GOP Convention: From Rivals To Allies

September 3, 2008, 11:15pm

ST. PAUL — The three leading Republican rivals to John McCain during the GOP presidential primary all took the stage here tonight to publicly and eagerly throw their support behind the Arizona senator.

For much of the race, McCain was considered an underdog to two of those men, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The third, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, stayed in the race against McCain the longest after scoring a handful of surprise victories in the primary himself.

Here are excerpts and video clips of their speeches at the convention:

Giuliani

This is not a personal attack, it’s a statement of fact: Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada. The choice in this election comes down to substance over style. John has been tested. Barack Obama has not.

Tough times require strong leadership, and this is no time for on the job training. It’s about who can answer that crisis call — yes, Hillary, at 3:00 in the morning. Well, no one can look at John McCain and say that he is not ready to be commander-in-chief.

So, our opponents want to reframe the debate. They would have you believe that this election is about “change versus more of the same.” But that’s really a false choice. Because “change” is not a destination, just as “hope” is not a strategy.

Romney

Did you hear any Democrats talk last week about the threat from radical, violent jihad? Republicans believe that there is good and evil in the world. Ronald Reagan called out the Evil Empire. George Bush labeled the terror-sponsor states the Axis of Evil.

And at Saddleback, after Barak Obama dodged and ducked every direct question, John McCain hit the nail on the head: radical violent Islam is evil, and he will defeat it!

Republicans prefer straight talk to politically correct talk!

Huckabee

John McCain doesn’t want the kind of change that allows the government to reach deeper into your paycheck and pick your doctor, your child’s school, or even the kind of car you drive or how much you inflate the tires.

He doesn’t want to change the very definition of marriage from what it has always meant throughout recorded human history. It is not above John McCain’s pay grade to grasp the simple fact that human life begins at conception, and he is committed to protecting it.

Maybe the most dangerous threat of an Obama presidency is that he would continue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he’s wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price. John McCain will follow the fanatics to their caves in Pakistan or to the gates of hell. What Obama wants to do is give them a place setting at the table.

Categories: New York, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Producer's Picks, Politics, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Republican Convention

AdWatch: Who Needs Endorsements?

January 28, 2008, 6:23pm

Rudy Giuliani, once the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race but lately an also-ran, certainly doesn’t think he needs newspaper endorsements. In fact, he’s boasting about not getting them from top papers in Florida.

They picked rival John McCain instead because he’s the more “liberal” candidate, Giuliani says in a new ad. It’s a clever, if somewhat desperate, sales pitch.

Republican Ron Paul also released a trio of ads, and McCain attacked rival Mitt Romney in an ad titled “A Tale Of Two Mitts.”

Categories: Politics, Mitt Romney, John McCain, AdWatch, Rudy Giuliani

AdWatch: The White House Wannabes Speak

January 17, 2008, 2:52pm

The candidate advertisements are coming almost daily now that the nation is in the thick of the presidential primary season. This is the first roundup installment of the latest ads. I’ll be posting them as warranted under the headline above, without any commentary from me.

Plenty of other Web sites offer analysis of the ads. I’ll just post them so AirCongress readers can see what the candidates have to say in their own words.

Categories: Politics, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, AdWatch, Rudy Giuliani

The Republican presidential candidate also discussed health care, energy policy and more in an interview with “The Glenn And Helen Show.”

Giuliani has caught heat throughout the campaign for his past views about gun rights. He told Glenn Reynolds that he believes the Second Amendment protects “an individual, personal right to bear and carry arms, not just one that’s related to the militia.”

Categories: Gun Rights, Politics, Rudy Giuliani

Ed Morrissey of Heading Right Radio aired his pre-recorded interview with Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani during his live show at a new media conference in Las Vegas. Here are excerpts from Giuliani:

  • “We have to maintain a feudal government [in Pakistan], but we have to push [Pervez] Musharraf to do two things”: restore the constitution and the rule of law, and root out the Taliban and the al Qaeda terrorist network. “So there’s a big agenda with Pakistan, and it has to be handled very delicately.”
  • Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has been guilty of “a great deal of double-talk.” She “has had six different positions on Iraq; she won’t answer a question on Iran. … And [she] can’t give a straight answer on driver’s licenses? If you can’t do that, I don’t know how you can deal with these more complex issues.”
  • “I’m really the only candidate that has a chance of beating Hillary in those places [New Jersey and Pennsylvania]. I’m really the only candidate that can be a 50-state candidate among Republicans. So I think that’s something that has to be considered also.”

Producer’s note: Through a partnership with BlogTalkRadio, AirCongress is promoting federal policy and political content produced by the company’s Internet-based talk-show hosts.

Categories: Politics, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Foreign Affairs, BlogTalkRadio

About | Contact AirCongress


Blog World Featured Speaker

Media Bloggers Association

Beltway Insiders Ad Network

Government Relations Blog Network