Conservatives agree: this week's scandal about whether or not Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani misused city funds while Mayor of New York has taken a serious toll on his candidacy. Appearing on the program Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, both of the conservative Weekly Standard, suggested the Giuliani campaign is in trouble.
"Bill, I've come to the conclusion that any story that begins 'presidential candidate' and 'girlfriend are not good," host Chris Wallace said to his panelist.
"No, and when the follow-up story in the New York press is that, in fact, New York City police chauffeured around Judith Nathan - she was Rudy Giuliani's girlfriend or mistress but certainly not yet married to him in 2000 or 2001 - that's not good either. It was a very tough week for Giuliani. I think his path to the nomination is very problematic," Kristol told Wallace. Kristol also cited Rudy's recent decline in Iowa, New Hampshire and National polls - all before the story of alleged misuse of city funds broke on Thursday.
Weekly Standard executive editor and regular Fox commentator Fred Barnes agreed that Giuliani should be worried about his showing in the early primaries, now only a month away, due to concerns Republican voters may have about his character.
"All this book-keeping stuff aside, this flap right now is all about having an extra-marital affair fairly recently," Barnes said. "In Rudy Giuliani's case, I think that's what comes through to people and not all the questions about an American Express card and all that stuff. It's about that affair."
"Anything that reminds people of his kind of checkered personal past: it's not good for him," said Mara Liasson of National Public Radio, but also suggested that the scandal would not be of such concern to the candidate had he responded too it quickly.
This video is from Fox Fox News Sunday, broadcast on December 2, 2007.