Rudy & Republicans Reference Reagan During Debate

The first debate amongst Republican presidential candidates was held last night at the Ronald Reagan Library. With former first lady Nancy Reagan sitting in the first row, Rudy Giuliani, as well as other candidates, mentioned the Gipper many times (partially due to the setting and prompting of moderators).

For instance, when explaining how he'd deal with Iran's president over nuclear weapons, Giuliani said, "He cannot have nuclear weapons. And he has to look at an American president and he has to see Ronald Reagan. Remember, they looked in Ronald Reagan's eyes, and in two minutes, they released the hostages."

However, abortion was a tricky topic. Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romeny "struggled when press on their views on abortion." The NY Sun has a good description of how Rudy handled the A-word:

The debate illuminated differences between most of the field and Mr. Giuliani, who faced repeated questions about his position on abortion. The former mayor sought a nuanced view, saying early on that it would be "okay" if the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision; later in the night he stated clearly that he supports a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. He said multiple times that he "hated" abortion, calling it a "very, very difficult matter of conscience."

"Ultimately, since it is a matter of conscience, I would respect a woman's right to make a different choice," he said.

In other words, he was a bit "wobbly." Giuliani also made a point of saying that Republicans needed to "reach out, bring in Democrats, bring in independents," but at any rate, he was the only candidate to mention being pro-choice. Romney admitted he was "wrong" in being pro-choice before but is now staunchly pro-life. In other controversial medical issues, only Giuliani and Senator John McCain expressed support for embryonic stem cell research (a pet cause of Nancy Reagan).

Most of the candidates supported President Bush's decision to stay in Iraq. And Giuliani did bring up 9/11, in answering "Every president, if you look back to Ike, was elected to fill the problem of the previous president. We are of course correcting all the time in this country. It’s how democracy works. How will you be different in any way from President George W. Bush?":

MR. GIULIANI: I think we should remind ourselves, because I remember it every day, that on September 11, 2001, we thought we were going to be attacked many, many times between then and now. We haven’t been. I believe we had a president who made the right decision at the right time -- on September 20th, 2001 -- to put us on offense against terrorists. I think history will remember him for that, and I think we as Republicans should remind people of that.

Here's a transcript of the debate; you can also see clips at MSNBC. The Daily News' Michael Goodwin writes, "John McCain was passionate and vigorous, Mitt Romney was quick and opportunistic and Rudy Giuliani looked uncomfortable and dodgy on the key question of abortion," but also complains with the poor format of these debates. The Politico's Roger Simon says Romney won the debate. The Caucus has a roundup of other reviews and the Post's readers say they generally liked Giuliani, noting, "You're never going to get a perfect candidate."

We have some of Giuliani's NYC-references after the jump.

Mayor Giuliani, how do we get back to Ronald Reagan’s "morning in America"?
MR. GIULIANI: You get back to it with an optimism. The same situation that I faced in New York City. When I became mayor of New York City, 65-70 percent thought New York City was going on the wrong track. And what I did was I set policies and programs of growth, of moving people toward prosperity, security, safety.

And what we can borrow from Ronald Reagan, since we are in his library, is that great sense of optimism that he had. He led by building on the strengths of America, not running America down. And we’re a country that people love to come to. They want to come to this country. We’re the shining city on the hill.

So we should solve our immigration issue, including illegal immigration, from our strengths not our weaknesses. We’re a country that has the greatest health-care system in the world.

It’s flawed. It needs to be fixed, but we should fix it from our strengths. We shouldn’t turn it into socialized medicine. Those are the things that Ronald Reagan taught us. You lead from optimism. You lead from hope, and we should never retreat in the face of terrorism. A terrible mistake. ....

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MR. VANDEHEI: Mayor Giuliani, Bradley Winters of New York would like to know if there’s anything you learned or regret during your time as mayor in your dealings with the African-American community.

MR. GIULIANI: There’s a great deal that I learned and a great deal that I regret during the time I was mayor, and a great deal I was very, very satisfied with.

I tried very, very hard to treat everyone in New York City the same. We reduced crime by 67 percent. Some of the biggest beneficiaries of that would have been in the poorer neighborhoods of New York City, not necessarily the African-American community, but a lot of the communities of New York City. And I worked very, very hard to try to move hundreds of thousands of people out of welfare. I think -- we actually followed Tommy Thompson’s program, and we had the most successful welfare-to-work program in the country. We moved 600 and -- 60,000 people off welfare. And I think one of the reasons that crime is still down in New York today --

MR. MATTHEWS: That’s the time, Mayor.

