Not that it should come as a surprise to readers of this blog, but on Larry King Live last night Rudy Giuliani uttered the words, “Yes, I’m running.” The interview mainly focused on his views on Iraq and social issues. He reiterated that, looking back on it, he still would have removed Saddam, though he said, in hindsight, he would have sent in more troops, would not have disbanded the army, nor pursued debathification. But to his credit, he acknowledged that hindsight is 20/20 and didn’t take the bait when King tried to goad him into assigning blame.
From the transcript:
KING: So are you — are you — who do you blame?
GIULIANI: So you learn from these things.
KING: Do you blame Rumsfeld?
GIULIANI: No, I don’t blame anybody.
KING: You don’t blame any — somebody’s got to…
GIULIANI: No, no, no. You don’t do it that way.
KING: Nobody’s to blame?
GIULIANI: You don’t do it that way. That’s why you don’t make progress. Just like I don’t blame people for not figuring out September 11 before it happened. What I do is, I kind of look at what happened, so you learn for the future.
On non-binding resolutions (video here):
KING: Because?
GIULIANI: Because there’s no decision.
KING: But it’s a statement.
GIULIANI: Yes, but that’s what you do. That’s what Tim Russert does and that’s what Rush Limbaugh does. That’s what you guys do, you make comments. We pay them to make decisions, not just to make comments. We pay them to decide.
