Pure Horserace: Rudy Targets Hillary

Giuliani Increasingly Taking Aim At Clinton; Ties Democrat To MoveOn.org

(CBS)  MoveOn.org’s full-page ad in the New York Times earlier this week stirred a lot of largely temporary Republican backlash, but one presidential campaign is looking to keep the issue alive. The progressive, anti-war group angered many when their ad criticized the surge in Iraq and its leader, Gen. David Petraeus, with the line, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” The ad ran on the day Petraeus began his much-anticipated briefing of Congress on progress in Iraq.

The outrage the ad caused among Republicans was exacerbated by revelations that the newspaper charged what Giuliani characterized as a "discount rate" for the ad. The Times responded that the rate was not tied to the ad's content and said it fit into its normal business practices.

Today’s New York Times carries a full-page ad from the Giuliani campaign (reportedly purchased at the same price) rebutting the MoveOn ad - or, more accurately, attacking Hillary Clinton. The ad uses a line from Clinton’s Senate questioning of Petraeus in an attempt tie the New York senator to MoveOn. Clinton said the general's report required “the willing suspension of disbelief.”

The tag line in Giuliani’s ad reads, “who should America listen to … A decorated soldier’s commitment to defending America, or Hillary Clinton’s commitment to defending MoveOn.org?”

CBS News’ Ryan Corsaro has been traveling with Giuliani and reports that the former New York City mayor appeared on two 24-hour cable news channels last night, reiterating his outrage over the MoveOn ad and Clinton’s comments. Giuliani repeated that he thought her comments were “venomous” and that “she has a lot of nerve.”

It seems that in the speeches and statements he’s made in the past week he is zeroing in on Clinton. Since last Thursday he has only briefly mentioned Barack Obama and John Edwards while chipping away at Clinton on several issues at each of his campaign stops.

And Giuliani is not above drawing some rough conclusions. In discussing the Democratic candidates’ approach to health care in Florida recently, he said, "John Edwards wants to give us his version of 'Hillary-care'. He says he will do it and it will cost you money. … Hillary says she can do it and it will save you money." When the audience booed along with the statement, Giuliani added laughingly, "You don't believe that? Are you suggesting she wouldn't say the truth?"

He then went on to note, “I have to defend her. We're both Yankee fans. I grew up as a Yankee fan in New York. She became a Yankee fan growing up in Chicago,” said as the audience burst into laughter. “If you believe that, you'll vote for her.”

As a socially moderate Republican, it seems that Giuliani has seized upon some red meat he can throw out to just about any conservative audience.
--Vaughn Ververs and Ryan Corsaro


Florida Gives Thompson A Sunny Reception: CBS News’ John Bentley has been traveling with Fred Thompson and files this report from the campaign’s first swing through Florida:

The largest crowd to turn out so far on Thompson’s presidential campaign came Thursday at The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida. Over 700 people turned out in the sweltering heat to hear Thompson on his first campaign swing through the state. “He’s very personable,” said Christina Wardell, 56. “I agree with a lot of the things he’d like to accomplish if he were the president.”

While Thompson has talked in general terms about what he wants to accomplish, he has yet to offer many specific policy ideas. His stump speech always includes a strong defense of federalism, a desire to overhaul Social Security, and words on maintaining a strong national defense. “I have concluded that the average 20-year-old serving us in Iraq knows more about their country’s national security needs than the average 20-year political veteran serving in the Congress of the United States,” Thompson said.

Lines like that garnered applause from the crowd, but Wardell wasn’t ready to cast her vote just yet. “He’s so new in this race, I don’t really know if I’d vote for him or not,” she said.

She’s not the only one. After announcing his candidacy just over a week ago, Thompson is running second to Rudy Giuliani in most Florida polls. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll of the state has Thompson at 17%, with Giuliani at 28%. But as a Florida-based Thompson advisor points out, his competition has had a head start. “Rudy and Romney have been here for a year,” he said. “Everyone said we were too late organizationally, the opportunity to get in and get organized is gone, but if you look at the caliber of folks that are going to be rolled out, it’s not going to be a challenge for us to reach out and pull together an organization.”

A morning event in Jacksonville swayed at least voter. “He’d be the front runner for me,” said Lee Stine, 34, one of about 200 people to take in Thompson’s event at a shopping mall. But he wasn’t sure how well he would do against the other Republican candidates. “Florida is pretty wide open,” he said.

You wouldn’t know it by the friendly crowd Thompson attracted in the town of Celebration. Approximately 250 people packed into a small clubhouse in this Disney-planned community to see if Thompson could separate himself from the pack of the other Republican candidates. “I thought the field this year was very slim,” said Larry Pumphrey, 64. But this evening’s rally helped him make a decision. “He’s a Southern individual,” he said. “I feel that he’s going to unite people in the state of Florida as far as the Republicans go.”
--John Bentley


New Joe-mentum? Joe Biden is making a little headway in Iowa, at least in the endorsement category. The state’s House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, yesterday threw his support to the Delaware senator on the steps of the state capitol.

