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Rudy Giuliani: Romney Is Great...Just Not As Great As Me
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 27, 2012
Modified May 27, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 27, 2012
Modified May 27, 2012
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Who needs enemies when you've got friends like Rudy Giuliani: the Mayor of 9/11 Town appeared this morning on CNN's "State of the Union" to talk about best bud Mitt Romney, and why he would make a swell president. Giuliani was asked about all those times he said Romney wasn't a good candidate for the presidency, and he clarified that those comments were more a reflection of how great Giuliani is: "So I was comparing what I thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record. That's all part of campaigning...Well, there's a certain amount of personal ego in that," he said, making the understatement of the year.
Here's his full quote:
Maybe it was circumstances or whatever, but I had massive reductions in unemployment. He had a reduction in unemployment of about 8,10 percent — I think it was 15 percent. I had a reduction of unemployment of 50 percent. He had a growth of jobs of about 40,000; we had a growth of jobs of about 500,000. So I was comparing what I thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record. That's all part of campaigning.
And anyway, Giuliani's main point is that context DOES matter: Romney is still more accomplished than Obama. "I mean going way back this is a man who ran a significant business, made it into a tremendous success, which used to be, count for a lot in America. He created dozens of businesses. I worked with him when he took the Olympics out of chaos.” said Giuliani.
Of course, Giuliani had done more than just negatively compare unemployment rates with Romney in the past—he actively campaigned AGAINST him. “I ran against him in ‘07 and ‘08 [and] I’ve never seen a guy change his position so many times, so fast, on a dime,” Giuliani said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” last winter. Giuliani railed against Romney for being a flip-flopper, and talked about how President Obama could take advantage of the weakness: “I think that is a great vulnerability...What Barack Obama will do with that [is say] ‘This is a man without a core, a man without substance, a man that will say anything to become President of the United States.’” Eh, who needs substance when you have firefighter pizza photo ops.
Tagged
greatness
mitt romney
rudy giuliani
the mayor of 9/11 town
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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