Giuliani expands, clarifies Obama attack

Rudy Giuliani is expanding upon his remarks last night at a private dinner in New York that President Barack Obama “does not love America,” adding that he hears the president criticize the country more than he praises it.

“Well, first of all, I’m not questioning his patriotism. He’s a patriot, I’m sure,” the former mayor of New York said on “Fox and Friends” Thursday morning. “What I’m saying is, in his rhetoric, I very rarely hear the things that I used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things that I used to hear Bill Clinton say about how much he loves America.”


Obama is different from his predecessors in that respect, Giuliani said.

“I do hear him criticize America much more often than other American presidents,” he told the morning show hosts. “And when it’s not in the context of an overwhelming number of statements about the exceptionalism of America, it sounds like he’s more of a critic than he is a supporter.”

Scott Walker declined to comment on the controversy when asked on CNBC about Giuliani’s remarks the previous night.

“The mayor can speak for himself. I’m not going to comment on what the president thinks or not, he can speak for himself as well. I can tell you I love this country,” the Wisconsin governor and potential 2016 candidate said.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told attendees at the Association of Democratic Chairs this morning that other GOP White House hopefuls should speak out against Giuliani’s comments.

“There is a precedent,” she said. “In 2008, when the ugly head of bigotry against Barack Obama reared its head, John McCain famously stood up and said, ‘Enough.’ Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, now it’s your turn. Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Stand up — say, ‘Enough.’”

The White House also weighed in on Thursday.

“It was a horrible thing to say,” deputy press secretary Eric Schultz told reporters.

“I’m not going to pile on from here,” he said.

Later Thursday afternoon, the White House’s Twitter account included the hashtag #ObamaLovesAmerica in a tweet about the president’s speech announcing three new national monuments.

Giuliani also joined in criticism of the president’s characterization of extremism, calling Obama’s op-ed this week for the Los Angeles Times “a very, very damaging statement.”

“You see, if you don’t call it something, you can’t connect the dots,” Giuliani said. “If you can’t connect the dots, you can’t really combat it militarily.”

Giuliani also mentioned Iran, which he called “part of the Islamic extremist movement” as well.

“If you refuse to say that there are extremist members of the Islamic religion, well then, it sounds like you’re living on Mars,” he said.

This article tagged under: Barack Obama

Rudy Giuliani