Moments ago, Rudy Giuliani took three questions on a McCain campaign conference call for the national press corps.
The first question was about the bailout. It was from a staffer from TownHall.com, a conservative website, but the question itself was not glaringly pro-McCain. Nothing notable.
The second question was from someone named Chuck Pardee. Pardee asserted that Tina Fey and many reporters make their living “embellishing the facts.” After criticizing the press for treating Sarah Palin unfairly, Pardee concluded*:
“Do you think embellishing the facts is actually what the concerned voter is after? And specifically, Joe Biden seems to embellish and forget facts just to kind of impress people but when you take Sarah Palin she seems to impress others with her quick study without embellishing the facts. In other words do you think people want a straight shooter or do they want the stuff and fluff?”
Surprisingly, Giuliani said that the American people preferred the straight-shooter and John McCain just so happens to be one. Pardee, by the way, is the “founder and president” of Newsbull.com. He has donated the maximum $2,300 to McCain. It’s a shock he didn’t ask a tougher question. (And if you’re wondering, yes, the McCain campaign knows the affiliations of reporters before they are permitted to ask a question on these conference calls.)
The third and final question came from a woman named Sherry Riggs (sp?). Her affiliation was not announced. She took exception to Giuliani’s claim from earlier in the call that Obama had never managed a budget. A hard-hitting question? Not really. Riggs insisted that Obama had indeed managed a budget “with [William] Ayers” when they sat on a board together years ago. According to Riggs, Obama “always spent the money on educational programs that were socialistic in their agenda or their genre.”* And, in a real shock, Obama apparently had a $450 billion treasure chest to work with. That seemed a bit high to me, but I’m sure the McCain campaign would only allow legitimate professionals to ask questions on these calls.
Oh, and by the way, Giuliani agreed that more scrutiny ought to be applied to Obama’s “hidden” history with Ayers. And with that, the call ended.
* Questions updated with help from the Huffington Post.