McCarthy praised Biden’s foreign policy credentials and said he sensed some growing momentum for the campaign in Iowa. “I sense movement. I sense energy,” McCarthy said, according to the Des Moines Register. “When you have Iraq as the No. 1 issue and a candidate that is the most competent on that issue, things are going to move.”

Most interestingly, McCarthy used a line that the campaign has been using more and more when it comes to a touchy subject for them - the perception that Biden may be in this campaign more as an audition for a Secretary of State appointment than to win. McCarthy subtly took aim at that, saying, “Given that Iraq is the No. 1 issue facing this country, wouldn't it be nice to have a president smarter than our secretary of state?” Expect to hear that line a lot more from Biden’s campaign.
--Vaughn Ververs


Life In The Bubble: CBS News’ Joy Lin recently traveled to Iowa with Bill Richardson and files this report:

Yesterday, in a crowded, smoke-filled Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Sioux City, IA, Richardson talked to the assembled veterans about Iraq.

DNC member Frank LaMeer introduced Richardson, his voice breaking while talking about a brother who never returned from Vietnam. LaMeer reflected on the venue and how the country rested on the shoulders of men who fought for the country. He went on to emphasize that Richardson was the only candidate to show up to talk to Native Americans three weeks ago.

The crowd numbered around 80, and people stood in the back of the room. Before engaging the topic of Iraq, Richardson spoke about VA benefits and his plan for a hero's card. He mentioned the briefing with Petraeus and said he thought the general was doing a great job but that the policy was flawed.

During the question and answer session that followed, Richardson fielded a question about whether President Bush was listening on Iraq. Richardson responded by talked about his own experience in Congress, where staff told him how great he was -- "I even had people telling me how skinny I was (laughter)... It's not that funny (more laughter)." Richardson then went on to talk about the "arrogance of power" and the inherent dangers of surrounding yourself with “yes” men in a bubble.
--Joy Lin

[jack3213]

Democrats have now shown the world that they will denigrate and destroy anyone or anything to placate their far-left, deep-pocket donors. Do the American people really want this party in power?

[me4prezz]

Fizzal:

Wrong. EVERYONE has not only the right, but the responsibility to question those in a position of leadership and military might in this nation. That is the basis of a democracy and that is what makes this nation so great. Just because you wear a uniform, does not make you excempt for those rights and responsibilities. In fact, it makes you more of an example to those by being an example. McCain is the exact opposite of what this country has fought and bled for. The right to freedom.

[JuarezTraveller]

Giuliani may not want to link himself so closely to Gen. Petraeus. The general told at least one outright lie to Congress. When questioned about whether or not it mattered if a person was shot in the front or back of the head in the counting of sectarian deaths, Petraeus said that it didn%u2019t matter, that any killing by a sectarian motive was counted. However, National Public Radio reported on 9/13/2007 that deaths by a shot to the head ARE NOT counted by the military among sectarian killings, even if they are for sectarian reasons. Thus, the number of such deaths Petraeus reported is about 50% too low, making things in Iraq much worse than he wants us to think.

An important related question is "When will Congress start putting the people who lie to them in prison?"

[starleo146]

Guiliani I think he believes the media where it said in a debate Guilini can beat Hillary He doesn''t have a prayer to beat any one the money hungry ----. Believe the firemen of N.Y.

[pastdue1]

Posted by fizzal at 09:56 PM : Sep 15, 2007

Baloney!!!! We live in America

[fizzal-2009]

nobody has the right except a military court too question the honor of a military person that works for both the democrats and the republicans.

[starleo146]

Pay attention, America: this is how the right-wing uses the media to manipulate the truth and silence dissent against the Iraq war.

Even before MoveOn.org''''s ran its controversial ad about General Petraeus in the New York Times, The Weekly Standard published an article by Peter Hegseth, Executive Director of the organization Vets for Freedom. The headline of the article accused the MoveOn.org ad of calling Petreaus a ''''traitor'''' ("MoveOn.org Calls Petraeus a Traitor"). The only problem: the word ''''traitor'''' appears nowhere in the MoveOn.org ad nor anywhere on the MoveOn.org page about the ad. It is Hegseth''''s article that introduced the word ''''traitor'''' into the story -- an outright lie intended to silence dissent against the war. Less than 24 hours after the Hegseth piece ran and the MoveOn.org ad appeared, the mainstream media picked up the Weekly Standard''''s lie and repeated it until it became the story.

[pastdue1]

"As a socially moderate Republican, it seems that Giuliani has seized upon some red meat he can throw out to just about any conservative audience."
And that is about the size of Giuliani''s credibility as a candidate. If the conservatives endorse this guy, they are disclaiming what they have said is their ethos in the past two elections.

[actornaught]

rudy is an empty suit trying to sell a bill of goods for a product that doesn''t exist to people that are desperate to believe in a fantasy...

[me4prezz]

Who should we listen to?

Decorated and brave firemen and women, hundreds who died and hundreds more dying, in the worst act of terrorism on American soil, or a man who claims that he was the sole carrier of the state of New York during its worst time in history when even the firemen and EMS workers rebuke him?

Personally, I am going with the firemen who saved Guiliani''s butt! Maybe, they should have let him lead the way into the Towers instead of standing talking to reporters in a nice clean jacket!