As Backlash Builds, Giuliani Cites Obama's White Relatives as Evidence of Non-Racism

[DonViejo]

By Ben Mathis-Lilley

On Wednesday, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asserted that President Obama "wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up." Said Giuliani: "I do not believe that the president loves America." It was a smear reminiscent of the claims that Obama is lying about being born in the United States and lying about being a Christian. Since Obama was born here, is a Christian, and in fact talks constantly about America's greatness in his speeches and press conferences, some have suggested that critiques like Giuliani's are in fact allusions to Obama's blackness, a method of subtly (or "subtly&quot implying that black people aren't real Americans. Speaking to a New York Times reporter Thursday, Giuliani argued that his comments in fact had nothing to do with race because Obama had a white mother and white grandparents, though in the three sentences of his defense he alluded to Obama's non-white parent as well:

"Some people thought it was racist — I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people,” Mr. Giuliani said in the interview. “This isn’t racism. This is socialism or possibly anti-colonialism.”

In the New York Daily News, meanwhile, longtime Giuliani gadfly Wayne Barrett runs down the ex-mayor's history of associations with individuals who definitely weren't helping defend American greatness—like Bernard Kerik, who Giuliani recommended to run the Homeland Security department despite Kerik's extensive record of stealing public resources (like an apartment rented for 9/11 responders) for his personal benefit, and the government of Qatar, for whom Giuliani has performed consulting work and which helped protect 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He also notes that Giuliani's father—who presumably one of the people who "brought [him] up" to love America—was a convicted violent felon who didn't serve during WWII:

Harold Giuliani...did time in Sing Sing for holding up a Harlem milkman and was the bat-wielding enforcer for the loan-sharking operation run out of a Brooklyn bar owned by Rudy's uncle.

Though Rudy cited Harold throughout his public life as his model (without revealing any of his history), he and five Rudy uncles found ways to avoid service in World War II. Harold, whose robbery conviction was in the name of an alias, made sure the draft board knew he was a felon. On the other hand, Obama's grandfather and uncle served. His uncle helped liberate Buchenwald, which apparently affected him so deeply he stayed in the family attic for six months when he returned home.

More
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/02/20/giuliani_obama_doesn_t_love_america_white_mother_grandparents_cited.html?

[deutsey]

1. Oh...that clears it up

Keep digging, Rudy...

[dissentient]

2. Giuliani defends Obama criticism - "I want to repeat it"

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani adamantly defended Thursday his controversial criticism of President Obama, one day after saying he does "not believe that the president loves America."

Giuliani made the remarks Wednesday at a private fundraiser for Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is widely considered to be a prospective candidate for president in 2016. He added: “(Obama) doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country."

But Thursday night on "The Kelly File," when host Megyn Kelly asked Giuliani if he wished to apologize, the 2008 presidential candidate doubled down on his criticism.

"Not at all. I want to repeat it," Giuliani said. "The reality is, from all that I can see of this president, all that I’ve heard of him, he apologizes for America, he criticizes America. ... This is an American president I’ve never seen before."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/20/giuliani-defends-obama-criticism-says-president-doesnt-believe-in-american/

[Dawson Leery]

3. Rudy G had a love affair with Putin last summer.

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/568478951871524864

[Jefferson23]

4. He has made racist statements before as we all know his policies when he was mayor. He

now applies his racist dumb ass pointed at Obama on a more raw level than I recall
in his past.

Has any Obama surrogate called him out for what he is yet...Rudy, clearly..you're a racist,
that is the problem, not Obama.

I believe this needs to be said, once and for all when Republicans start this garbage.

And who is Rudy pinch hitting for..another POTUS race himself or what?

[Thinkingabout]

5. Giuliani loved his country so much he continued to ask for deferments after his schools was over.

Guess Giuliani was raise differently than the ones my age.