So says Maggie Haberman:
There was a time when Rudy Giuliani, now a GOP White House front-runner, hardly sounded like a Republican stalwart – strongly defending Robert Kennedy and blasting Barry Goldwater as “incompetent.”
Those fiercely worded opinions were in political columns a 20-year-old Giuliani wrote as a Manhattan College student, while he was still boosting Democratic candidates, a Post review of the pieces found.
In a blistering criticism of then-New York Sen. Kenneth Keating, Giuliani blasted the Republican for repeatedly calling Bobby Kennedy a “carpetbagger” – the same term the GOP used against Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 2000 New York campaign.
“The ‘carpetbagger’ issue . . . is a truly ridiculous reason for not voting for a man in the year 1964,” Giuliani wrote in a October 1964 column for the Manhattan Quadrangle student newspaper.
He dubbed GOP heavyweight Goldwater an “incompetent” flip-flopper who pandered to “extremists.”
The young Giuliani also said the senator’s presidential candidacy took the GOP to the “lowest ebb in its long history.”
Team Rudy’s response was to quote Churchill:
“Rudy is always the first to paraphrase Churchill when he echoes if you aren’t a liberal in your 20s you have no heart, and if you aren’t a conservative by your 40s you have no brain,” said Giuliani’s top adviser, Anthony Carbonetti.
This story seems quite thin since everyone already knew Rudy was a hardcore Democrat back in the day, but the Churchill quote is unintentionally hilarious. When Rudy first ran for mayor of New York in 1989, he was 45 yet that was hands down his most liberal campaign.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I think it was Rudy himself who described his policies as mayor most like Clinton.
February 25th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Jason,
Yup. To make matters worse, he said that about Clinton in 1996.
February 25th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
What did Rudy’s great, great, great grandfather write when he was 20. That’s what I want to know!
February 25th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Probably something about those pesky democratizing french north of the border.
February 25th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Did Rudy’s or McCain’s great, great, great, great grandfather owe slaves? Find out tomorrow in AP! Yea like that will happen.
Truth is that Rudy is a closet liberal, like McCain. As a Romney fan, Im glad this debate will go on for a year from now, because it will illustrate over time that Rudy and McCain are too liberal to win the primary or the general, and it will give America time to get to know one of the brightest politicians (CEO, leader, husband, and father) of our time. Romney is the king of turning around a sinking ship. And Im not saying that his ship is sinking, but it will sail past Rudy and McCain in time.
There is so much dirt out there on Rudy as a closet liberal that will come out that, if he won the nod for the GOP, I think too many people would stay home. Or as the Rush show suggested, a 3rd party conservative candidate would emerge from the Rudy liberalism and split the vote.
Hey, there are too many Jason’s on this site. Perhaps its time I use an alias.
February 25th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
JasonH has gone into exile. SunsFan seemed fitting since my love for my team and My Man Mitt are similiar. And both have the best chance at winning!
February 26th, 2007 at 12:18 am
SunsFan,
How in the world is McCain a “liberal”? Do you have any evidence for this?
February 26th, 2007 at 10:13 am
JasonH:
You do not know Giuliani. I know him, as I am a New Yorker and was there before and after he became
mayor. In fact, he not only completely turned the city around, but years after he left office, you
can now see some deteriorations under Bloomberg. As for Romney, he is not a true conservative, except
for when he is running for president (which he has been doing for 3 years). Romney is a fake in my
opinion – - period.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:26 am
KT,
It was Guiliani himself who said his policies are mostly like Clinton’s. That’s all the evidence we need. Either Clinton was a conservative or Guiliani is a liberal.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Not that I’m a fan of the guy (I think he’s a scumbag), but Clinton didn’t govern like some far-left liberal.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Too much acrimony here. I lived in New York pre-Rudy and during Rudy, and he is definitely not a liberal. He governed New York with conservative principals. And Romney is quite conservative–on fiscal matters and immigration, definitely more conservative than the two President Bushes.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
To me, the worst of all is that I don’t think Churchill ever said that!
February 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Sebastian:
Oh, and I suppose you’re also going to claim that Jefferson never said that dissent is the highest form of patriotism
February 26th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
In fairness, Goldwater did get his butt kicked 3 ways from Sunday. First Republican ever to lose Maine and Vermont and whatnot.
Jus’ sayin’ is all.
February 26th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
If anything, trashing Goldwater should earn Rudy points with conservatives. AuH20′s attitude towards the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were no more friendly than McCain in 2000.
Personally, I love Barry Goldwater. I’d die to have a candidate like him to support right now. But this story is weak.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
If anything, trashing Goldwater should earn Rudy points with conservatives.
I sincerely hope not, and this has nothing to do with my feelings about Goldwater. If the media starts digging up statements from 42 years ago from ANY candidate, it will have sunk to new lows of idiocy.
Oh wait…with a few seconds of retrospect on Romney’s g-g-g-grandfather’s marital status in the 1890′s, I take that back. We already hit bottom.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
murphy:
I made that comment in jest.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Oy, sorry Hunter. I’m pretty dense when it comes to tongue-in-blog humor.