Stewart: Giuliani was 'successful' but still 'disturbing' David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Wednesday January 9, 2008



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Print This Email This On Tuesday night's writer-free version of Comedy Central's Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed Rudy Giuliani adviser David Frum and seemed to agree that the former New York mayor was the best public executive in three decades just after joking about Giuliani's "disturbing ... personality." After Stewart credited Ron Paul, who nearly beat Giuliani in Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary, with being the most conservative running, Frum blasted the Texas congressman as offering "terrible answers." "He's one of those people the more you learn about him ... the more disturbing a personality he becomes," Frum charged. "You should check into your guy," Stewart joked. As the audience roared, he added, "My brain's not on strike, brother." Frum was quick to defend Giuliani as the "most successful public sector executive in the last 30 years." Stewart agreed, "That is true." Earlier in the show, Stewart panned Giuliani's obsession with Sept. 11. "You've got to forgive candidates their omissions, their errors, their complete reversals, their total falsities -- and, of course, their delusions," said Stewart. He then played a clip of Giuliani claiming, "We don't mention September 11 nearly as much as people think." "I have to say that is true," Stewart agreed, "because I was under the illusion he used it every single word," Stewart has skewered Giuliani in the past over his - what the Comedy Central faux host calls - "9/11 Tourettes," and last August, as reported by Crooks and Liars, laid into the former mayor for his "evasive non-answer to a question about his biggest personal failing during" an ABC debate. "Heres a hint: It starts with annulling my first marriage to my second cousin, and it ends with my kids from my second marriage supporting Barack Obama because they hate my third wife," he joked in August. "Ba Boom!" Stewart asked next about Huckabee, and Frum answered, "He has been incredibly astute about speaking to the concerns that people have. ... He doesn't offer real answers." Stewart suggested the attitude of the Republican Party to Huckabee and the evangelical voters could be compared to the Simpsons, where Ned Flanders is "a great next-door neighbor ... because he'll do all the legwork, but when it comes down to it, you want President Homer." "I don't think we want President Homer," said Frum. "We have President Homer," Stewart insisted. "But much skinnier," was Frum's comeback. This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast January 8, 2008.







