Rudy's Whoopi Goldberg Moment
by Josh Gerstein
Thu, 15 Mar 2007 at 1:16 PM
updated Thu, 15 Mar 2007 at 1:18 PM
Any experienced reporter will tell you, when covering a political event, keep your eye on the warm-up acts. This was good advice last night as Mayor Giuliani held a fund-raiser at the Sheraton New York hotel. In addition to the arguably problematic speech by Mr. Giuliani's wife, Judith Nathan, there was the introduction from comedian Dennis Miller.
As the Sun's Jill Gardiner reports, Mr. Miller used his turn at the mike to unleash some invective at the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi of California, and a Wisconsin Democrat, David Obey, calling them "morons."
Comedians should probably be judged by a more lax standard than would apply to candidates or their wives. Still, in 2004, the Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts, took a lot of heat after Whoopi Goldberg made repeated sexual puns about President Bush during a fund-raiser at Radio City. "I love bush, but someone's giving bush a bad name," she said. The White House demanded an apology, Mr. Kerry was forced to disavow the comments, and Ms. Goldberg lost an endorsement deal with Slim-Fast.
Just a few days ago, Mr. Giuliani vowed not to tolerate below-the-belt rhetoric. "We should be able to conduct our political debates without personal attacks on each other, ever, but particularly when they're unwarranted," he said. Does that mean an apology is in order for Mr. Miller's comments?
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