MR. GIULIANI: Thank you.

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MR. MATTHEWS: Let me get back to Governor -- Mayor Giuliani because I want to give you a chance on this. You became very well known for standing up against the use of public funds for what many people considered indecent exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum and places like that.

Why do you support the use of public funds for abortion?

MR. GIULIANI: I don’t. I support the Hyde amendment. I hate abortion. I wish people didn’t have abortions.

MR. MATTHEWS: So you’re not for funding at all?

MR. GIULIANI: I believe that the Hyde amendment should remain the law. States should make their decision. Some states decide to do it, most states decide not to do it. And I think that’s the appropriate way to have this decided.

MR. MATTHEWS: Should New York -- when you were mayor of New York, should they have been paying for -- the state should have been paying for --

MR. GIULIANI: That’s a decision New York made a long time ago, and New York --

MR. MATTHEWS: And where were you on that?

MR. GIULIANI: I supported it in New York. But I think in other places, people can come to a different decision.

MR. MATTHEWS: Thank you.
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Let me ask Mayor Giuliani, do you want to respond to this? Because it seems like across the room here there’s strong, unrelenting -- with the exception of Governor Gilmore -- an unrelenting pro-life position. You seem to have a nuanced position on this. Many people think you’re pro-choice. Could you define it in a couple of seconds?

MR. GIULIANI: Sure. This is a very, very difficult issue of conscience for many, many people. In my case, I hate abortion. I would encourage someone to not take that option. When I was mayor of New York city, I encouraged adoptions; adoptions went up 65-70 percent, abortions went down 16 percent.

But ultimately, since it is an issue of conscience, I would respect a woman’s right to make a different choice. I support the ban on partial-birth abortion, I support the Hyde amendment, but ultimately I think when you come down to that choice, you have to respect a woman’s right to make that choice differently than my conscience.

And I’d like to respond on spending if you (give me a little time later ?) --

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MR. VANDEHEI: Mayor Giuliani, Jessie (sp) from Madison wants to know, what do you consider to be your most significant weakness as a candidate for the president of the United States? (Laughter.)

MR. GIULIANI: The fact that they’re not all endorsing me.

I don’t know.

I mean, I think my strengths outweigh my weaknesses. I have plenty of weaknesses and I kind of work on them, but I think that I’m a person who’s an optimist. I try to look at the half-full glass rather than a half-empty glass. The only way I could turn around a city like New York that was considered the crime capital of America and turn it into the safest large city in America is to kind of inculcate some of the Ronald Reagan optimism and look to try to create results that people thought were impossible, and we did.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Miscellaneous, News on May 4, 2007 10:35 AM

Comments [rss]

Organicdrew

WHAT THE HELL WHY IS RON PAUL NOT ON THE POLL!!!

HE IS A LEGITIMATE CANDIDATE AND IS LEADING IN ALL THE OTHER POLLS. ZOGBY CNN MSNBC and more!!

HE IS THE ONLY DEFENDER OF a little thing called THE CONSTITUTION and THE BILL OF RIGHTS!! do you people not care, do you want to be imprisoned in a US concentration camps!

http://www.organicphoto.org/we%20the%20people%20objective.htm

delanie

Rudy did great. I thought he won hands down, although his stance on immigration is a bit weak. McCain sounded awful to me - I was shocked by articles claiming he did well.

Tim N.

Five bucks says this gets censored: You lose.

Now go vote your fears like everyone else.

Chris

Um, you forgot Ron Paul in the poll. And he won, hands down.

five bucks says this gets cens

It must absolutly enrage the Tim Ns of the world that a city where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans would choose the Rpublican for mayor in FOUR STRAIGHT ELECTIONS. Think about that. What does that tell you? Are you simply going tell us that over 50% of the people surrounding you in this utopia of progressive thinking that is New York are idiots? That seems to be your simplistic explanation for everything. The reality is that this country and even this city are more conservative than you think it is. Not neocon conservative, just more to the center than you guys seem to realize. If this city can't produce an electable Democrat as Mayor, what hope do you guys honestly think there is for a Democrat for President when all of the current candidates are liberals and the one pragmatic, centrist is tripping over her own two feet to out flank Obama, Dodd, etc.

