Rudy Giuliani Slips Up, Attacks Romney's Job Creation Record
Rudy Giuliani had a bit of a slip up on CNN's State of the Union. After calling Mitt Romney "the perfect choice," he revisited some of his campaign rhetoric from when he was considering the Republican nomintion and put his job creation numbers right up against Romney's. To wit: "Well, I mean, there's a certain amount of personal ego in that — at that point, I was probably comparing his record to my record," he said about his dings at Romney. "And 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." Sensing he may have overstepped a line, he made sure to tell host Candy Crowley that Romney "has the better chance" of beating Obama in November. But then he also said it could be a toss up election: "If [Obama] gets an economy that's improving, then it's anybody's ballgame," he said.
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John McCain attacked President Obama's lack of action in Syria, calling the U.S.'s response to the violence a “shameful episode in American history," during his appearance on Fox News Sunday. "Nearly 10,000 people have died. This is a brutal regime of incredible proportions," McCain said. "This administration has a feckless foreign policy that abandons American leadership. It cries out for American leadership; American leadership is not there," he said. He also accused the President of attempting to delay dealing with these issues until after the election. "This all has to do with a policy led by a president who does not believe in American exceptionalism," McCain said. "The only conclusion you can draw is that this president wants to kick the can down the road on all of these issues until after the election."
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Leon Panetta responded to Mitt Romney's criticism of the plans to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014 during his appearance on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous. "I think you’ve got 50 nations in NATO that agree to a plan in Afghanistan," said Panetta. "It’s the Lisbon agreement, an agreement that, you know, others, President [George W.] Bush, President [Barack] Obama, everyone has agreed is the direction that we go in Afghanistan. That is the plan that has been agreed to. And it’s a plan that is working,” Panetta added. He dismissed Romney's comments as "campaign rhetoric."
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DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told CNN's State of the Union that she's confident Tom Barrett will beat Governor Scott Walker in the Wisconsin runoff. She said they've, "put our considerable grassroots resources behind him – all of the Obama For America and state party resources." She said the grassroots network is "fully engaged" and Barrett has a "real opportunity to win." She also addressed recent polls that had Romney ahead in ehr home state of Florida, saying that she expects the election is going to be close. "This election was always going to be close and it will be close probably right down to the wire," she said. "President Obama has acknowledged that while we've made progress, he is not satisfied with the progress that we've made. We need to continue to push hard."
Newt Gingrich thinks Mitt Romney has a chance of getting George W. Bush-like numbers of the Latino vote if he campaigns right. Bush got 41 percent of the Latino vote in 2004, and Newt said Romney could do the same if he focuses his campaigning around the economy and not immigration during his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. "If Latinos conclude Mitt Romney is more likely to help my family have a job; he’s more likely to bring down the price of gasoline; he’s more likely to help my child have an effective education; does that overcome whatever the Democratic attack is?" Gingrich said. "I think it’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of campaigning," he added.
Strangely, CBS's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer was prickly this morning. He had three minor outbursts during his roundtable discussion with Obama advisor Robert Gibbs and Romney advisor Ed Gillespie, that prompted Politico's Glenn Thrush to call it "Bob Schieffer unleashed!". First, he asked Gibbs what changed with Obama's "hope and change" campaign. "One of the refreshing changes when the president was elected -- he talked about hope and change. Whatever happened to hope and change? Now, it seems he's coming right out of the box with these old-fashioned negative ads," he said. Then he read from a Tom Friedman column that called Obama the "worst president I've ever seen when it comes to explaining his achievements, putting them in context, connecting with people on a gut level through repetition." He went on to ask Gillespie why Romney only ever goes on the Fox Sunday morning shows. "You think we're ever going to see [Mitt Romney] on one of these Sunday morning interview shows? I know he does Fox, but we'd love to have him some time, as would Meet the Press and the ABC folk, I would guess," he said. Gillespie responded by saying Romney "to schoolchildren last week," before saying Romney will have to, "consider a number of options, and I'm sure the morning shows are [some] of them." Schieffer's response: "I know schoolchildren are happy to see him."
