Posted on 04/03/2007 4:02:00 AM PDT by Liz
The Giuliani '08 juggernaut just ran head-on into Podhoretz's First and Last Law of Politics, namely: No politician seeking the nation's highest office can do as much damage to another as he can do to himself. --SNIP-- The question before us today is whether Rudy Giuliani committed a blunder of comparable proportions by consenting to a Barbara Walters request for a joint interview with him and his wife Judi - during the course of which he said, embarrassingly, that he would welcome her presence at Cabinet meetings and listen to her closely on issues relating to health care.
Until that moment, he had handled his presidential bid as perfectly as could be imagined......his four months of bliss came to an end when ABC News released the first snippets of the Walters interview last Thursday..... Walters moment only revealed that Rudy ......thought he could say something cute about his wife that really wasn't cute at all - seemed perhaps more about currying favor with her than about finding the appropriate balance between portraying a loving marriage and depicting a future presidency. Of course, what Rudy was doing with Barbara Walters was an effort....- to neutralize the damaging effect of his marital history by being open and clear and honest. He did that well.....then he muffed it.
News of the Walters interview began a 96-hour ordeal for Giuliani that included the leak of his grand-jury testimony in the case of his former police commissioner's ties to a crooked contractor - potentially his most serious liability - and the revelations that Judi Giuliani has actually been married more than twice and had worked for a medical-equipment firm that used (and thus killed) dogs.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Rudy and Judi cut to the quick, telling Barbara without hesitation that Judi would "sit in" on Cabinet meetings. Less than 24 hours later, Rudy was backtracking like crazy---denying Judi had Cabinet aspirations. Course these two are so arrogant and smug---they never figured on the backlash that ensued.
Giuliani's campaign issued a statement: "Obviously, she will not be a Cabinet member or attend most Cabinet meetings _ if any.
A Cabinet member? That's a strange thing to say. Unless Giuliani's hidden agenda was to condition Americans to Judi's presence at Cabinet meetings---clearing the way for Judi's appointment to a Cabinet position later.
Memo to Rudy: Your third wife may be the love of YOUR life but Americans have a more stringent standard to judge potential First Ladies. As for the Rudy/Judi aggressive plan to sell yourselves as a "team," Americans say, "no way."
CONCLUSION: Rudy was "for" Judi sitting in on Cabinet meetings before he was "against it"......AND he's sleeping on the couch for the forseeable future.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of this liberal’s campaign for the conservative nomination.
Time to get behind Fred.
Attacking Teresa Heinz-Kerry - good!
Don't believe it? Just ask any Rudy fan.
I can’t believe he was stupid enough to repeat the Bill Clinton 2 fer BS.
So long Rudi, better men are waiting in the wings.
Nurse Judy, Rudys biggest ass-ette, is becoming his biggest lie-ability.
Actually Judith Guiliani came off rather well as an intelligent and sweet-tempered sort of individual. I doubt this will have any affect at all in the long run. He still leads Hillary in polls in PA, OH, NJ, CT, OR, MN, RI, FL and elsewhere. No other Republican candidate can bring that kind of clout to the table.
Right you are, he was for it until he realized the voters were against it. He is quoted as saying that his policies are not that much different than Clinton’s and I guess he should know.
Rudybots will go down in flames.
Yet another bad decision by Rudy.
His wife's history with the company that used live dogs to demonstrate its's stapling device, killed any chances he had with the moderates and the Liberals.
Of course the Rudy lapdogs will deny it, but then they are lapdogs after all.
Tempest in a teapot. Next.
“Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of this liberal’s campaign for the conservative nomination.Time to get behind Fred.”
You should stop smoking that stuff. Rudy brings CA, OR, NJ, CT, RI, PA, OH, FL, IO, and MN to the table—all blue and purple states. What does Fred bring—aside from a single lackluster term in the Senate and no executive experience whatsoever. He couldn’t wait to return to his first love—acting.
-what the heck? It sounds like Rudy and Judy are still playing house together........did they learn NOTHING from hillary’s health care debacle? Judy would do better to emulate Laura Bush than hillary rodham clinton. hillary fancied herself the health care queen....hillary considered herself co-president.......hillary aspired to a cabinet level position......even taking al’s office space (didn’t she?).....seems Judy has some lofty fantisies of herself...and Rudy does too.
Yeah, it’s clout today; once he’s gets the nomination the Dem pimp media will kill him. His personal life is a mess, and he’s pro abortion, gun control and homosexual ‘union’ whatever that means.
Make no mistake, the MSM is FOR Hillary; they will drive this process in any way to get her the presidency. Rudy is not the answer for the GOP. He’s a liberal.
LOL. Damn, you’re good.
Excellent point——we have to remember Rudy has two faces: one side speaks liberal, the other side tries to speak conservative (and usually fails).
LOL Enough! It’s not even close to official campaigning season and I am done with Judi, and it’s not entirely her fault.
Lord Hildemort ruined the way for First Ladies that would follow her. She’s like the misquote of Hobbes; “nasty, brutish and short”.
Laura Bush did the impossible; she brought up the stature and class of being an active First Lady without being a shrew, and now it seems that anyone who falls short of our most loved First Lady falls in the LH category.
LOL
Bitch set me up...
Rudy asks the media to lay off his wife (his words as I recall). He should leave her off camera unless he really wants to make HER the issue.
Time to get behind Duncan.
I'm sure there will be a 'next'. This is a pretty big mistake for an experienced politician to make, something I'd expect far more out of Obama. Besides, it would look endearing in his party. Republicans want women who don't try to dominate their men.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.