“If one of them gets elected, it sounds to me like we’re going on the defense,” he said. “We’ve got a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. We’re going to wave the white flag there. We’re going to try to cut back on the Patriot Act. We’re going to cut back on electronic surveillance. We’re going to cut back on interrogation. We’re going to cut back, cut back, cut back, and we’ll be back in our pre-September 11 mentality of being on defense.”
Giuliani said he believes the United States ultimately will win the war on terrorism, regardless of whether the country is led by Republican or Democratic presidents, but added that Republicans will do a better job of keeping the country safe, with fewer losses.
“The question is going to be, how long does it take [to win that war] and how many losses will we have along the way. And I truly believe that, if we go back on defense for a period of time, we’re going to ultimately have more losses and it’s going to go on much longer,” the former mayor said.
Giuliani said the country is under threat from violent extremists who hate much about what America stands for, from freedom of religion and expression to the full participation of women in society.
“Sure, they started this war and they can end it,” he said. “This war ends when they stop planning to come here and kill us. But until then, if I have anything to say about it, the lesson I learned coming out of September 11, 2001, is, never, ever again will this country be on defense waiting for them to come to us. The United States of America will be on offense and, make no mistake about it, the Democrats want to put us back on defense.”
I’m surprised the Rudy people don’t have this all over the ‘Net, MittTV-like. Instead, I just went to Giuliani’s website and could only find Norman Braman – nothing of this homerun-sounding speech.