Giuliani And Biden “Go To The Mattresses” Over Debate Quip

During yesterday’s Democratic Debate, Joe Biden delivered the YouTube moment with the following quip about Rudy Giuliani:

“Rudy Giuliani - there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence; a noun, a verb and 9/11″

The remark was punchy enough to warrant a response from the Giuliani campaign while the debate was still going on In a press release, Giuliani’s communications director stated:

“Senator Biden’s comments were of particular interest. The good Senator is quite correct that there are many differences between Rudy and him. For starters, Rudy rarely reads prepared speeches and when he does he isn’t prone to ripping off the text from others. And, Senator Biden certainly falls in to the bucket of those on the stage tonight who have never had executive experience and have never run anything. Wait, I take that back, Senator Biden has never run anything but his mouth.

Such a desperate attack from Senator Biden is to be expected considering I – Katie Levinson – have a better chance of becoming President than he does.”

Given the speed and harshness of the response, it’s clear that Biden’s remark struck an uncomfortable nerve with the Giuliani campaign. As previously discussed on this site and often mocked on social satire news sites and programs, Giuliani does excessively make reference to 9/11. Clearly, his consistent references to this event is a strategic political decision. Accordingly, the campaign must be aware of the fact that overusing the reference may at some point backfire. If voters are already susceptible to 9/11 reference fatigue before the general election, then Giuliani’s campaign will need to do some recalibration of their message. Indeed, it already seems that they are doing this. Within the last few weeks, Giuliani has been ramping up criticisms of his opponents’ lack of executive experience. Expect this theme to expand as Giuliani, wisely, begins to temper his direct references to 9/11 (that doesn’t mean he’ll stop, it just means that the references will likely become more subtle).

Within minutes, Biden’s communications director responded:

“We are well aware that former Mayor Giuliani will attempt to drag this race into the mud where the Republicans like to wage their campaigns. It’s pretty obvious that they can’t defend themselves on the real charge that Mr. Giuliani walked away from the cops and firefighters who were waiting for the 9/11 Commission to be enacted and the Biden crime bill to be restored.”

Politically, this kind of exchange is good for Joe Biden. First, the fact that he is drawing criticism from and engaged in an argument with Giuliani allows him to gain much needed media attention. Secondly, if this argument continues to play out, Biden could be able to add to his own electability impression by 1) getting attention from the GOP frontrunner and thus seeming like a more serious candidate and 2) being able to put his general toughness (albeit unpolished), experience and quips on display. With the shakiness among the top candidates after last night’s debate, this could be an opportunity for Biden to seize some political ground.

[Photo Credits: CarryOnAmerica.com]