Posted on 04/02/2007 4:34:39 AM PDT by theothercheek
Rudy Giuliani made the first serious blunder of his presidential campaign in a "20/20" interview that was broadcast on Friday. No, not the bit about wife, Judith, having a "secret" husband before marrying and divorcing Bruce Nathan, then wedding Rudy in 2003. That other bit, when Rudy told Barbara Walters that he would allow his wife to sit in on Cabinet meetings if he wins the White House: "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." The First Lady hopeful, a nurse, unhelpfully chimed in to specify that she was particularly interested in health care.
Its déjà vu all over again.
As columnist and blogger Dean Barnett puts it: "Bill Clinton gave Hillary Clinton 14% of the American economy to toy with as a cat does a terrified mouse." He adds that "Mrs. Clinton's effort to impose Hillary-Care on an unwilling nation was a historic blunder" and "an outrageous act of nepotism" that "violated deeply held American values" rooted in our Founding Fathers' having quite deliberately chosen to "avoid the trappings of monarchy."
Barnett explains:
"In the system they designed, the President would be no king and his wife, therefore, would be no queen. Until the Clintons, every prior president showed a demonstrable understanding of this basic fact.
Where the Giulianis truly stumbled was in assuming that the Clintons established a new norm. Quite the contrary, the Clintons' dalliance with monarchial privilege was not only disastrous but widely unpopular. Bill Clinton's appointment of his wife to a role of such import was a moment of historic arrogance.
To his credit or to the credit of his advisors Rudy immediately realized he had strayed into a minefield and beat a hasty retreat in a statement issued late Friday. The Associated Press reports:
"Obviously, she will not be a Cabinet member or attend most Cabinet meetings _ if any. But she will pursue a campaign to educate Americans on preventing illness and promoting overall health."
[T]he former mayor sought to play down his own remarks and suggested any discussion of a policy role for his wife was merely prompted by Walters' questioning.
"Like most couples, we rely on each other and support each other, but we have different interests. My interest is in politics and deciding policy. Judith is a nurse. Her interest is in educating people on how to stay healthy."
In a column titled, "Rudys The One," publisher and flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes explains his decision to back Rudys candidacy: He cut New York Citys crime and welfare in half; displayed "Churchillian leadership" in the days after the terrorist attacks on 9/11; and is the only "real fiscal conservative" in the race, having cut both taxes and the size of government, and having turned a $2.3 billion dollar budget deficit inherited from David Dinkins into a multibillion dollar surplus. No one will write a column, editorial or commentary, "Rudiths The One."
Americans are not voting for and emphatically do not want a "two-fer." Rudy and Judy need to understand this and to demonstrate to voters that they do.
NOTE: In case I did not put all the links in correctly, this is the second item in a feature called The Daily Blade and follows an article titled, "See Something, Say Something, Get Sued By CAIR."
Please. I once had Romney's people come after me in here and it was UGLY! It seemed like every Mormon in the US suddenly got onto the thread - at one point I even asked whether there were any non-Mormons on the thread because it seemed odd that not a single person would have agreed with the article I posted or with my thougths about it. There was just one guy who was not a Mormon. Just one. Rudy's people are pikers compared to this mob, believe me.
I agree with you, I think he's p-whipped.
He might have taken stronger steps against the terrorists, if he would have had the country's well-being in mind, rather than his own legacy -- which was to make sure that the first female president could be elected.
How can someone be a strong president, if he is always worried he might do something that will turn more voters against Hillary?
Thompson has not made too many errors in judgment - McCain Finegold was one of the few. If he can't get the nomination (because he can't raise enough cash - which is what it's all about) then he'd be great as a VP no matter who is at the top of the ticket, IMHO.
Probably correct. (Although?)
Yeah but Rudy TALKS real tough, and look what he did AFTER the terrorists attacked. I'm sure Judy is a real tough nut too, you have to be to not be bothered by sleeping with someone elses husband.
None of this stuff really matters because only Rudy can beat Hillary. /s
Yea .well some of the posts today are really strong. She worked as a person who collected dogs to be practiced on during the 70s and then they were killed. This duo are wild . The democrats would eat these two alive. Time for new front runners in the rep party.
I just posted this so people can have the information.
Someone here asked the question a couple of days ago, so I looked it up. This is the problem with senators running for President..a paper trail.
I'm not ready to drink anyones kool-aid at this point, but if Fred gets the nod he'll have my vote.
thompson said that cfr didn't work out how he intended and now recognizes it was a bad idea.
You do? I've been told he is a scrappy little street-fightin' banty cock. Oprah called him "America's Mayor" And he's a New Yorker - he can be rude to the terrorists
I think he is too liberal to take on the terrorists
You take issues with Rudy for many things, but not this one.
Tell that to the Saudi price he told to go take a hike, or Yasser, when he was in NY city, you might get a different opinion.
The war is one of the reasons I could vote for him.
You need to calm down.Relax this just started. It gets better as you go on. How many of these have you been in? Relax do yoga and go for a walk. This this is still an infant.
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