Giuliani, Then and Now

Giuliani has been relishing taking on Democratic interests in the past week. Since MoveOn ran its "Betray Us" ad in the New York Times, Giuliani has been front and center in the NYT/MoveOn bashing crowd. He first ran an ad in the New York Times accusing Hillary Clinton of condoning the language used by MoveOn: "Who should America listen to... A decorated soldier's commitment to defending America, or Hillary Clinton's commitment to defending MoveOn.org?" More recently, he prided himself for being attacked by MoveOn and called himself the "liberals' worst nightmare," in an attempt to woo conservative primary voters, many of which might be worried by Giuliani's perceived moderation on social issues. He is running a radio ad in Iowa this week that is very revealing of his strategy (you can listen to the ad here):

MoveOn.org is the most powerful left wing group in the country. They spent millions electing anti-war liberals. And publicly brag how the Democratic Party is theirs – bought and paid for. Why is MoveOn attacking Rudy Giuliani? Because he’s their worst nightmare. They know Rudy is a Republican who can beat the Democrats, and they know that no matter what they say Rudy will never ever back down.

If you present yourself as such, well, certain things in your past might come back to haunt you. Giuliani's pandering to the religious right has been well documented, and we are all waiting for the moment when Giuliani's Republican rival will start running negative ads with videos of Giuliani in drag, or outlining his past positions on abortions and gay rights (Giuliani's big advantage is that Romney has exactly the same problem, so would not be credible criticizing him).

And Marc Ambinder uncovers today even more damning footage and notes, "Guiliani ran as a liberal once..." Giuliani was officially candidate on the Republican Party line and on the Liberal Party line in his mayoral runs in NYC in 1993 and 1997. Marc Ambinder defines the Liberal Party as such: "But until it nearly died in 2002, the party platform was fairly indistinguishable from the Democratic Party's platform: pro-choice; anti-death penalty; pro-universal health care; anti-school vouchers."

Elections in New York allow candidates to be endorsed by different parties and have their names appear multiple times on the ballot, with their numbers added up at the end. Rudy used the Liberal Party's endorsement to appeal to Democrats who might otherwise be afraid of voting for a Republican. He told them, "They can send me a signal and vote for me on the liberal line." You can watch the 1993 news clip here.

And another video was uncovered in the past few days, one from 1995 in which Giuliani calls the NRA extremist and blasts them for their intransigence on gun issues. Known as a gun control advocate in the 1990s, Giuliani today calls himself a staunch advocate of the second amendment. From the interview (the video is available here):

The NRA, for some reason, I think goes way overboard. It's almost what the extremists on the other side do. I think the extremists of the left and the extremists of the right have essentially the same tactic -- the slippery slope theory. 'If you give one point, then your entire argument is going to fall apart,' and we kind of get destroyed by that. The gun is also the source of a very big problem, and the NRA's, in essence, defense of assault weapons, and their unwillingness to deal with some of the realities here that we face in cities is a terrible, terrible mistake.

Footages of these two videos in Iowa and New Hampshire could have a strong effect. It remains to be seen whether any candidates will dare go that negative.