Posted on 09/20/2007 7:33:35 AM PDT by indcons
Rudy Giuliani took a star turn on the world stage here yesterday, huddling with prime ministers and expounding on The World According to Rudy.
But with one offhand remark, the Republican presidential hopeful ended up sounding more like a world-class braggart than a world-class leader.
"I'm probably one of the four or five best-known Americans in the world," Giuliani declared to a small group of reporters at a posh London hotel.
Asked to name the four better-known Americans, Giuliani replied, "Bill Clinton ... Hillary," before being whisked away by aides to another engagement.
Apparently, President Bush didn't make the top of Giuliani's list, to say nothing of Brangelina, Madonna, Oprah or others too famous to have more than one name. Aides were unable to fill in the blanks later.
In any case, it was an eyebrow-raising moment in the middle of an otherwise well-scripted day for Giuliani.
The former mayor had an audience with Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10Downing St., an honor usually reserved for world leaders.
He channeled the spirit of his hero, Winston Churchill, by chatting up the former prime minister's granddaughter, who declared that Giuliani is "Churchill in a baseball cap."
And to top it off, he got his picture taken with former prime minister and conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, all while making presidential-sounding pronouncements on the need to expand NATO and, if necessary, strike Iran.
If Iran gets to the point where it could become a nuclear power, "we will prevent it or we'll set them back five or 10 years," Giuliani said.
"That's not said as a threat, that's said as a promise," Giuliani added.
As for NATO, the former mayor said he would consider expanding its membership to "willing" democracies around the globe, mentioning Israel, India, Japan, Singapore and Australia as possibilities.
For Giuliani - the only leading candidate to have never visited Iraq and a lawyer with no foreign policy experience - the day was a rare chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with world leaders and underscore his tough-on-terror views.
"As Margaret Thatcher would put it, this isn't a time to go wobbly," Giuliani told an evening crowd as she looked on.
The former mayor made light of Thatcher's reputation for "handbagging" - or figuratively swatting - her adversaries with her famously large purses.
"I have not had a handbag since I was on 'Saturday Night Live,'" Giuliani joked about his cross-dressing appearances on the show. "But I can relate very much to that impulse."
Giuliani was Mayor of New York?
"...OJ..."
There's best known and there's best respected - and 'best smartest' - he doesn't make the last two categories
Yeah, but did you know he was the mayor of New York?
What a moron. His ego just doesn’t stop.
He’s obviously trying to ingratiate himself with the 250,000 plus American ex-pats who call Britain home.
He seemed like a decent chap immediately after 911. Seems like a bit of a twat now.
We can make all the snide comments about Rudy we want, and we can get on him for his differences and his supposed family problems, but I notice the Dems (today it’s Hillary supporter Vilsack) seem to only attack him. The only conclusion is that he’s the one they are afraid of.
The support in here seems to be going toward Fred Thompson...quite frankly, I don’t get it. We speak about the Dem candidates being do-nothings and empty-suits and if we nominate Fred, we’re nominating the same thing we criticize about the Dem side.
"I'm probably one of the four or five best-known Americans in the world," Giuliani declared to a small group of reporters at a posh London hotel.
It's all about you, Rudy.
Just like 9/11 - that was all about you as well.
"I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers"
Right.
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.