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Published January 08, 2015
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 12, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And we are only 117 days away from Election Day 2012 and it appears that the presumptive Republican nominee has heard just about enough of President Barack Obama's deceptive rhetoric. Because tonight, the Romney campaign is striking back in a big way against the blatant lies that are being told by the left about his business background. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: When a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? The Obama outsourcing attacks, misleading, unfair and untrue. There was no evidence that Mitt Romney shipped jobs overseas.
Candidate Obama lied about Hillary Clinton.
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: So shame on you, Barack Obama!
ANNOUNCER: But America expects more from a president. Obama's dishonest campaign, another reason America has lost confidence in Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: And that is a big question of the day. When the president does not tell the truth to the American people, how you can trust him to lead?
And joining me now to help answer that question and much more, he is in Richmond, Virginia, tonight, where earlier today he was out campaigning for Governor Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Mayor, good to see you.
RUDY GIULIANI, R-FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: How are you, Sean?
HANNITY: I appreciate you being back.
All right. It seems that as this campaign goes on, that Barack Obama has a character problem. The one thing he seemed to hang on to for a long time throughout his presidency is this idea of likeability. Does he now put that in jeopardy?
GIULIANI: Well, I think his big problem is that he can't run on his record. So, he can't say to the American people the way Ronald Reagan did, you know, this morning in America, I inherited a terrible economy and I made it much, much better. He's got to say, I inherited a bad economy, I made it much worse.
So, what did he have to do? He's got to distort, he's got to misrepresent, he's got to do everything he can to try to tar, you know, Mitt Romney, who it just happens to be was an enormously successful businessman. So, I mean, if Mitt Romney could have the same success for us in America that he had for Bain Capital and their investors, we would be in great shape, wouldn't we?
HANNITY: All right. But look at this week, Mr. Mayor. And you have been in tough campaign battles. I have been here in New York, I have watched your campaigns up close and personal. And this week now, you can see what is happening. They have ratcheted it up in the Obama campaign. First it's, the Cayman Islands, it's Bermuda, off-shore bank accounts, insinuation that there is corruption going on. And now this latest attack on outsourcing at a time when Governor Romney was not at Bain Capital, so --
GIULIANI: I mean, this is all not coincidental. I mean, this is because this election has gotten close, really, really close. When you look at polls, they're dead even. But the enthusiasm level on the Romney side is significantly higher than the enthusiasm level on his side. And Romney is out raising him in terms of money. So, I think they are panicking. I think that's why the president said something stupid like, you know, Chavez is not a threat to our national security.
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: Why does somebody say that, except that they are panicking and not really focused? I mean, that's really just an absolutely unrealistic, dumb comment, but as dumb as his comment that he would negotiate without pre-condition, which Hillary Clinton said, indicated he was naive, immature, irresponsible.
HANNITY: Yes. Well, then, you can go back to 2007 when he said Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, they are tiny countries. They don't represent a threat. So, that was similar to what he said then.
All right. Let me ask you this.
GIULIANI: But he hasn't gotten any more realistic, Sean. I mean, he has been president for three-and-a-half years and he's still walking around saying Chavez is not a threat to our national security. Iran's best friend in the western hemisphere, the biggest sponsor of state terrorism is Iran. Chavez is their best friend in the western hemisphere. He is trying to export socialism and communism and just about everything else as far as he can in South America. And he is not a threat to our national security?
HANNITY: I maybe old fashioned.
GIULIANI: You are living on Mars if you think that.
HANNITY: I believe in the Monroe doctrine.
But all right, let me ask you this. And you mention the polls are even and you used the word desperation. If you look at that ABC/Washington Post poll, let me show this earlier in the week, they out-polled Democrats by nine percent. And on every major issue, the president's upside down, in most cases double digits. So, I think you are right on this desperation issue. Is this now what we are going to experience for the rest of the campaigns -- smear attacks, Chicago way?
GIULIANI: It's going to get worse.
