of us, at least I don't think any of us, have perfect lives," he said. "I can say very credibly to people, 'Judge me by my public performance. Whatever mistakes I've made in my personal life, I made, I'm sorry for them.' "
Will Hillary bring her wife too?
Unimpressive.
Which ones-- past, present or future?
Is Rudy instituting Take Your Wife to Work Day or something?
Leave the cabinet meetings to people who belong at the table because of their skills and not their selection of a mate.
Why is that so difficult to grasp??
Which one?
He just dug himself a hole.
Much as I tried not to, your comment made me laugh out loud. The visual was just too much and included Janet Reno.
Which one?
Better be careful there...the more she's involved in policy the harder it will be to evict her from the White House when he takes up with the next future Mrs. Giuliani.
Ah, ya beat me by 34 seconds! :)
What are Judith's beliefs on healthcare as a nurse? I'd be very interested to hear what she thought coming from the medical community.
Rudy will preside in drag. It will take some time for him and his hootchie wife to choose their wardrobe.
Wouldn't want to be seen in the same dress, you know.
What are Judy's qualifications? Can she obtain a top security clearance?
Anyway, Fred Thompson is more conservative and has less baggage and therefore is more electable.
Guess he didn't like his reported lead in the polls all that much.
This is moronic.
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