Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says although he would prefer New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, his “instinct” tells him Mitt Romney will choose Marco Rubio as his running mate, because the Florida senator will give the presumptive Republican nominee more clout with Hispanic and younger voters.
Giuliani also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Thursday President Barack Obama should fire a campaign official that “lied” about having any knowledge of a Super PAC ad that essentially accuses Romney of causing the death of a woman.
“She’s a liar,” Giuliani said of Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, who pleaded ignorance in a CNN interview about the story behind the ad created by the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA.
“You have to go after them as liars,” Giuliani told Hannity, but quickly added: “We can’t prove the president is lying. I think it’s a very serious charge to say the president is lying.
“But to say that the president is surrounded by liars is a pretty accurate charge,” Giuliani continued. “Who wants to be surrounded by liars? What is Obama going to do about her?”
Republicans have been pushing for Obama to not only fire Cutter but to denounce the Priorities ad, which features Missouri steelworker Joe Soptic, who blames Romney’s investment firm Bain Capital for laying him off and leaving his family without healthcare coverage. His wife later died of cancer.
Cutter, when first asked about the ad, sought to distance the Obama campaign from it, saying she had no knowledge of Soptic’s story. But on Thursday, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that Soptic was the same steelworker who appeared in an earlier Obama campaign ad.
Weighing in on the vice-presidential choice, Giuliani said although he personally would prefer Christie get the call, he said, “My instinct tells me Marco Rubio.”
He said the Florida senator would give Romney “more of an outreach to the Hispanic vote” and “more outreach to young people.”
Rubio also would have “very strong impact with conservative Republicans — without turning people off — without making moderate Republicans or center-right people who may be independent, feel uncomfortable,” Giuliani said.
“I think he has a real ability to talk to them. I think he would be fabulous at debates. I think he would be fabulous in interviews,” Giuliani added.
The former mayor also urged the Romney campaign to get more aggressive in its appeal to independent voters by doing a better job of defining what the former Massachusetts governor would do as president.
“I think the undecided break to Gov. Romney,” he said. “But those undecided are undecided for a reason. . . . They are undecided because of Obama and that’s the vote that we have to appeal to.”
He suggested that Romney focus “100 percent of the time on the economy” as he campaigns “because it’s a disaster what [Obama] has done” and because that’s the issue that most concerns undecided voters.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.