Giuliani prods FL Dems to switch parties
Posted: Saturday, October 06, 2007 11:20 AM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Matthew E. Berger
ESTERO, Fla. -- Giuliani took a few swipes at the “liberal media”
Saturday, suggesting he had to work around the press while he was mayor
of New York City and had learned a few tricks.
Giuliani said he believed eight out of 10 reporters were Democrats “and
when you multiply that out across the whole country … you do have a
media bias in favor of Democratic policies and Democratic politicians,”
he said, after being asked about how he remains upbeat despite a media
bashing.
“If I didn’t understand that, I never would have been successful as
mayor of New York City,” he said, touting 96 town-hall meetings that
allowed him to talk directly to voters. “At least you would get my
interpretation of what I was trying to say, rather than something
prefaced by ‘the dumb mayor said’ or ‘the embattled mayor.’”
Giuliani then moved on to the Florida primary battle. “Unlike the
Democrats, I’m not going to boycott Florida,” he said. “In fact, I’m
encouraging them to boycott Florida for the whole year.”
Moderate Democrats might consider changing their party affiliation if they feel they are being ignored by the other party, one campaign official said, and would be most likely to back Giuliani over other candidates. While the state Republican Party has been engaged in trying to get voters to change their party affiliation, the Giuliani campaign has not, he said.
The former mayor continued his attack on Democratic fiscal policies, suggesting they would prefer a “nanny government.”
“They want a lid on you,” he said. “They want to put a ceiling on your growth. The real art in making America grow is to take the lid off and turning things back to the American people.”
Giuliani also said part of achieving energy independence would be expanding nuclear power. “I’m a realist,” he said. “Of course nuclear power is dangerous.” But he added, so is oil and electricity, and there have been no deaths from nuclear power plants in the United States.
Afterwards, in an interview with NBC affiliate WBBH, he said, “Florida had spoken” against drilling in the Florida Everglades -- a veiled shot at opponent Fred Thompson. “Florida has a great deal of control and say in that,” he said. “The reality is we have to do more exploitation of oil in and around the United States.”
