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Rudy Giuliani stepped back into presidential politics Wednesday to boost John McCain's national security-based attacks on Barack Obama, but got an earful from the media, Democrats and bloggers when he made negative remarks about Obama's views that were similar his own views at one time -- and about stances that put him at odds with McCain.
What's fair is fair. If, when Hillary Clinton sticks up for Obama, the Republicans jump all over both of them, they should expect the same back. The most compelling material dredged up on Giuliani is that he criticized Obama for his laudatory remarks about the 1993 World Trade Center case, but Giuliani himself had praised the same convictions for the same reasons back in 1994.
Then, of course, there's the matter of previous Republican primary sniping between McCain and Giuliani. McCain criticized Giuliani for having negligible national security experience -- the very attack he's leveled at Obama. And Giuliani and McCain likewise fought over the legality of interrogation techniques back then, a noteworthy point because it mixes up the message Giuliani was trying to send on behalf of McCain Wednesday about legal issues in the "war on terror."
As I wrote about with Clinton vs. Obama, the issue of Guiliani vs. himself and Giuliani vs. McCain probably won't get the same attention upon subsequent Giuliani forays back into a political campaign, since memories fade. But Wednesday? They were still pretty fresh. |
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