On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren

Rudy Giuliani 'On the Record' on Biden's Obama 'Test' Comment

VAN SUSTEREN: So, mayor, Senator Biden, who's the vice-presidential candidate, of course, had some predictions.
GIULIANI: Senator Biden yesterday, if I'm quoting him correctly, says that he predicts -- he says, "Mark my words, that within six months there will be a major incident testing the mettle of Barack Obama if he's elected president, like there was John Kennedy."
And it seems to me that what Joe Biden is saying is that there are people throughout this world who believe that Barack Obama may not be ready to be president, as Joe Biden said himself a few months ago.
And the reality is that when we elected Ronald Reagan, we didn't have anybody test Ronald Reagan's mettle because the world was convinced that he was ready to handle it.
It would seem to me that John McCain is a lot closer to being like Ronald Reagan, having been tested in crisis. I don't think anybody is going to test John McCain's mettle. I think they know what John McCain is made of.
VAN SUSTEREN: There are two issues--one is the political issue about why he would say that, but the other is sort of like does he know something.
I take it that this was just sort of a campaign thought, that he is not privy to anything that should scare the rest of us, at least, any more than we should be on the alert.
GIULIANI: Well, Joe Biden is allowed to say the most extraordinary things and not questioned about it. It seems to me someone should be required to hold a press conference and explain what he meant.
This is a very extraordinary statement. He actually says, "Mark my words, there will be some terrible international incident." He says he can think of five or six places it can come, and then he mentions the Middle East and Russia. He only mentions two of them.
And he also then suggests that people won't be pleased with Barack Obama and people should stick with him.
So this is a very big thought that he has, and I think he should explain what he's talking about. But the reality is that if he has this kind of concern, that people are going to test Barack Obama's mettle, maybe he was right in the first place when he said that Barack Obama isn't ready to be commander in chief at this stage of his career.
John McCain is certainly ready to be commander in chief. And I don't think there will be any concern that anyone is going to test John McCain's mettle.
VAN SUSTEREN: To the extent that conventional wisdom would--actually, I'm always a little funny about conventional wisdom, whether I should put any credence into it or not. But conventional wisdom is if there's an economic crisis, that it will go with Senator Obama, if there's a terrorism crisis, that it will go with Senator McCain.
So it seems almost like a peculiar statement, like a political gaffe if he's putting it out there that something bad is going to happen. I imagine he'd like to take that one back.
GIULIANI: He said it with great certitude. "Mark my words." I think he said, "gird your loins."
So he prefaced this and surrounded it with very some strong language. "Mark my words, there will be an incident within six months testing Barack Obama's mettle." He predicted parts of the world it might come from, Russia, Middle East, left out the others that he was referring to. And then he said, "gird your loins."
So I don't know what he's talking about, but I think he should be required to have to explain what he's talking about.
And I do suggest that you don't need to have this kind of concern with John McCain. I don't think you'd have the same concern that anyone in the world would want to test John McCain's mettle. John McCain's mettle has been tested, and he's shown that he can handle crisis.
VAN SUSTEREN: We'll ask him. We'll see if we can't track him down.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.
GIULIANI: Thank you.