Rudy Giuliani is blaming his ego for his previous criticism of Mitt Romney—but he still sounds like a man with a point to prove.
Back in December, the former New York City mayor—who initially backed Newt Gingrich—blasted Romney to msnbc as a “man without a core” and a “man that will say anything to become president.”
He has since backtracked and endorsed the former Massachusetts governor.
The ex-mayor—who ran against Romney in 2008 for the GOP presidential nomination—told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday that “there’s a certain amount of personal ego” behind his negative remarks.
He added Romney is now the “perfect choice” for president. “Maybe it was circumstances or whatever, but I had massive reductions in unemployment,” Giuliani said of his time as mayor.
“[Romney] had a reduction in unemployment of about 8, 10—I think it was 15%. I had a reduction of unemployment of 50%. He had a growth of jobs of about 40,000. We had a growth of jobs of about 500,000. So I was comparing what I thought was my far superior record to his otherwise decent record, but numbers weren’t as great.”
Despite the previous harsh rhetoric, Giuliani added that Romney is a “very intelligent, very engaged, very committed man.”
That Giuliani has a healthy regard for himself shouldn’t come as news. Before leaving office in 2001, he cited the emergency of 9/11 to argue, unsuccessfully, for extending his term by three months.
Aliyah Shahid