|
|
|
 |
||
 |
||
|
Columns
/ Current
Issue / Goldberg
File / Nota
Bene / Subscribe
/ Ad
Info / Washington
Bulletin / Home
|
||
|
4.27.00 4.27.00 4.24.00 4.21.00 4.20.00 4.19.00 4.17.00 4.13.00 4.13.00 4.11.00 4.11.00 4.07.00 4.05.00 4.04.00 4.03.00 4.03.00 3.28.00 3.24.00 3.20.00 3.20.00 3.17.00
|
 |
||
|
4/27/00
4:45 p.m. |
|||
|
National Review: I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions about Mayor Giuliani’s announcement this morning. Have you spoken with him? Rep. Peter King: No, I haven’t, no. NR: So, I presume the press conference was the first you heard about his prostate cancer? King: I had heard some of the rumors yesterday, but I didn’t hear anything more than you did. NR: Do you have any idea what this might do to the race? King: I don’t think it’s going to have any impact at all. I actually have some knowledge of this — there’s nothing worse than some amateur’s knowledge of something, but my father had prostate cancer and I’ve actually been in four times for biopsies. I’ve had elevated PSA’s but mine have always turned out to be benign. You go in there and they tell you what all the options are going to be and all that. If his cancer has been detected early like he says it has, under any type of treatment he uses, he’ll be back in action between four to six weeks. So, it should not have any impact at all, no. NR: So, you don’t think this will mean he’ll consider dropping out of the race? King: No, it shouldn’t. I can give you any number of people - Norman Schwarzkopf, Alan Hevesi, the New York City comptroller . . . It’s really becoming — and I hate to say this — almost routine today because they can spot prostate cancer so early. It’s not a pleasant operation, but generally you’re back on your feet and functioning within a month or so. NR: Will the press view it all differently? King: I don’t think so. I think things have really changed. Whether it’s breast cancer or prostate cancer, cancer no longer has the stigma — certainly in the media — that it used to. So, if anything, I think he’s going to get a lot of positive coverage from the fact that he’s come out and spoken about it. He’s been up-front about it and you’re going to have, I’m sure, doctor after doctor talking about it. For instance, I just called the urologist that I go to tell him that I’m going to mention his name on Paula Zahn’s show tonight. He told me that his phone has been ringing off the hook. He’s going to be on with Peter Jennings tonight. He’s going to be on with Dr. Max Gomez on NBC. So, you’re going to find urologists all over the television for the next few weeks, telling men to get their PSA, telling them that if it’s found early there’s nothing to worry about. It’s 100 percent curable. So, I think people are going to hear that over and over. And Rudy’s going to look great. He’s going to walk out of the hospital looking better than ever. Doctors are going to say that he’s in great shape. I don’t see it being any problem at all. This isn’t like 20 years ago when you mentioned “cancer” and everybody panicked. And you have also all these guys coming out who had prostate-cancer surgery or treatment and they are doing well, like Bob Dole, Henry Hyde, Norman Schwarzkopf. You can go down the whole list of the people who’ve had it. There’s any number of the members of Congress that I know of who’ve had it. They’re doing fine. NR: Do you imagine that his opponent will be able to make an issue of it? King: No, not at all. If anything — and I’m not trying to be crass here — it could be a small plus. It might humanize Rudy a bit. NR: Have you heard any talk among Republicans considering entering the race-namely, Rep. Rick Lazio? King: No. I don’t think anyone’s considering entering, but I would say that if they started thinking of that, Rick Lazio is the one they’d mention since he’s the only one who has been talking about it himself. But I don’t want to suggest that Rick is talking about it because I haven’t heard that at all. NR: No, I just talked to his press secretary. He’s not. King: I really think — maybe this is a male thing — that in the last few years prostate cancer has become so much more open that it really doesn’t have the stigma or the sense of dread that it would have had at one time. NR: You mention the “humanizing factor.” How do you think the race is going? Obviously Giuliani has been getting a lot of bad PR on a lot of issues, the cops being one of the main ones. What are your thoughts on that? Any advice? King: First of all, Rudy doesn’t take any advice, so I wouldn’t even try to advise him. I have said pretty much that up until now it has been Rudy against Rudy. I don’t think Mrs. Clinton has done anything spectacular. She’s been avoiding mistakes. That’s all she’s been doing. She’s been picking up on him because he is guilty of overkill. For instance, I don’t think there’s anything that the cops have done wrong. In the Diallo case, the cops were acquitted. As far as Dorismond, I think that was a tragic accident. But Rudy — it’s the way he responds. But, that’s Rudy. That’s the way he’s always going to be, but if he could control himself, which he won’t, but, if he did, I think he should win. I think he can still win. NR: Is that potentially fatal for him as far as the campaign goes? King: No. This race is going to be, leaving out the prostate-cancer issue, which throws in a whole new element — which, again, I think if there’s any political plus or minus could end up being a small plus for him — but even leaving that out I would say that this is going to be a roller-coaster race because you have two of the most polarizing personalities in politics today and, in some ways, they are running against themselves and against each other. It’s a pretty electric mix. I think it’s going to go down to the wire, 51-49 or 50.1-49.9, either way. I think Gore right now is going to run strongly in N.Y., so Rudy will have to overcome that a bit. It’s going to be a tight race right down to the wire. NR: Is there anything that Giuliani is not talking about that he should be? Are there Whitewater and fundraising issues that he should be bringing up, especially as Gore gets into the NY race too? Is there some way for Giuliani to credibly come out on top and break out of that tight race? King: I think that he should stay totally clear of Monica Lewinsky and everything. That I think people are fed up with that. No one’s totally clear on all that stuff. But what I think he does have a chance to go after her on is fundraising, is Whitewater and exactly what the independent counsel is going to say in his report. Those do raise legitimate questions about her integrity. Rudy is skillful enough, if he keeps his temper under control, to raise them in a finely-honed legal way because he is a very skilled prosecutor. He has to use the razor rather than the sledgehammer. He can raise very legitimate questions, but he has to avoid giving the appearance that he’s just trying to give new life to Ken Starr’s old charges. I think what he has to do is leave out Lewinsky, leave out everything involving impeachment, but zero in on the fundraising, certainly on the Chinese fundraising, raise what appear to be obvious conflicts in testimony. Maybe it’s not enough for perjury, but there’s certainly enough to raise questions about Mrs. Clinton, raise questions about Al Gore. I would keep it at that level, keep it at a governmental level rather than getting into anything involving Lewinsky or anything personal. NR: You were a big supporter of McCain during the primaries. Do you see him as joining Bush on the ticket? King: I wish he would. I think McCain’s — because I know him — is the only one in the Republican Party who has a national following. Tom Ridge can certainly help pick up Pennsylvania. Connie Mack could help in Florida. Chuck Hagel in the Midwest — we could go through all of them. McCain is the only one who has the national superstar quality. I would certainly urge him to do it, but doesn’t mean that he would listen to me. That’s going to be definitely a personal decision that John McCain’s going to have to make. I just feel that you’re going to see more and more pressure building for Bush to ask him and for McCain to accept. |
|||
|
|||
|
 |
Columns
/ Current
Issue / Goldberg
File / Nota
Bene |
|
|
National Review 215 Lexington Avenue
New York, New York 10016 212-679-7330 Customer Service: 815-734-1232.
Contact
Us.
|
||
