Rudy Truth Squad

David Weigel | March 30, 2007

Rudy Giuliani, whose only hits in the 2008 YouTube wars have come from his many, many cross-dressing gigs, got hit this week with video of his 1994 endorsement of Mario Cuomo for governor of New York.

See that cut in the middle of the video? It's important. Rudy fan Phil Klein notes that Rudy's given reason for backing Cuomo would be that Pataki would shift the tax burden to New York and stop Rudy's program of cuts.

Mayor GUILIANI: He has plans to reduce taxes that are so ambitious and so inconsistent with the performance of the economy of this state that he would, in essence, in order to accomplish that, raise property taxes in the suburbs, around New York, and in New York City. Because-

 
SHAW: And in your mind that's a no-no?

Mayor GUILIANI: It would be a disaster. It would be an absolute disaster. It would be the kind of tax shift that substitutes for sound management. I've reduced the budget of New York City dramatically. I've actually reduced taxes already in New York City. But I didn't do one of those pledges and promises and one of those fancy campaign things that locks you into unwise economic policy.

In his Mitt Romney hagiography, Hugh Hewitt argues that Romney's quick, substance-free response to the YouTube of his 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy (where he basically ran to the left of Dominique de Villepin) was a masterstroke that neutralized the issue. Rudy isn't responding to this; journalists with Nexis are. That could be because the campaign's not on the ball, or it could be confidence that this stuff is bouncing off the JoinRudy carapace.