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Rudy Giuliani <em>Is</em> Running
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Taking a break from Anna Nicole Smith coverage, Larry King interviewed former mayor Rudy Giuliani who finally admitted that he's running for president. In fact, King asked Giuliani three times if he's running (we don't know if that's because King's so old, he's hard of hearing and forgets). During the interview, Giuliani actually criticized the Bush administration, and gave what his strategy would have been to go into Iraq. From the NY Times:
His comments more closely aligned him with his chief rival in Republican primary polls, Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has supported the war, as Mr. Giuliani does, but has criticized its conduct.
“I would remove Saddam Hussein again,” Mr. Giuliani said. “I just hope we’d do it better and we’d do it in a different way.”
Most important, he added, the United States, which has had 120,000 to 160,000 troops at a time in Iraq, should have gone in with “maybe 100,000 to 130,000 more.”
In addition, “I would have us not disband” the Iraqi military or purge the government of Baath Party members, because “that meant getting rid of the entire civil service,” he said, adding: “The country had no infrastructure.”
“There was a real doubt as to whether we could do this nation building,” he said, and as it has turned out, “we’re not going to do it.”
Giuliani also said on the program that he's pro-choice, but "I'm also, as you know -- always have been -- against abortion, hate abortion, don't like it, wouldn't personally advise anyone to have an abortion and -- but I believe a woman has a right to choose. And you can't have criminal penalties and I think that would be wrong."
Here's the transcript of Larry King Live, where Giuliaini also discusses Iran and then pundits discuss the 2008 race. Newsday nows says "the only suspense now is about the where and when of a full-fledged announcement." Eh, now that Rudy's finally spit it out, we don't think it's that big a deal anymore.
On the other side, the Post says that a prominent South Carolina black leader endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton "just days" after his consulting firm received $200,000 from her campaign.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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