In Case You Missed It: Congresswoman Candice Miller Endorses Mayor Rudy Giuliani

New York, Feb 8 - “Today I’m announcing my endorsement for Rudy Giuliani for President of the United States. I really have taken a lot of time and really thought about who I would be supporting and working for during this presidential campaign because of course I think the issues and the challenges that are facing our nation so very, very intense, so incredibly intense. I have spoken with all the major candidates, I have carefully evaluated their positions, I’ve looked very carefully at how their stance on various issues, maybe areas where I agree with them or in some cases of course where there might be some divisions that might be a bit different from mine. But most importantly I have tried to evaluate their readiness. And I use that phrase, I really believe that evaluate their readiness to handle the awesome responsibilities of the presidency. And I say that because, you know, really no one knows what exact challenges or events the next president will face, but we all know that something, perhaps beyond our ability almost to comprehend, could happen and we know that just because of the way that the world is now. So I think at the heart of it for me, I’ve been trying to decide which of the candidates in my mind possess the strengths to make the right decision and to do so under the worst possible scenario, and principally based on that criteria I’ve come to the very certain conclusion that the individual best prepared to lead America is Rudy Giuliani.”

“And as some of you may know I come from Macomb County Michigan, which is really where the term the Reagan Democrats had its genesis in the political nomenclature. And our County, Macomb County, is considered to be the bellwether county in a battleground state. And I think Rudy Giuliani will do extremely well in my county of Macomb, I think he’ll do well in my state, and across the entire nation. And the reasons that I think his chances are so good is because of the qualities that he brings to the table. First of all, as I’ve mentioned, we live in a very dangerous world with those who want to strike against America and kill Americans to fulfill their own intentions and this means we have to have someone in the presidency who will be ever vigilant in his efforts to protect America, and I trust Rudy Giuliani to be ever vigilant and I trust his judgment again to respond to circumstances to keep our nation secure, because he has been tested under the most extreme circumstances and the way that he handled that test earned him the respect, quite frankly not only of Americans but of people around the world.”

“Also, if you really look at his record as Mayor of New York, when he was Mayor of New York, you don’t even have to take the events of 9/11 into consideration as a way to measure his performance. If you just look at his time there and how he governed, you see that he really governed as a conservative. For example, on the issue of crime, let me use this example, the Mayor is a very strong supporter of the second amendment as I am, and one of the things that those of us who believe in the second amendment, we always say, is look we don’t need any more new gun laws, what we need to do is just enforce the laws that are currently on the books that exist. And the Mayor did so in New York City, and guess what? Crime dropped dramatically, as well as homicides, because he took the guns away from criminals. And this happened in a city where crime was apparently just accepted as a fact of life to be endured. And yet during his administration as has often been noted, the murders dropped from about 2000 annually to 650 annually and there was an overall drop in the crime rate by about 57 percent. As well as when he was a Mayor he inherited an economy that was very much in decline with over 1 million people dependent on welfare, he cut taxes, he reduced the size of government, he reformed welfare. Again, Guess what? It worked. So you had welfare rolls declining and jobs growing, where he had a deficit that turned into a surplus.”

“I use these examples of how he governed as a conservative because I believe that, as he does, that public safety is a fundamental civil right, and I agree with him. I think the Republican Party will agree with him, and I think the Republican Party will nominate him, and I do think the American people will agree with him as well, and support him for president. And he has demonstrated over and over again leadership. In fact, he really is the only candidate I think, because I’ve listened to all the candidates and evaluated them all, who’s really out there saying, ‘This is what I actually did, judge me on my record, you can use my record as a measurement.’ I mean he’s not out there saying, ‘Elect me and this is what I will do.’”

“And before we go to questions let me just say as well, that it is my observation that the Mayor isn’t asking anyone to change his or her beliefs, he respects heartfelt positions, and he is working to find common ground. And, yet, his positions on issues, on fiscal issues and social issues, have remained the same. He is not trying to pander to any one segment of the population or pandering to some particular voting block. In other words, I would say look, he doesn’t just want to just be the President of the Republican Party, he wants to be the President of the United States. I tell you, being in Washington in this era of very unfortunate hyper-partisanship and gridlock, I think that is the approach to the issues and ultimately to governance. It’s exactly what America needs and it’s what the American people will be demanding in the next President. Rudy Giuliani is a leader, he’s a true leader, and I’m just very, very proud to be on his team by heading up his effort in the great state of Michigan.”