The cell phone incident, and NRA politics

The Republican candidates (and Bill Richardson!) were lined up to speak in front of the NRA, and this afternoon was the much anticipated speech by Giuliani, who had once called the NRA a group of extremists and was a major advocate for curbing gun-rights as the Mayor of NYC. Would Giuliani make a convincing case that he had a change of heart?

Giuliani emphasized that his anti-gun past was just a factor of his desire to reduce crime, and enforce existing laws: “At the time, what I was doing during the time that I was mayor was taking advantage of every law and every interpretation of every law that I could think of the reduce crime. Some people call it excessive; I call it intense.” Giuliani also went back on some of his 1990s positions and expressed new-found reserve for them, though he also added, “You never get a candidate you agree with 100 percent.” Giuliani simply wants to neutralize the NRA: He knows he would never be able to get their support, so he is simply hoping they won't campaign against him. And he appeared to have thrown enough meat at his listeners to get away with his past positions.

But the main news was not what Giuliani said, but rather the fact that he received and answered a call from his wife in the middle of the speech! The NYT article's accompanying picture is actually one with Giuliani talking on the phone. The video is here and it is so surreal it is a must-see. Basically, Giuliani interrupts his speech saying he is getting a call and it must be his wife. We then hear the ring, and he picks up to say he is talking at the gathering of the NRA, asks whether Judith wants to say hi, and then repeats "I love you!"

Let's review everything we need to suspend our disbelief here:

1. that Rudy had actually forgotten to turn off his phone, and that none of his advisers told him to.
2. that Judith just happened to not know her husband would be speaking at a crucial gathering that the press was gearing for for days now and that the campaign had probably been preparing for.
3. that Giuliani just happened to be right when he said "this is probably my wife" before looking at his phone (Seriously, does no one else call him? I would think he gets dozens of calls a day, making the probability that he would know he was getting a call from his wife without looking at the screen rather slim!).

To make matter worse, it was soon uncovered that the very same thing had happened before!! Judith had already called Rudy during a campaign event, and Rudy had already answered his phone, asking Judith if she wanted to say "hi", and making sure to get an "I love you" in there! Here's the video.

We are left with the very uncomfortable suspicion that Giuliani is staging these phone calls to portray himself as a loving family man! Don't forget that this is one of the main obstacles he faces to winning the nomination: His children are not speaking to him and not supporting his candidacy, he announced on national TV that he was divorcing and having an affair with Judith without telling his wife first, etc. Apparently, Giuliani thinks that getting phone calls from his wife in the middle of high-profile speeches will prove to conservatives he is one of them, and not a flip-flopping opportunist who has no stable positions on gun-right issues!

Before Giuliani's speech, McCain had upped the pressure by pointing out the extent of his rivals' flip-flopping. He clearly took aim at Giuliani and displayed his own gun credentials by saying "My friends, gun owners are not extremists; you are the core of modern America." He added:

This is a sophisticated crowd. You know politics, and you know politicians. You are pretty used to hearing aspirants for public office come before you and pledge fealty to the cause of the Second Amendment. You know you need to dig into a politician's record to find out where they really stand. You know some will change their position or have little record for you to judge. That is not the case with me.

(During his speech, McCain was interrupted by war protesters who called for the US to bring troops home now. As the protesters were escorted out, McCain displayed the full force of his hawkishness and exclaimed, "Well, my friends, we beat you yesterday. We'll beat you today . . . And we'll beat you tomorrow!" He received a standing ovation, proving that he at least remains in sync with the Republican base on the issue of Iraq).