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Rudy Giuliani on Principles & Values

Former Mayor of New York City; Republican Candidate for 2000 Senate (NY)


Follow Reagan’s advice: my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy

Q: You’re the only Republican presidential candidate right now who supports abortion rights, really supports gay rights, supports gun control. Are those the issues that are hurting you in some of these Republican contests?

A: We’ve been over that so many times even in the debates. I support the second amendment. That has been very, very clear. I would like to see abortions reduced and adoptions increased and support the ban on partial-birth abortion. Support parental notification. No one of us Republican candidates meets the full test. And I think Republicans have to sit back and say, with Ronald Reagan, my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy. Who would be the most effective leader? Who’s going to reduce taxes the most? Who’s going to actually bring down government spending? And who’s going to be strongest in dealing with Islamic terrorism?

Source: CNN Late Edition: 2008 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer Jan 20, 2008

Criticized for tax-funded police security for his girlfriend

Q: You’ve been criticized about your taxpayer-funded NYC police security details prior to Dec. 2000 for your then-girlfriend Judi Nathan. This headline in the Daily News: “Driving Miss Judi.”

A: I’ve had security on and off for over 20 years. It’s not something I asked for; it’s not something she would want. This comes about because of threats. I had these threats [starting] back when I was the US attorney. I don’t talk about them. I’ve been fortunate to have very good professionals that have taken care of these threats for me, and for my loved ones. Every single thing done here was done based upon the assessment of someone else that this was necessary. They made the choice. My wife, Judith, honestly, would prefer not to have to have security.

Q: But this was when, this was when no one knew she was your girlfriend. This was before 9/11. No one knew who she was.

A: First of all, that isn’t correct. Secondly, these were all based upon threat assessments made by the NYC Police Department.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series Dec 9, 2007

Bible is greatest book ever written, but it’s allegorical

Q: Do you believe every word of this book [The Holy Bible]?

A: The reality is, I believe it, but I don’t believe it’s necessarily literally true in every single respect. I think there are parts of the Bible that are interpretive. I think there are parts of the Bible that are allegorical. So, yes, I believe it. I think it’s the great book ever written. I read it frequently.

Source: 2007 GOP YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Florida Nov 28, 2007

AdWatch: NYC was “most successful turn-around in 50 years”

[Giuliani television advertisement, released in N.H. & Boston, Nov. 21]:That was New York. Until Rudy.In America’s most liberal city, Rudy delivered. And he can do it again, in a place called Washington.
Source: FactCheck.org: AdWatch of 2007 campaign ad, “Challenges” Nov 27, 2007

Lists John McCain as one of his heroes

McCain said: "I am prepared to lead. My life and my experience and my background and my heroes inspire me and qualify me to lead in this titanic struggle." (Emphasis added.)

Everybody has heroes. Some of us (including Giuliani and former New Yorker editor Tina Brown) list McCain among them. But does that quality of our chosen inspiration "qualify" us for the highest office in the land? McCain apparently takes that curious notion seriously enough that he made the same comment on Bill O'Reilly's TV show just days before ("I believe my whole life, my inspiration, my heroes and my experience have qualified me to serve"), then quickly sent out press releases highlighting that line, and repeated the idea yet again in interviews just following the New Hampshire debate.

Source: The Myth of a Maverick, by Matt Welch, p. 2-3 Oct 9, 2007

Absent from Values Voter Presidential Debate

THERESA IPPOLITI, ABORTION SURVIVOR: 18 years ago, an abortionist was hired to kill me, but he failed. Nuns came and rescued me and took me to the hospital, where I stayed for two months. My heroic parents then adopted me. Mayor Giuliani, your position on abortion would have left me dead. Now that you see me, Mayor Giuliani, do you honestly believe that an abortionist had a right to kill me?

MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI: [absent from podium]

MODERATOR: Silence. Next question.

Source: 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate Sep 17, 2007

Presidency requires executive experience

I think it’s gonna to come down to experience. This is not a time that the United States should be electing someone who’s gonna to get on-the-job training. You need people with executive experience. And my real concern is, you’ll have three leading Democratic candidates, none of which have ever run a city, a state or a business. America’s at war. America’s got some big problems. It’s not the time for on-the-job training as an executive.
Source: 2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News Sep 5, 2007

Issues in my private life don’t affect my public performance

Q: The issue of family values is separated from other issues because it’s something that you can only lead by example. You can talk all you want, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you believe in it. Comment?

