Giuliani in WSJ: ‘I Didn’t Intend To Question President Obama’s Motives’

Rudy Giuliani attends the SNL 40th Anniversary Special at Rockefeller Plaza on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) on Sunday took to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to try to clarify his comments about President Barack Obama’s love for the country.

Giuliani told a conservative audience last week including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) that he didn’t believe Obama “loves America.” That comment sparked a days-long firestorm and had potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates jumping to tell the public whether they, too, believed Obama really “loves America” or not.

“My blunt language suggesting that the president doesn’t love America notwithstanding, I didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart,” Giuliani wrote. “My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”

The former mayor went on to repeat his belief that Obama has been seen “criticizing his country more than other presidents have done,” contrasting him with former Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

“I hope also that our president will start acting and speaking in a way that draws sharp, clear distinctions between us and those who threaten our way of life,” he concluded.

Giuliani hasn’t backed down from his original comments in the multiple media appearances he’s made since Wednesday. He dismissed criticism that his comments could be seen as racist because he said Obama had a “white mother.” Over the weekend, Giuliani told the New York Post that he thought Obama had been steeped in communism “from the time he was 9 years old.”

The former mayor also told CNN on Saturday that his office was receiving death threats.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for lew lew says:

    Of course you did Rudy. Saying otherwise suggests you need to carry a smoke detector in your pants.

  2. “I know I said your mother is a whore who would sell her own child for another rock of crack, but I’m OFFENDED that you think I questioned her motives.”

  3. The only thing worse than Giuliani’s insults are his apologies.

  4. Avatar for pine pine says:

    Turned out to be not as funny as you thought it would be I see.You are still back peadiling and I bet you will be for awhile longer people are on to you.

    "Giuliani’s comments are symptomatic of an element in our politics that
    has distorted patriotism all the way down to our grass roots. Last year
    in Colorado, for example, conservative members of the Jefferson County School Board
    near Denver attempted to revise the district’s history books to
    emphasize the “positive aspects” of America and to avoid material that
    seemed to condone “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the
    law”. "

    "One of the more depressing political attacks in recent history was
    launched by the former Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, against
    President Obama. With strong implications of racism, Giuliani claimed
    that Obama did not love his country and might have “socialist” or
    “anti-colonial” leanings because of his mixed parentage and overseas
    birth. The main reason? Obama had suggested that we might be wrong in
    our blanket condemnation of the whole Muslim world as “terrorists.”
    Reminding us that Christians had also terrorized many Muslims during the
    Crusades, Obama took the position that guilt, like revenge, was a dish
    that was served best cold.

  5. All of us who frequent the Internet now can clearly see Mayor Giuliani for what he is. He is a Troll, desperate for attention, who will do or say anything to keep the focus on him.
    Time to stop rewarding this sad, troubled little man.

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