Rudy Giuliani spoke this morning to the Republican Jewish
Coalition conference, an audience that is about as close to a home
crowd as he could get. As mayor of New York City, Giuliani had
close ties to the Jewish community, especially Jewish Republicans,
who still remember when he ejected Arafat from a UN concert at
Lincoln Center and returned a $10 million check from the Saudi
prince who implied U.S. support for Israel was partially
responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Giuliani had the crowd eating out of his hands with flashes of
humor, tough talk on Iran, and a hard line against futile diplomacy
with Palestinians who seek to destroy Israel.
"We've seen what Iran will do with ordinary weapons," Giuliani
said. "If I'm President of the United States, I guarantee you, we
will never find out what they will do if they get nuclear weapons."
That lead to one of several standing ovations.
He mocked Barack Obama for saying he would negotiate with
leaders of hostile regimes with no preconditions, and said when
Hillary Clinton initially condemned Obama's comments, it was "the
first time I agreed with her since she announced she was a Yankees
fan."
He pointed out that Clinton has already reversed herself, and
joked, "That was one of the longest positions she's held."
Then, he recounted his decision to eject Arafat from Lincoln
Center as a way to draw contrast and poke fun at his rivals in both
parties.
"I didn't hesitate like Hillary Clinton hesitates when asked
questions about what she would do about Iran," Giuliani said about
the incident. "I didn't seek to negotiate like Barack Obama."
Then, in a clear dig on Mitt Romney, Giuliani joked, "I didn't
call for a team of lawyers…to tell me 'well, on the one hand
you can throw him out, on the other hand you can't.'"
He continued to exploit the moment for maximum value.
"'Maybe you could partially throw him out,'" he chided. "'Maybe
you could have him sit, like, further up.'"
Then he got to the moral of the story.
"I just made a decision," Giuliani said. "See, I lead. That's
what a leader is about."
Romney will get a chance to address the audience this
afternoon.
UPDATE: Also worth noting is that during his speech, a cell
phone rang, and Giuliani said, "I'm not going to anwer that!" He
joked that he just found the vibrate setting to his phone.
topics:
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Law, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Weapons
