The Quotable Rudolph W. Giuliani The New York State Liberal Party on Rudy Giuliani:
Some ask, How can the Liberal Party support a candidate who disagrees with the Liberal Party position on so many gut issues? But when the Liberal Party Policy Committee reviewed a list of key social issues of deep concern to progressive New Yorkers, we found that Rudy Giuliani agreed with the Liberal Party's stance on a majority of such issues. He agreed with the Liberal Party's views on affirmative action, gay rights, gun control, school prayer and tuition tax credits. As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani would uphold the Constitutional and legal rights to abortion.
--N.Y.S. Liberal Party Endorsement Statement of R. Giuliani for Mayor of New York City April 8, 1989
On the Republican Party:
Mr. Rockefeller represented "a tradition in the Republican Party I've worked hard to re-kindle - the Rockefeller, Javits, Lefkowitz tradition."
--Rudy Giuliani
New York Times
July 9, 1992
What kind of Republican? Is [Giuliani], for instance, a Reagan Republican? [Giuliani] pauses before answering: "I'm a Republican."
--Village Voice
January 24, 1989
On Attending 1996 Republican Convention:
Rudy even expressed his pleasure when he wasn't invited to the Republican National Convention in San Diego. "If I take three or four days off from city business, I want to do it for a substantive purpose. It didn't seem to me any substantive purpose could be served by going to the Republican convention."
--Rudy - An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani,
Page 459, Wayne Barrett
On Barry Goldwater:
He [Giuliani] described John Kennedy as "great and brilliant." Barry Goldwater was an "incompetent, confused and sometimes idiotic man."
--New York Daily News,
May 13, 1997
On President Bill Clinton:
Shortly before his last-minute endorsement of Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election, [Giuliani] told the Post's Jack Newfield that "most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." The Daily News quoted [Giuliani] as saying that March: "Whether you talk about President Clinton, Senator Dole.... The country would be in very good hands in the hands of any of that group."
Revealing at one point that he was "open" to the idea of endorsing Clinton, he explained: "When I ran for mayor both times, '89 and '93, I promised people that I would be, if not bipartisan, at least open to the possibility of supporting Democrats."
--Rudy - An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani,
Wayne Barrett, Page 459
Rudy Giuliani's October 1994 Endorsement of Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo:
"From my point of view as the mayor of New York City, the question that I have to ask is, Who has the best chance in the next four years of successfully fighting for our interest? Who understands them, and who will make the best case for it?' Our future, our destiny is not a matter of chance. It's a matter of choice. My choice is Mario Cuomo."
--Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City
Andrew Kirtzman, Page 133
Reaction to Giuliani Endorsement of Cuomo:
"Once again, Rudolph Giuliani has demonstrated that liberalism is the foundation of his political philosophy. While Giuliani sold a bill of goods to trusting Republicans and Reagan Democrats that he had abandoned his roots as a McGovern Democrat, in his endorsement of Mario Cuomo, Mr. Liberal himself, he has shown his true colors. Giuliani's argument that Cuomo will be better for the city has a hollow ring to it. Perhaps Rudy wants a governor who will sign over a blank check to constantly bail out the city from its fiscal problems. Giuliani knows, as do all New Yorkers, that Cuomo's liberal policies have been an economic disaster for our city and state."
"But Rudy doesn't care. He has proven he will do anything to stop the election of a conservative Republican - but he won't succeed."
--Michael Long, Chairman N.Y.S. Conservative Party Press Statement,
October 25, 1994
"[Quite] frankly, you have to understand the fact that Rudy Giuliani was a McGovern Democrat, he was endorsed by the Liberal Party when he ran for Mayor. In his heart, he's a Democrat. He's paraded all over this country with Bill Clinton and, in fact, he's very comfortable with Mario Cuomo. But what Rudy Giuliani wants is to be bailed out in the city, in the mess he's in, and everybody understands very clearly in politics that they struck a deal, that Mario's going to continue to be the big spender, save Rudy the options of raising taxes by pouring money statewide into the City of New York and bailing it out. Quite frankly, I predict that he will join the Democratic Party."
--Interview with Michael Long, Chairman N.Y.S. Conservative Party,
CNN Crossfire, October 25, 1994
On Gay Domestic-Partner Rights:
National Republicans can lump it if they don't like his new domestic-partners bill, Mayor Giuliani said yesterday.
"I really haven't thought about what the impact is on Republican politics or national politics or Democratic politics," Giuliani said.
The bill he submitted to the City Council would extend the benefits city agencies must grant to gay and lesbian couples.
"I'm proud of it," Giuliani said of the bill. "I think it puts New York City ahead of other places in the country."
--New York Daily News, May 13, 1998
On Gay-Rights\Gay Rights Bill:
Giuliani favors extended civil-rights protection for gays and lesbians. Giuliani urged, by letter, to the New York Senate Majority Leader to pass the state's first ever gay rights bill, but did it privately.
"I am writing to convey my support for the current legislation to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians, and to urge you to allow the bill onto the floor of the Senate for prompt action."
"...It is my belief that we can penalize discrimination [against gays] without creating any potentially objectionable special privileges or preferential treatment."
--New York Post, June 5, 1993
Now Rudy Giuliani has jumped on the bandwagon, pressing the state Republican Party to release a gay-rights bill to the Senate floor for a vote. Marching in Sunday's [Gay Pride] parade, he has enlisted in the struggle to destroy the family. What a perfectly abominable springboard to seek high political office.
--Ray Kerrison
New York Post, June 30, 1993
Giuliani said homosexuality is "good and normal."
--Ray Kerrison
New York Post, July 7, 1989
On Gay Domestic Partnership:
"I have no objection to the concept of domestic partnership."
--Rudy Giuliani
Informed Sources
New York T.V. Show (PBS), May, 1992
On Abortion:
Leaflets distributed by the Giuliani campaign .... said that he opposes restrictions to Federal Medicaid financing for abortions and opposes the Hyde Amendment, which is intended to deny support for that financing.
--New York Times, June 18, 1993
"I'd give my daughter the money for it [an abortion]."
"I never called for the overturning of Roe vs. Wade."
--Rudy Giuliani
New York Newsday, September 1, 1989
As mayor, Rudy Giuliani will uphold a woman's right of choice to have an abortion. Giuliani will fund all city programs which provide abortions to insure that no woman is deprived of her right due to an inability to pay. He will oppose reductions in state funding. He will oppose making abortion illegal.
--New York Times, August 4, 1989
On Partial Birth Abortion:
Mr. Giuliani has said that New York State law should not be changed to outlaw the procedure.
-- New York Times, January 7, 1998
On School Choice:
"I wanted to know if he supports tuition tax credits and vouchers, which he doesn't."
--Sandra Feldman,
President of N.Y.C. Teacher's Union, 1993
On Taxes:
[Giuliani] says ruling out a tax increase is "political pandering."
--Newsday, August 31, 1989
On fighting terrorism:
Giuliani said he believed Clinton, like his successor, did everything he could with the information he was provided.
"Every American president I've known would have given his life to prevent an attack like that. That includes President Clinton, President Bush," the former mayor said outside a firehouse here. "They did the best they could with the information they had at the time." --September 27, 2006
