banyon
04-11-2007, 08:39 AM
Questions on Schiavo Bedevil Giuliani
By RYAN SAGER
April 11, 2007
For a full transcript of Mayor Giuliani's remarks in Florida on March 4 about the Terri Schiavo case, please visit NYSunPolitics.com.
Mayor Giuliani's response to a question about the Terri Schiavo controversy while on the campaign trail in St. Petersburg, Fla., raises serious questions about the competence of his campaign staff and his discipline as a presidential candidate.
The comments last week indicated that Mr. Giuliani supported the congressional intervention in the Schiavo case in 2005. However, they also made it clear that Mr. Giuliani was ill-prepared for the question.
(The Giuliani campaign refused to clarify the former mayor's position on the Schiavo case yesterday, despite repeated requests to do so from The New York Sun.)
"Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo?" a reporter asked at a press availability on April 4. "Did you support the congressional intervention to"
At this point Mr. Giuliani cut in, according to a transcript provided by his campaign: "I believe I did. I don't, I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now."
Pushed by the reporter for a more specific (and coherent) answer about whether he thought the Schiavo intervention was appropriate, Mr. Giuliani said, "I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive."
Schiavo was in a "persistent vegetative state" in a Florida hospital in 1998 when her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, petitioned to remove her feeding tube. Her parents objected. The Florida courts sided with Mr. Schiavo, but the state Legislature and Governor Jeb Bush intervened on behalf of Terri Schiavo's parents. In 2005, Congress and President Bush intervened, passing and signing a bill requesting that the federal courts hear the case. The federal courts also sided with Mr. Schiavo, and Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and she died in March 2005.
Responding to Mr. Giuliani's comments yesterday, political observers appeared both surprised by his position and confused by his lack of preparation.
"My first thought was, he didn't seem ready for the question," the president of American Values and a former Republican presidential candidate, Gary Bauer, said. "It sounded like he was thinking about his answer as the question was asked.
"I'm happy any time a competitor for the nomination tilts toward the pro-life side," Mr. Bauer said. But he added: "When you put all of it together with his other opinions on life, to be charitable, it seems confused at best."
"That's amateur hour 101," A Republican pollster, Tony Fabrizio, said. "How do you send a guy to the state, and the county, where this took place and expect you're not going to get a question?"
As for the candidate himself, Mr. Fabrizio asked: "How do you, on something like this, on something that was important to the rank and file, not know what your position was? And then how do you try to straddle it?"
Mr. Giuliani was always expected to walk a tough road as a pro-choice candidate in a prolife party. But a comment last week during the same swing through Florida that abortion must be funded with taxpayer dollars because it's "a constitutional right" has made the road even tougher.
If Mr. Giuliani expects to win over pro-life voters by siding with them in the Schiavo matter, he's likely to have another thing coming. "He's not going to make anybody happy," Mr. Fabrizio said. "It only probably makes them more angry. You'll do anything to keep people alive, but you'll abort fetuses?"
http://www.nysun.com/article/52191?page_no=2
Republican candidate off the mark on cost of milk, bread
PHILLIP RAWLS | AP | April 10, 2007 09:45 PM EST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hasn't done a lot of grocery shopping lately _ at least based on his answers about the cost of milk and bread.
Campaigning in Alabama on Tuesday, the former New York City mayor portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative and an aggressive fighter of terrorism who has a lot in common with the Deep South state.
But when asked about more mundane matters _ like the price of some basic staples _ Giuliani had trouble with a reporter's question.
"A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30," he said.
A check of the Web site for D'Agostino supermarket on Manhattan's Upper East Side showed a gallon of milk priced at $4.19 and a loaf of white bread at $2.99 to $3.39. In Montgomery, Ala., a gallon of milk goes for about $3.39 and bread is about $2.
Later Tuesday, the Giuliani campaign pointed out that the national average for bread is $1.17 per pound, as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government agency also lists milk as costing, on average, $1.60 per half-gallon.
Giuliani was closer to the mark on the price of a gallon of gasoline.
"Gas, I think, is $2.89," he said.
His difficulty with grocery items recalled another Republican's supermarket run-in. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush expressed amazement at a high-tech supermarket scanner, prompting critics to argue that he was out of touch with average Americans. The White House cried foul, pointing out that during a grocers' convention Bush had been impressed by a special scanner that could read torn labels.
Giuliani attended $1,000-per-person campaign fundraisers in Mobile and Montgomery before addressing a joint session of the Alabama Legislature that drew an overflow crowd.
Recalling that he worked in the Justice Department in President Reagan's administration, Giuliani said that like Reagan, he will not change course with the political winds.
"I'll set a course and stick with it. I'll be on offense on terrorism. I'll be a fiscal conservative. I'll lower taxes. I'll seek private market solutions to most problems," he told the Legislature.
The former mayor said he talked to radio host Don Imus, who has been suspended for two weeks for derogatory remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Giuliani said he considers Imus' apology sincere.
"I would appear on his program again, sure. I take him at his word," Giuliani said.
Asked about the flying of the Confederate flag in some Southern states, Giuliani said, "That's a good thing to be left on a state-by-state basis."
Giuliani said he did not recall seeing a Confederate flag during his day in Alabama _ even though there was a display of four Confederate flags flying beside the Capitol.
The former mayor never mentioned his position on gay rights and abortion that separate him from traditional Republican voters in the state, but he said he would always be straight with voters.
"I will tell you what I believe. If you agree with it, fine. If you don't agree with it, you have a right not to agree with it. If you don't agree, you have a right not to vote for me," he said.