And Tim N. you're a whore too.

HD

Where is the choice for Ron Paul in your vote for who will win the Republican nomination. I am disappointed that you completely missed a candidate that according to the poll on MSNBC actually won the debate.

Verl Doman

ROMNEY IS THE MAN!

S.D.

...

...

That is the oddest piece of Comment Spam I've seen yet. It's shown up on lots of places so far...

Lawrence Ray

Dear Mayor Giuliani:

Since you have based your presidential campaign almost exclusively on your reaction to terrorist attacks on New York City, and since you have recently accused Democrats of being on the defense against terrorism and therefore guilty of inviting more casualties, I have one question for you: Where were you on terrorism between January 31, 2001, and September 11th?

The first date was when the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century issued its final report warning, as did its previous reports, of the danger of terrorist attacks on America. The George W. Bush administration did nothing about these warnings and we lost 3,000 American lives. What did you do during those critical eight months? Where were you? Were you on the defensive, or were you even paying attention?

Until you do, then I strongly suggest you should keep your mouth shut about Democrats and terrorism.

Gary Hart

(co-chair, U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century)

Lawrence Ray’s Open Letter in Support of Gary Hart’s Open Letter To Rudy Giuliani

Gary Hart, April 29,2007

Your letter is a responsible and refreshing stride toward the truth. There are "many truths" along the path in a journey of this nature. Where one stops as the destination is a matter of intention. To those who are unaware and believe what they are told, often have no means of knowing whether it is the whole picture or the real truth.

The fact is that Rudy Giuliani is a criminal and a member of a criminal enterprise. Others involved in the enterprise are President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Bernard Kerik and too many to mention in this letter. They did not want to stop 9/11 they intended to let it happen, then profit from it. Giuliani is one of those who made enormous profits in the first Twenty Four Hrs. Those involved already effectively owned the stock of select companies, which would be selling technology and related products/services post attack. Members in "The Criminal Enterprise" had been paid well before 9/11. Americans were sold out in a sinister plot, which transacted its early deals in the Middle East by Dick Cheney and others, years before the Clintons stepped foot in the White House. Bernard Kerik and I met in what seemed unintended in 1995 in a Luncheonette in N.J. It was not an accident on the part of Kerik and others. By 1998 Kerik asked me to be his best man. An important step in their plan in 1998, which has now failed. Their advance planning techniques are effective to most. "Plausible deniability" being the single most frequent trait in a simple pattern. A common calling card when any bright prosecutor is an active criminal disguised as a prosecutor. When they could not buy me or my services they decided to ruin my credibility, starting by framing me in a Federal indictment in March 2000, based on a report by Bernard Kerik's best friend special agent Gary Uher who I briefed on their criminal activity in 1998.

For many years I have been working to expose the truth, in an effective yet responsible manner about Bush, Cheney, Giuliani, kerik and a criminal enterprise. Objectives being to prevent as much of the harm and damage to our country as possible and to see these reprobates brought to Justice. The record of my work in this regard is clear. I am the one who exposed Giuliani and Kerik In November 2004 to the N.Y. Daily News reporter Russ Buetner. No one else did. They subsequently attacked my two minor daughters, Talia and Ava in a gruesome manner. They got my ex-wife to go along because she coincidently had her own tragic-secret to hide so it served her purpose.

Included in the more than 2,600 audio recordings I made of conversations with others, I have recorded Government officials saying they were told "it is the republican party Line to destroy Larry Ray", before I exposed Giuliani and Kerik in November 2004. Why would they want to do that? I agreed to work with the New York City Department of Investigation on the Kerik/Giuliani investigation Dec 20, 2004. Walter Arsenault had contacted me after I put out the news in Nov/Dec 2004. It seems D.O.I.was actually a "Trojan Horse" intending to do damage control, find out what evidence I had, secure it, bury the investigation, bury me and I can prove exactly that. Where were they before I gave it to the Daily News? These criminals fleeced New York on the watch of The First Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Dept. of Investigation Walter Arsenault. During the 2 yr investigation Walter Arsenault was in regular communication with the Bush White House. I have recordings of my conversations with Walter Arsenault.

