Let’s take a look a Rudy’s comments on Clinton and 9/11 in their full context:
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani characterized Bill and Hillary Clinton’s recent criticism of President Bush’s efforts to stop Osama bin Laden before 9/11 as a “mistake” and said it’s time to “stop this blame thing” over who is responsible for the September 11 attacks.
“I think the comparison is the mistake,” Giuliani told NewsMax and other media during a luncheon Wednesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., while on a campaign stop for Congressman Clay Shaw, R-Fla., who is seeking re-election.
“I don’t think the Clinton people should be saying somehow it’s more President Bush’s responsibility,” Giuliani said when asked about Hillary’s recent statements about Sept. 11.
“I know President Bush doesn’t say that about President Clinton,” said Giuliani. “I think the reality is that any American president, if they had known about an attack, would have done everything they could to stop it.”
The real fault for 9/11, Giuliani says, lies squarely with the Islamic terrorists. He added, “I think we should stop trying to blame our presidents for 9/11.”
Frequently mentioned as a potential Republican candidate for president in 2008, Giuliani characterized the latest war of words over who is responsible for 9/11 as a distraction. “We should stop this blame thing,” he said. “There’s no blame to be cast on President Bush or President Clinton.”
Giuliani added that he thinks we should stop getting distracted by trying to figure out what American is responsible for the terrorist attacks, saying “Americans didn’t do Sept. 11, the Islamic terrorists did.”
In his remarks during the campaign stop, Giuliani credited President Bush’s aggressive anti-terror policy for the fact the U.S. has not been attacked since 9/11.
“The reality is, thank God, we haven’t been attacked in five years,” Giuliani said. “None of us thought that was possible. We all thought that after 9/11 we would be attacked. I personally thought many times.”
The real spirit of Rudy’s comments in Florida come out when the whole picture is presented.
Thanks to Gamecock for the tip!
September 28th, 2006 at 6:13 am
Mes Confrères:
I think both DaveG and Republius have hit the proverbial nail on the head, with respect to Rudy’s recent comments on Bill Clinton. Thanks to Gamecock for providing us with the full quote and to Kavon for expanding thereupon. Shame on Woodrow for truncating same in the first place! I don’t believe that either Presidents Wilson or Eisenhower would consciously have done such a thing! The “real point†is that Rudy, and Rudy alone among potential Republican candidates, is showing “real leadership†here!
Like most of you, I believe, I too am lothe to give Bill Cilnton the benefit of the doubt about anything, or even to give him credit for anything positive. Then again, I am not running for anything, and I do — at the same time I feel free to “tell the truth†about Bil Clinton — appreciate Hizzoner’s leadership! If any of you have some time on your hands, and feel like expending some additional mental energy on this distasteful human being, I invite you to visit my own recently-created blog entitled “Run Rudy Runâ€:
(http://lutherhardy.blogspot.com/)
and read the posting entitled “Bill Clinton’s ‘credibility’!â€.
As is obvious from the name, I started the blog in July to support Rudy’s potential Presidential candidacy, but alas, I haven’t had the time to devote to it that I thought I would, and lately I become bogged down on such distasteful topics as Bill Clinton and Larry Sabotage.
Cheers!
September 28th, 2006 at 9:06 am
I think this follow up by Rudy is huge. Talk about seizing the high ground on all fronts. Plus, if you look at Rudy’s original statement on Bill Clinton, he said that Bill did all “he” could. The point is that fgiven Bill’s character or rather lack thereof, including lack of courage and past statements on the military and consequences thereof and his liberal world view, he probably did all HE was capable of. Too bad about the night watchman.
September 28th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Let me be sure to clarify here… The story that Woodrow saw did not include these quotes. So Woody was not trying to be deceptive at all.
It’s the MSM who like to report only what fits with their agenda. Woody didn’t do anything wrong here.
September 28th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Ahhh, thanks for posting this article, guys. This sheds a little more perspective on Giuliani’s statements. The article that I read was a little one-sided, and the quote from that article that I was peeved about was: “Giuliani said he believed Clinton, like his successor, did everything he could with the information he was provided.” But now that I see what Giuliani’s actual words were, it makes a lot more sense. It doesn’t look like Giuliani was defending Clinton to the contradiction of Sec. Rice after all. I grabbed the article off of Drudge Report last night and the title of my last post was the title Drudge gave for the article, which I guess now seems to be a bit misleading.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Kavon. My sincerest apologies.
September 28th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Mayor Giuliani is taking the high road and setting a foundation for a candidacy based on eschewing the personal attacks and striving for the lowest common denominator. By respecting the office of the president regardless of which party’s holder is being talked about he gains credibility as someone outside the realm of the usual political hacks one gets to choose from. And I think it is the kind of candidacy and strategy many voters are longing to see deployed. As I have written here, I think Speaker Gingrich is going to tack in the same direction.
November 21st, 2006 at 9:55 am
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