A: I think someone’s family life is something that you all look into to determine how are they going to conduct themselves in public office. Any issues that go on in my private life, I don’t think are terribly different than at least some people in this country. I certainly haven’t lived a perfect life. I am not running as the perfect candidate for president. I’m running as a human being who has been very successful as a leader and had definable results in a situation in which people thought it was impossible to accomplish these things. They thought it was impossible to manage New York City. It was described as an unmanageable city. Now they’re writing books about how well I managed it. So, obviously, any issues in my private life do not affect my public performance.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News Sep 5, 2007

12 Commitments to the American People

    12 Commitments to the American People
  1. I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on us
  2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, & identify every non-citizen in our nation
  3. I will restore fiscal discipline & cut wasteful Washington spending
  4. I will cut taxes & reform the tax code
  5. I will impose accountability on Washington
  6. I will lead America towards energy independence
  7. I will give Americans more control over & access to health care with affordable & portable free-market solutions
  8. I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, & protect the quality of life for our children
  9. I will reform the legal system & appoint strict constructionist judges
  10. I will ensure that every community in America is prepared for terrorist attacks & natural disasters
  11. I will provide access to a quality education to every child by giving real school choice to parents
  12. I will expand American involvement in the global economy & strengthen our reputation around the world.
Source: Campaign website, www.joinrudy2008.com Sep 1, 2007

I have executive experience; I can restore hope to America

As president, I would do the same thing that I did as mayor of New York City, and that is, I would restore hope, but for the people of the entire country: hope that this country can do great things, grand things, that we can build our future on optimism, not this kind of defeatism that I hear from the Democratic candidates. I look at the three leading Democratic candidates. They haven’t held an executive office in their lives. They haven’t run a city, a state, a business. I think maybe they’ve run a club somewhere. But the reality is, you’ve got to have some kind of experience for this job. You have to be able to show that you can accomplish things and you can get things done. And I’ve done that, and I would do that for this country.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate Aug 5, 2007

Apply motto “Live free or die” to our time

I’m Rudy Giuliani. I agree with the motto of your state, “Live free or die.” And I think it would be a pretty good one for our time.
Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College Jun 5, 2007

Optimism returns us to “morning in America”

Q: How do we get back to Ronald Reagan’s morning in America?

A: We get back to it with optimism. When I became mayor, 65% thought New York City was going on the wrong track. I set policies and programs of growth, of moving people toward prosperity, security, safety. What we can borrow from Ronald Reagan, since we are in his library, is that great sense of optimism that he had. He led by building on the strengths of America, not running America down. And we’re a country that people love to come to, they want to come to this country with a shining city on the hill. So we should solve our illegal immigration issue from our strengths, not our weaknesses. We’re a country that has the greatest health care system in the world. It’s flawed, it needs to be fixed, but we should fix it from our strengths. We shouldn’t turn it into socialized medicine. Those are the things that Ronald Reagan taught us: You lead from optimism. You lead from hope, and we should never retreat in the face of terrorism.

Source: 2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC May 3, 2007

Considered priesthood; rejected it because of celibacy

Giuliani spent the summer after high school toying with the idea of entering the priesthood. But he changed his mind, he has said, because he believed he was incapable of living a life of celibacy. He enrolled at all-male Manhattan College, also run by the Christian Brothers, where he bared the competitive edge and resilience for which he would later become well known.
Source: America‘s Mayor, America‘s President?, by R. Polner, p. 5 May 2, 2007

Praised RFK in law school newspaper and bashed Goldwater

[In the 1960s] Giuliani devoted a portion of his spare time to writing a political column for his school newspaper. He showed off his Democratic leanings by extolling the virtues of Robert F. Kennedy, who was then running for the US Senate [Giuliani would become a Republican years later], and frothing over the likes of GOP icon Barry Goldwater, whom he described as an “incompetent, confused and sometimes idiotic man.”
Source: America‘s Mayor, America‘s President?, by R. Polner, p. 6 May 2, 2007

Former Democrat; endorsed twice by the Liberal Party

Starting in 1998, the so called “24-hour mayor” traveled frequently out of the state to burnish his Republican credentials. He was a former Democrat, after all, who had spent years finding ways to appeal to the city’s Democratic voters, had alienated the Conservative Party and had twice secured the backing of the liberal Party. In the run-up to the Senate race [one of] his goals was easing the discomfort that many Republicans felt about him after his endorsement of [Democrat] Mario Cuomo.
Source: America‘s Mayor, America‘s President?, by R. Polner, p. xxix May 2, 2007