HANNITY: And how should Romney handle it?
GIULIANI: He should handle it the way he's been handling it. He should answer them quickly, answer them decisively as he has done. And then get right back to the economy and get right back to the only reason he is doing this is because he doesn't have a record that he can run on. I mean, people run for re-election on having done a good job, having kept their promises, having straightened out a country or a city. When I ran for re-election as mayor, I ran on the fact that I promised to reduce crime. I reduced crime. I didn't run on the fact that my opponent shouldn't be mayor. I ran on my record.
HANNITY: Yes. All right. Let me ask you if the President has an honesty problem. And whether you think this is purposeful. Newt Gingrich actually had a piece out today, President Obama has made a career out of falsehoods. That's how he starts the doubts.
So, the question I have for you is, the -resident and all of his surrogates, when ObamaCare was being debated, he said a couple of things. He said, and one of the main things was that -- this is not a tax, it's a penalty. Then he sends a solicitor general to the Supreme Court of the United States, and what does he do? He argues that -- the opposite of what the president told the American people.
But, wait a minute. So, my question here is this, though. Was he being purposefully deceitful and dishonest to the American people?
GIULIANI: I don't know. It doesn't it matter. I mean, it ends up being a misrepresentation. In fact, Obama, the candidate was opposed to mandates and criticized Hillary Clinton for being in favor of mandates.
So now, he executes the biggest mandate in the history of America, and then distorts whether it's a fine or a tax. I think what he -- what really happens is, the truth is victim to their ideology and how important they think they are. And I think this is a significant left-wing problem. I think there is this sort of moral sense that they think they are on the right side and they can say anything to advance their cause. And I think they are extremely undisciplined as a result of that.
HANNITY: Well, he said that there wouldn't be a tax on the middle class. And 76 percent of ObamaCare's tax goes on the middle class.
GIULIANI: The biggest tax ever on the middle class. I think there is a -- there is a sense, particularly on the extreme left and I think President Obama is the extreme left. He was the most liberal member of the United States Senate. He had the most liberal voting record. We shouldn't be shocked by all of this. I mean, they basically feel they have the moral high ground, which is absurd, but they think that. And then any misrepresentation they make is perfectly justified for the higher good.
And the media or at least 75 percent of it, lets them get away with it. So they get very, very undisciplined. They get very sloppy. A Republican, first misrepresentation by a Republican, they are ripped apart by the media. And you learn, boy, you better be real careful.
HANNITY: You know what bothers me? If you remember, the president made a big deal of keeping quote, "the cost," when he was selling ObamaCare below a trillion dollars. Nine hundred, he kept saying it over and over, 900 billion. CBO comes out a few months ago, $1.8 trillion. It doubled. Now, we have a new report out today, $2.6 trillion is the estimated cost. So, it's tripled and it's not even been implemented. So I mean, realistically, this is going to be far more expensive than anybody imagines which means that promises will never be fulfilled. No?
GIULIANI: Absolutely right. I mean, a psychologist can tell you, is it deliberate, is it being accidental? Here's the simple fact. We can't trust the things that this administration says because they turn out to be highly inaccurate. During this campaign, I guarantee you what we see now is only going to get worse. They are going to attack Mitt Romney with as many misrepresentations, as many distortions, as you possibly can imagine because there is actually nothing wrong with Mitt Romney's background. The man should be very, very proud of the fact that he's been enormously successful in business.
That's generally what we want in our president. Someone who has been successful in the past. We've tried someone who didn't have a great deal of success in the past. And you see what we have gotten. So, now, let's try somebody who has been successful in that past, successful as a governor, successful in running the Olympics and highly successful in business.
HANNITY: Yes.
GIULIANI: And as far as I'm concerned, if he can do for me as an American, what he did for the investors of Bain, boy, I want him in the White House.
HANNITY: All right. Mr. Mayor, good to see you, as always. Thanks for being with us.
GIULIANI: Thank you.
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