Being that Kerik had to step down after being nominated by President Bush to head America’s office of Homeland Security, why hadn’t the F.B.I. launched a thorough investigation? After all, it involved National Security, it involved the President of the United States, it crossed state lines and it happened in the White House. I believe the jurisdiction belonged to the F.B.I. Seems Federal to me. Why wasn’t the president outraged and responsible enough to order the F.B.I. to investigate? What was the Attorney General of the United States thinking ? Is Alberto Gonzales even allowed to think ? How come Gonzales did not take action? What about Vice President Cheney’s take charge personality? Cheney may have been to busy, maybe aboard the Sequoia with Greenspan as his guest.

Now that America knows the Bush/Cheney White House knew about Kerik before President Bush nominated him, it is also abundantly clear they did do something. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others agreed to lie to America by telling the world at large Bernard Kerik stepped down because he forgot to pay her taxes, a bald faced lie. For the first time in over four years I started calling Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero, Benard Kerik’s girlfriend for approximately twelve years, on Monday, Kerik stepped down as President Bush’s nominee to head The Department of Homeland Security. I learned from 1995-2000 Bernard Kerik would go up on peoples phones whenever he felt he needed to. I knew he would do it in December 2004, and Miss Pinero’s phone and my phone would be no exception.

The F.B.I. is the best Investigative Law Enforcement Agency in the entire world in my opinion. I have worked with the F.B.I. on and off for twelve years and have experience with different agencies in various parts of the world for twenty-six years. The men and women I have worked with at the F.B.I. are honorable, bright, dedicated and well trained. They were told to stand down regarding Giuliani/Kerik. Not what these professional men and women wanted to do. Instead an agency in N.Y.C. did the investigation.

Had the D.O.I. done their job in the nineties, Giuliani and Kerik would have never been thru the gates at the White House, they would have been behind the gates of a prison. If others and I were aware, so was Walter Arsenault.

We had been working in the Eastern European Region and in 1994 it became clear to me that there existed a very dedicated effort to execute a large scale terrorist attack on the United States. None of us knew at the time in 1994 the attack would come to be known as 9/11. My effort since to expose the truth has been unnaturally difficult, unnaturally long and unnaturally costly. The American Terrorists; the very corrupt Bush/Cheney White House, and many corrupt politicians and officials such as Gonzales, Chertoff, Giuliani/Kerik , and Wolfowitz to only name a few. The ENEMY WITHIN.

My two little girls and I have paid an unimaginable price and still are. Hurting my children is more painful than every other tactic they used to discourage and /or stop me in their effort to make sure I did not expose what I discovered in my work in Eastern Europe during the Bush Sr. Presidency regarding activities of Dick Cheney and others.

N.A.T.O. I had been brought in to the Kosovo Crisis in an effort to avoid the senseless casualties to come in a ground offensive. I feel the Pentagon very accurately estimated anticipated casualties if a ground assault commenced. After I listened to the intelligence briefing the first night I was in Belgium at N.A.T.O. Headquarters, based on my analysis I presented a recommendation, which I believed to be the only available option. All in the room with the exception of Colonel Sponbeck agreed with me and asked how do we implement. I designed and submitted my tactical plan as I saw it. The necessary steps were completed over the next two days and I was then authorized. My first stop in the operation was Moscow. I accomplished both objectives, the cessation of the bombing campaign and mitigate the need for a ground offensive, thus avoiding the senseless loss of ground troops.

I had also been tasked after flight 800 went down while Departing N.Y., to locate and retrieve any of the surplus Stinger Missiles we supplied when we appropriately backed the Mujahidin during the Afghan Conflict. I was tasked originally by the F.B.I. I located and arranged to take that load of stingers out of circulation. There were logistical problems for the Bureau and time not being friendly I completed that task with the C.I.A. I am told it was the largest load recovered at the time, which concerned me since I was tasked due to an emergent need, before that I had never paid attention to that recovery program and I would have thought we as a Nation would have been more successful in that regard.

Mr. Hart I presume you have more than enough experience to know that any individual who is capable of successfully attaining objectives as the ones I state in this letter must be regarded in a particular manner to be tasked to begin with. I am and always have been proud of the fact I am an American.

The current exposure of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and others yet to be named, for lying to the American people about the link between Sadam Hussein and Al queda is directly due to my effort. It is well documented. The Washington Post Easter Sunday Cover Article, about the Bush White House and U.S. Attorney Gonzales knowing in advance about Bernard kerik Rudy Giuliani happened because I gave it to the Washington Post. Take a look at what was going on before and after that article.