Legacy is safer, cleaner, economically viable NYC

Mark Green, public advocate, City of New York, 1994-2001;and Democratic Party mayoral candidate in 2001, said:
To watch Giuliani speak an 80-minute State of the City address was exhausting but impressive. While most politicians in that situation would read a speech for 20 or 30 minutes, he would speak into a mike, without a podium, a prompter, or notes for 80 minutes. As he spoke, the mayor gathered steam saying, “We should be ashamed that we don’t have the political courage to take on the unions, the special interests, and everything else.“ Then, as if to affirm his place in history despite his low approval rating, he displayed two contrasting blowups of Time magazine covers, published a decade apart. The first, from 1990, bore the legend, ”The Rotting of the Big Apple,“ while the second, dated Jan. 11, 2000 featured a photo of the massive millennium Times Square celebration that had taken place only days earlier in a cleaner, more economically viable New York City.
Source: Flawed or Flawless, by Deborah & Gerald Strober, p. 6-7 Jan 16, 2007

Favored for presidential nomination in CNN poll of GOP

Republicans favor former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, according to a CNN poll. 31%of the 432 poll respondents who identified themselves as Republicans chose Giuliani from a list of potential 2008 nominees. The next closest choices were Sen. John McCain of Arizona, with 20%, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with 12%. No other Republican broke out of the single digits, and 14% of respondents said they were unsure about their choice.
Source: 2008 speculation on CNN.com poll results Sep 7, 2006

Socially liberal stances: weak in primary; strong in general

Guiliani is “seriously considering” a presidential run. [His liberal social stances are not] likely to sit well with Republican primary voters (although Giuliani would be a strong general-election candidate with appeal to Democrats if he could ever win the GOP nod). I don’t know what Giuliani, who’s making all kinds of money, will ultimately do, but I suspect he’ll enjoy the fruits of being a potential candidate without ultimately taking the plunge in a primary that would be very problematic for him.
Source: 2008 Speculation by Howard Kurtz in Washington Post Jul 14, 2006

Considered medicine & priesthood before entering law

For the first 18 years of my life, I had two vocations in mind--medicine or the priesthood. Both satisfied a feeling that had been growing in my whole life: that to be happy and fulfilled, I had to help others. Although neither of my parents were particularly devout, they both felt deeply the Church’s message of experiencing grace by giving to others.

If I was going to become a priest, I was going to help the most underprivileged I could find. But then I realized I had a problem: my budding interest in the opposite sex was something that wouldn’t be suppressed. I thought, maybe I am just not ready.

In college, I entered the pre-med program. But as much as I liked learning biology, I liked ideas better. I turned away from medicine; and as by this time I was already dating, I knew that religious vocation was not for me. In its place, I began to view my love of debate as pointing toward a new calling--to the law, where I could indulge that enthusiasm to the full.

Source: Leadership, autobiography by Rudolph Giuliani, p.172-173 Oct 1, 2002

Rudy Giuliani on Past Campaigns

Founds SolutionsAmerica PAC to help elect strong Republicans

Solutions America was founded in 1998 by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to help elect Republican candidates dedicated to finding responsible, common sense solutions to the challenges that America still faces. Chief among these are keeping Americans safe while winning the war on terror and promoting fiscal responsibility. As we face the 2006 elections, this message of strong, united leadership is more important than ever before.
Source: PAC website, www.SolutionsAmerica.com, “About” Dec 1, 2006

Solutions America PAC supports 35 candidates for House

Source: PAC website, www.SolutionsAmerica.com, “About” Dec 1, 2006

PAC supports 19 candidates for Senate; 20 for Governor

Source: PAC website, www.SolutionsAmerica.com, “About” Dec 1, 2006

Bush has the courage of his convictions

“Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” Since 9/11 Bush has remained rock solid. It doesn’t matter how he is demonized, and what the media does to ridicule, misinterpret, or defeat him. They ridiculed Churchill. They belittled Reagan. But like Bush, they were optimists; leaders must be optimists. Their vision was beyond the present and set on a future of real peace and true freedom. Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership. Bush has the courage of his convictions.
Source: 2004 Republican Convention Speech Aug 30, 2004

Under Bush, America will lead rather than follow

Bush will make certain that we are combating terrorism at the source, beyond our shores, so we can reduce the risk of having to confront it in the streets of New York. Bush will not allow countries that appear to have ignored the lessons of history and failed for over thirty years to stand up to terrorists, to dissuade us from what is necessary for our defense. He will not let them set our agenda. Under Bush, America will lead rather than follow.
Source: 2004 Republican Convention Speech Aug 30, 2004

Endorsed Democrat Mario Cuomo for NY Governor in 1994

A leader must not let critics set the agenda. One of the toughest decisions I ever made involved my endorsement of Mario Cuomo in his 1994 campaign for re-election as Governor of New York. The reasons were complicated, but there was one important consideration that did not come into my decision. After I announced my support, I became a hero to the liberal media. They printed articles about how I was backing a Democrat, how unique and independent. My approval ratings were among the highest I ever had. I never fooled myself about that. I knew that the only reason the papers suddenly loved me was that, this time, doing what I thought was the right thing happened to be the prevailing view in the media. The second I arrived at a result they didn’t like, I’d be right back in the editorial doghouse.
Source: Leadership, autobiography by Rudolph Giuliani, p.225 Oct 1, 2002

Dropped out of 2000 Senate race to put his health first

On April 26, 2000, I heard words nobody wants to hear: “Your biopsy results are positive.” I had prostrate cancer. Nineteen years earlier, my dad died of the disease. In my case, detection came as the result of a physical.