AP (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070410/giuliani-groceries)
By RYAN SAGER
April 11, 2007
For a full transcript of Mayor Giuliani's remarks in Florida on March 4 about the Terri Schiavo case, please visit NYSunPolitics.com.
Mayor Giuliani's response to a question about the Terri Schiavo controversy while on the campaign trail in St. Petersburg, Fla., raises serious questions about the competence of his campaign staff and his discipline as a presidential candidate.
The comments last week indicated that Mr. Giuliani supported the congressional intervention in the Schiavo case in 2005. However, they also made it clear that Mr. Giuliani was ill-prepared for the question.
(The Giuliani campaign refused to clarify the former mayor's position on the Schiavo case yesterday, despite repeated requests to do so from The New York Sun.)
"Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo?" a reporter asked at a press availability on April 4. "Did you support the congressional intervention to"
At this point Mr. Giuliani cut in, according to a transcript provided by his campaign: "I believe I did. I don't, I, it's a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don't know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now."
Pushed by the reporter for a more specific (and coherent) answer about whether he thought the Schiavo intervention was appropriate, Mr. Giuliani said, "I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive."
Schiavo was in a "persistent vegetative state" in a Florida hospital in 1998 when her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, petitioned to remove her feeding tube. Her parents objected. The Florida courts sided with Mr. Schiavo, but the state Legislature and Governor Jeb Bush intervened on behalf of Terri Schiavo's parents. In 2005, Congress and President Bush intervened, passing and signing a bill requesting that the federal courts hear the case. The federal courts also sided with Mr. Schiavo, and Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and she died in March 2005.
Responding to Mr. Giuliani's comments yesterday, political observers appeared both surprised by his position and confused by his lack of preparation.
"My first thought was, he didn't seem ready for the question," the president of American Values and a former Republican presidential candidate, Gary Bauer, said. "It sounded like he was thinking about his answer as the question was asked.
"I'm happy any time a competitor for the nomination tilts toward the pro-life side," Mr. Bauer said. But he added: "When you put all of it together with his other opinions on life, to be charitable, it seems confused at best."
"That's amateur hour 101," A Republican pollster, Tony Fabrizio, said. "How do you send a guy to the state, and the county, where this took place and expect you're not going to get a question?"
As for the candidate himself, Mr. Fabrizio asked: "How do you, on something like this, on something that was important to the rank and file, not know what your position was? And then how do you try to straddle it?"
Mr. Giuliani was always expected to walk a tough road as a pro-choice candidate in a prolife party. But a comment last week during the same swing through Florida that abortion must be funded with taxpayer dollars because it's "a constitutional right" has made the road even tougher.
If Mr. Giuliani expects to win over pro-life voters by siding with them in the Schiavo matter, he's likely to have another thing coming. "He's not going to make anybody happy," Mr. Fabrizio said. "It only probably makes them more angry. You'll do anything to keep people alive, but you'll abort fetuses?"
http://www.nysun.com/article/52191?page_no=2
Republican candidate off the mark on cost of milk, bread
PHILLIP RAWLS | AP | April 10, 2007 09:45 PM EST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hasn't done a lot of grocery shopping lately _ at least based on his answers about the cost of milk and bread.
Campaigning in Alabama on Tuesday, the former New York City mayor portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative and an aggressive fighter of terrorism who has a lot in common with the Deep South state.
But when asked about more mundane matters _ like the price of some basic staples _ Giuliani had trouble with a reporter's question.
"A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30," he said.
A check of the Web site for D'Agostino supermarket on Manhattan's Upper East Side showed a gallon of milk priced at $4.19 and a loaf of white bread at $2.99 to $3.39. In Montgomery, Ala., a gallon of milk goes for about $3.39 and bread is about $2.
Later Tuesday, the Giuliani campaign pointed out that the national average for bread is $1.17 per pound, as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government agency also lists milk as costing, on average, $1.60 per half-gallon.
Giuliani was closer to the mark on the price of a gallon of gasoline.
"Gas, I think, is $2.89," he said.
His difficulty with grocery items recalled another Republican's supermarket run-in. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush expressed amazement at a high-tech supermarket scanner, prompting critics to argue that he was out of touch with average Americans. The White House cried foul, pointing out that during a grocers' convention Bush had been impressed by a special scanner that could read torn labels.
Giuliani attended $1,000-per-person campaign fundraisers in Mobile and Montgomery before addressing a joint session of the Alabama Legislature that drew an overflow crowd.
Recalling that he worked in the Justice Department in President Reagan's administration, Giuliani said that like Reagan, he will not change course with the political winds.
"I'll set a course and stick with it. I'll be on offense on terrorism. I'll be a fiscal conservative. I'll lower taxes. I'll seek private market solutions to most problems," he told the Legislature.
The former mayor said he talked to radio host Don Imus, who has been suspended for two weeks for derogatory remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Giuliani said he considers Imus' apology sincere.
"I would appear on his program again, sure. I take him at his word," Giuliani said.
Asked about the flying of the Confederate flag in some Southern states, Giuliani said, "That's a good thing to be left on a state-by-state basis."
Giuliani said he did not recall seeing a Confederate flag during his day in Alabama _ even though there was a display of four Confederate flags flying beside the Capitol.
The former mayor never mentioned his position on gay rights and abortion that separate him from traditional Republican voters in the state, but he said he would always be straight with voters.
"I will tell you what I believe. If you agree with it, fine. If you don't agree with it, you have a right not to agree with it. If you don't agree, you have a right not to vote for me," he said.
AP (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070410/giuliani-groceries)