Rudy Shows Presidential Timbre

Rudy Guiliani seems to know the meaning of leadership. His record as Mayor of New York and determined resolve in times of crisis could beneift our nation greatly. Rudy appeared on Larry King Wednesday night. 

KING: The House is apparently about to vote — and will vote, apparently — to say that this 20,000 troops is a mistake.

Now, an important question, do you hold those who vote for that as helping the enemy?

GIULIANI: No, I hold them as…

KING: Because some say that.

GIULIANI: OK. There’s a…

KING: You don’t?

GIULIANI: I mean, there’s — you can look at the practical and common sense conclusion of it anyway you want. But there’s something more important than that.

We have a right of free speech in this country and we elect people to make decisions.

Here’s what I would prefer to see them do, though, if you ask me what’s my view on that. The non-binding resolution thing gets me more than are you for it or against it. I have tremendous respect for the people who feel that we either made a mistake going to war, who voted against the war, who now have come to the conclusion, changed their minds — they have every right to that — that it’s wrong. You should, in a dynamic situation, keep questioning.

What I don’t like is the idea of a non-binding resolution.

KING: Because?

GIULIANI: Because there’s no decision.

KING: But it’s a — making a — it’s a statement.

GIULIANI: Yes, but that’s what you do. That’s what Tim Russert does. 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. The United States Congress does declarations, the war, that’s the...

KING: So are you telling them if you feel that way, withhold funds, if that’s the way you feel?

GIULIANI: Well, the ones I — the ones that I think have a better understanding of what their responsibility is and are willing to take a risk are the ones who are saying we’ve got to hold back the funds, we’ve got to vote against the war or we’re for the war.

KING: So…

GIULIANI: And maybe it’s because I, you know, I ran a government and I tend to be a decisive person. I like decisions. And I think one of the things wrong with Washington is they don’t want to make tough decisions anymore.

KING: You know, if you’re…

GIULIANI: Non-binding resolution about Iraq; no decision on immigration; no decision on Social Security reform; no decision on what to do about energy independence; no decision. No decision.

Others covering Rudy: Ian at Hot Air,  The Conservative Times

No Longer Articulate: Barak Obama

Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter sound off on Obama’s madness. It seems like he wasn’t really ready for prime time. First from Michelle Malkin:

I have good news for everyone offended by the description of Sen. Barack Obama as “articulate.” He has quickly shed any claim to that label. Indeed, Obama’s remarks this week about American troops killed in Iraq were a bumbling, incoherent mess. You may now refer to him officially as the Inarticulate Barack Obama. (As for judging his current level of cleanliness and brightness, you know that’s Joe Biden’s milieu.)

At one of his opening presidential campaign events on the Iowa State University campus this weekend, Obama pandered energetically to the anti-war crowd. With his smooth voice rising and thousands of fans goading him on, he proclaimed: “We ended up launching a war that should have never been authorized, and should have never been waged, and to which we have now spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted.”

 

Yes, “wasted.” Squandered. Pointless. Down the drain. Meaningless. Video footage of the speech shows Sen. Obama delivering his scripted words carefully and confidently. No umms or ahhs or pauses as he argued that each and every member of the military who volunteered to serve and died in Iraq “wasted” his/her life.

Ann Coulter is at her sarcastic best in disucssing Obama’s laughable assertions during his announcement.

Most weirdly, he said: “I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this — a certain audacity — to this announcement.”

What is so audacious about announcing that you’re running for president? Any idiot can run for president. Dennis Kucinich is running for president. Until he was imprisoned, Lyndon LaRouche used to run for president constantly. John Kerry ran for president. Today, all you have to do is suggest a date by which U.S. forces in Iraq should surrender, and you’re officially a Democratic candidate for president.

Obama made his announcement surrounded by hundreds of adoring Democratic voters. And those were just the reporters. There were about 400 more reporters at Obama’s announcement than Mitt Romney’s, who, by the way, is more likely to be sworn in as our next president than B. Hussein Obama.

I don’t want to say that Obama didn’t say anything in his announcement, but afterward, even Jesse Jackson was asking, “What did he say?” There was one refreshing aspect to Obama’s announcement: It was nice to see a man call a press conference this week to announce something other than he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby.

Hillary Buys Support

Bill and Hillary Clinton are buying support in South Carolina. The New York Post has the whole story. In fact, by manipulating things behind the scenes, the Clinton’s are trying to deflate the Obama balloon in any way possible.

February 15, 2007 — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign reached a deal to pay a key South Carolina black leader’s consulting firm more than $200,000 just days before he agreed to endorse her run for president, it was revealed yesterday.

The arrangement involves South Carolina state Sen. Darrell Jackson, a well-connected African-American leader and pastor whose support is coveted by national campaigns.

Jackson confirmed to The Post yesterday that his public-relations firm struck a deal with the Clinton campaign just days ago for a contract worth up to $10,000 a month through the 2008 elections.

Jackson had also been in talks with Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign about endorsing him and entering into a consulting contract for more than $5,000, sources said – raising questions about whether Jackson’s endorsement was bought by a higher bidder.

Jackson acknowledged that his financial dealings with the Clinton camp should have been mentioned on Tuesday, when his support for the Democratic front-runner was revealed by a South Carolina colleague.