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August 13, 2008

Rudy Giuliani on "Hannity & Colmes"

Hannity & Colmes

COLMES: We're just 83 days away from election day, and V.P. speculation continues, but with the conventions just two weeks away, announcements could come any day now.

Just yesterday, McCain appeared with not one but two potential running mates, Senator Joe Lieberman and former governor, Tom Ridge.

Joining us now -- of Pennsylvania, that is. Joining us now for insight, former presidential candidate and former New York City mayor and current McCain supporter, Rudy Giuliani.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Nice to be here.

COLMES: Who would you like to see McCain pick?

GIULIANI: Either one of those two would be OK.

COLMES: Would be the one?

GIULIANI: Yes.

COLMES: Joe Lieberman would be OK with you? Heard what you said...

GIULIANI: I don't know if that's a universal view of the party, but I think Joe Lieberman would be a -- would be a good choice. I think Tom Ridge would be an excellent choice.

COLMES: Does it help him or hurt him to have a pro-choice running mate?

GIULIANI: I think Tom's background is broad enough so that that's just one issue among others. He was a governor, homeland security. I think he could help from a political point of view quite a bit in Pennsylvania, which I think is -- it's only my own analysis. I think Pennsylvania is the key state.

COLMES: Joe Lieberman is considered by conservatives to be, although with Bush on the war and other issues, socially liberal. That's going to hurt McCain. Doesn't he need a conservative base?

GIULIANI: I think -- I think Tom is probably a safer choice. You're asking me would it be OK with me, and the answer is yes.

COLMES: Who would be the toughest to face on your side for Obama?

GIULIANI: I'm not going to tell you that.

COLMES: Because then you're afraid he'll listen to you and then pick that person?

GIULIANI: Yes, he might pick that person.

COLMES: Hillary Clinton?

GIULIANI: I'm not going to say. He's going to make his own choice. I have no speculation.

COLMES: Who would you like to see him pick?

GIULIANI: It's up to Senator Obama.

COLMES: You don't want to comment on that?

GIULIANI: It's up to Senator Obama. Let him decide.

COLMES: You really don't want to go there, do you? Why is it -- there was a story that Colin Powell was set to endorse Obama. Apparently, it's not true. But why do you think Colin Powell hasn't come out for John McCain?

GIULIANI: You'll have to ask Colin. I don't know. Endorsements are endorsements, and I have great respect for Colin Powell, but my choice of John McCain is based on his having so much more experience.

COLMES: You've got Jim Leach, a former conservative congressman of Iowa. He's coming out for Obama. You've got Gang of 14 of the House members, Republicans, who are not endorsing John McCain. Why?

GIULIANI: I think -- you're going to have that in all different situations. You have Senator Obama's trouble with old Hillary Clinton supporters. Some of whom talk to me and tell me they're going to vote for John McCain, and they'd never vote for Barack Obama. And they're Democrats, long-term Democrats. You have some Hillary Clinton supporters raising money for John McCain.

COLMES: It's highly unusual to have this many Congress people, people in elected office, collective Republicans, who are not supporting the Republican nominee for president.

GIULIANI: John is a somewhat more independent Republican. He's just the -- he's just the right kind of Republican to win, and in the case of those 14 congressmen, it's really for a different reason. As far as they're concerned, he's not right-wing enough for them. And the reality is John is precisely the right kind of Republican to win in states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Minnesota and Wisconsin.

COLMES: Should John McCain, should he wait to see who Obama picks before he chooses?

GIULIANI: John is going to -- John should make the decision he wants to make. If it were me, I would wait. Why not? Why not find out -- why not find out who...

COLMES: Wouldn't leadership be you choose first?

GIULIANI: No, why shouldn't you let him choose first, which has been the traditional way to do it. And then you get at least the benefit of that piece of knowledge, with all the other things that you have.

HANNITY: Mr. Mayor, I want to see you again. I want to go back to Joe Lieberman question one more time here. I like Joe Lieberman. You like Joe Lieberman. But vice president? That number 14, will it increase because of Joe Lieberman's position on a lot of social issues? Which is very -- except for the war on terror, he's pretty liberal.

GIULIANI: I think -- I think John's got to weigh that. He's got to weigh what will happen, you know, with the base of the party. And then there's no question that Joe Lieberman would help him in the states that I just mentioned, and I didn't mention Florida. He'd help him a great deal in Florida.

HANNITY: What -- what did we learn about the Georgia-Russia -- or the Russian invasion of Georgia and the leadership styles of the two candidates?

GIULIANI: I think what -- I think it was once again an illustration of the difference in experience. John McCain was able to give a response immediately. After all, John McCain's been to Georgia at least three times. Senator Obama's never been to Georgia.

John McCain has been in the Ukraine. He's been in that entire area of the world for the last 20, 25 years. His knowledge of that is immense. So immediately he had exactly the right response, including -- including that whole -- that whole refrain about Americans are now Georgians, which is really necessary...

HANNITY: That was great.

GIULIANI: ... for the morale for the people in Georgia. I've been in the Ukraine. I've been in that part of the world recently, and there's a real bigger issue here than just Georgia and Russia. It's that whole -- that whole part of the world that's at issue, are allies of ours and that Russia has imperial ambitions.

HANNITY: I want your big-picture analysis of where you see the campaign right now. And you've always been a pretty tough campaigner and very aggressive. You know, if you were offering advice to Senator McCain on where to go from here in terms of...

GIULIANI: I think he's done very well the last couple of weeks. I think that this thing that happened in Georgia is terrible, and I hope it gets resolved.

HANNITY: Yes.

GIULIANI: But the reality is this is an illustration of the kind of person you want in the White House. You want somebody who understands these issues, not someone who has to change his statement three times before he gets it right, which is what Senator Obama had to do.

HANNITY: I think they've been better. I think they've been sharper, certainly more aggressive. They've done it with a great sense of humor, but they've also honed in on the doubts that people have about Barack Obama and his weaknesses. How would you turn that into campaign ads, which you know, were now -- and how would you handle that in debates, because you've obviously debated?

GIULIANI: Those will be -- those will be very strong areas for John, because basically of his much greater substantive knowledge and experience, and the idea that these issues are not for him for the first time.

This whole thing with Georgia and Russia was for the first time for Barack Obama. You could see that. This is not something he's spent a lot of time thinking about. It's not something he feels very comfortable with. Hence you get three different statements from his campaign.

HANNITY: Before it becomes John McCain's statement.

GIULIANI: The president of the United States doesn't have the luxury of three different statements. I think this is the point Hillary was trying to make with her 3 a.m. ad.

HANNITY: Yes.

GIULIANI: I guess she never made it adequately enough, but I think if she were telling you what she actually thinks, she would agree that Senator Obama doesn't have the experience.

HANNITY: Next question: when Barack Obama said, "Oh, they're going to attack me. They're going to try and create fear. They're going to say he has a funny name. They're going to say he doesn't look like those guys on the dollar bill."

GIULIANI: What we're going to say is he doesn't have the experience for the job, and the instincts he's displayed so far don't give you a great deal of comfort that he can handle the job well. That's the issue, as far as I'm concerned.

HANNITY: I'm going to ask you now. I'm going to ask you soon if you're running for governor. So we'll see you the next time. Governor -- Mr. Mayor, good to see you. Thanks very much.

COLMES: A little slip there.

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