Contemplating a decision about dropping out of the race for the Senate was clouding my decision about how to deal with cancer. Without realizing it, I was trying to evaluate my treatment options with one eye on the Senate race. I had a gnawing feeling that it was wrong to allow the Senate race, as important as I thought it was, to affect decisions about my health.

A friend crystallized my thinking when he said to put my health first. As soon as I agreed with that priority, other decisions fell into place. My first decision was that I would include hormones in my treatment. On May 19th, I went to get the Lupron injection. Later that day, I announced that I was not going to run for the Senate.

Source: Leadership, autobiography by Rudolph Giuliani, p.129-135 Oct 1, 2002

This is not the right time for me to run for office

When I was first told I had cancer, I thought this was going to be a much easier decision. I find myself unable to make the treatment decision yet, even though I’ve been over and over it. And about the decision to run, I was almost in the same position, not being able to make it, which has never really happened to me. I’ve always been able to make decisions.

I guess because I’ve been in public life and politics so long, I used to think the core of me was politics. But when you feel your mortality and your humanity, you realize that the core of you is, first of all, being able to take care of your health and make sure to deal with a disease like cancer in the most effective way possible so you can be useful to the people that you really care about and really care about you.

I’ve decided that what I should do is put my health first, and that I should devote the focus and attention to figure out the best treatment, and not running for office. This is not the right time for me to run for office.

Source: News conference on his withdrawal from NY Senate race May 20, 2000

Withdraws from NY Senate race to fight his prostate cancer

I don’t feel that if I take on the commitment to run, that I’d have the kind of confidence that I should have, that I’d be the candidate that I should be. I don’t know that I’d be able to campaign the way I should. I don’t know that I’d be able to concentrate on it the way I should. The focus that I’m going to have now is going to be fighting cancer, and making a decision about my treatment. I thank God that it gives me another 18 months to be mayor of New York City, which I love very, very much.
Source: News conference on his withdrawal from NY Senate race May 20, 2000

Rudy discounts Bush’s impact on Senate race

This Senate election is going to get decided as a Senate election. There are theories that go around that New Yorkers will vote for one party for the president and the other for the Senate to balance things out. That’s as interesting a theory as anything else. So, I would not be overwhelmed by the thought of who would be better for me [as the candidate to head the Republican presidential ticket].
Source: New York Times, Page A25 Mar 9, 2000

Campaign theme: Transformation of NYC

The resurgence of the nations largest and most diverse city has made headlines across the country. A recent Harris poll named New York as the City most Americans would like to live in or visit. And three consecutive years of record tourism has confirmed New York’s position as the number one tourist destination in America for international travelers. People want to see for themselves the transformation of the City of New York.
Source: RudyYes.com, “Proven Leadership” web site Dec 9, 1999

Turned around NYC & made it safe again

Giuliani says, “We were told to pack it up, that our best days were behind us.” The mayor has created 341,000 new jobs, cut taxes by more than $2.4 billion and moved 510,000 people off welfare, according to his TV advertisement: “Rudy has made New York the safest large city in America,” the narrator says. “I’ve made people believe again, feel free again,” Giuliani says.
Source: TV Advertisement (text reported by ABCnews.com) Nov 5, 1999

Love and long term attachment needed to represent NY state

To represent the state of New York in the senate, you really have to a great deal of knowledge of the place. You have to have a tremendous attachment to it. You have to love it and have demonstrated that over a period of time. Upstate concerns are the same as those of New York City-taxes, educational reform, and public safety.
Source: News Room, Oneida County Republican gala Apr 24, 1999

Other candidates on Principles & Values: Rudy Giuliani on other issues:
Nominees:
GOP: Sen.John McCain
GOP V.P.: Gov.Sarah Palin
Democrat: Sen.Barack Obama
Dem.V.P.: Sen.Joe Biden

Third Parties:
Constitution: Chuck Baldwin
Libertarian: Rep.Bob Barr
Constitution: Amb.Alan Keyes
Liberation: Gloria La Riva
Green: Rep.Cynthia McKinney
Socialist: Brian Moore
Independent: Ralph Nader 		Abortion
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Foreign Policy
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Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Infrastructure/Technology
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Tax Reform
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Page last updated: Feb 08, 2010