President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others are responsible for the murders of United States Marines and other U.S. Military Personnel. How did it get this far?

The thread of conspiracy runs from President Bush, V.P. Cheney, Antonio Gonzales, Mike Chertoff, Rudy Giuliani, Frank and Peter DiTomaso, Bernard kerik all the way down trhu Judge Thomas Dilts, Judge Julie Marino, Judge Anne Bartlett, the D.Y.F.S office in Somerset County Court, Union County Prosecutors Office, Livingston twp and others in New Jersey who continue to harm my two children in the effort to harm me so I will not or can not expose the truth and/or testify. I will not rest until all responsible are exposed and charged for their crimes. Then it will be the responsibility of the Justice system in America to administer the law in a balanced and honest manner, nothing less, nothing more. It is of paramount importance to all of us the system do as it is intended in order for our country to begin healing. No witch hunts and burnings, yet no special favors either. All Americans and the entire world are already watching.

Senator Hart, I was aware pre 9/11 of the reports you reference, including briefings with N.Y. Port Authority. Giuliani did do things, one was to build the Ultra Expensive Emergency Command Office in the World Trade Center, just one more for people to ask " how could Rudy have made a mistake like that "? It is simple he didn't make a mistake, it is the same pattern of his advance planning, he intended it to be one of several seeds of doubt to the public, worst yet maybe a jury. The same as asking, how could a man as smart as Rudy make someone who, is as ignorant, has a record of ties to organized crime and as uneducated as Bernard Kerik not only commissioner of corrections but then make him the New York City Police Commissioner? To ask it is to answer it.

It is interesting after I fought alone for so long and have endured so much stating all along that Bush/Cheney wants America to go to war with Iraq for a sinister criminal agenda and finally get it out in the media, now George Tenet comes out stating the same thing. Curious.

I hope some committee is already prepared to plug the wholes in our National Security due to many people who hold positions across the country in Homeland Security jobs as installs by Giuliani, Cheney, Kerik, or Chertoff.

I am confident Mr. Giuliani and others will soon be charged, arrested and in jail awaiting trial for more than just witness tampering. I know, since I am one of the witness's Giuliani has tampered with.

Many of them are guilty of Treason.

I have recently contacted the office of Hillary Clinton since she wants to question Rudy Giuliani in an open forum regarding the removal of the World Trade Center debris. I have not heard back from her.

I have supportive evidence and can prove any of the above. I am willing to speak with you further if you like. You can contact me by email nisacray@gmail.com or can always ask Chuck Pitman, or Jim Jones, two very honorable friends.

Warm Regards,

Lawrence Ray

Friends of RON PAUL

Nice Poll gothamist, you know there were more folks debating than your poll suggests....RON PAUL, in fact if you look now over at MSNBC.com, has won in almost every major category. How about putting his name on the poll. Idiots...do it right, or dont do it at all!

CW

Imagine for a moment if Giuliani was a Democrat, and if he was he'd fit in fine with the lieberman-esque right wing of the dems, imagine that for a moment and then wonder how many times you'd have seen the video of him in drag on TV. Hundreds? Thousands? Would the criticisms of him having no policy experience above the municipal level be neverending and his well known corruption be shouted to the heavens on all six republican networks 24/7? You know it would.

And yet he's probably going to win that thing because people saw him on 9/11, NOT acting like Bush. The same people who lustily cheered for Bush in 2000 and 2004. The morons. There's millions of them out there. They will never vote for a black man or a woman. Not ever. Say hello to President Giuliani.

beware

whether or not he gets the most votes, giuliani will be "elected" president (even if it takes another "9/11" to make it happen).

Sommelier

Why, after the miserable examples set by Reagan, both Bushes and years of a Repugnican -controlled Congress and Supreme court, would any intelligent American be tempted to vote for a Republican? Everything that they touch, they destroy.

Tim N.

"...they looked in Ronald Reagan's eyes, and in two minutes, they released the hostages..."

Of course they did, as per the deal the Iranians had made months earlier.

For a common whore, Mr. 9/11 sure knows a lot of different positions.

Governors win, Senators not so

I would refer to Tommy Thompson as the former Governor of Wisconsin rather than former Secretary of HHS. I'm sure he's stressing his experience in the former rather than the latter.