John McCain’s presidential campaign is making former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani point man in attacking his Democratic rival Barack Obama’s approach to combating terrorism.Giuliani said Obama’s praise for a recent Supreme Court decision to grant terrorist detainees rights to habeas corpus hearings was “startling” in a conference call on behalf of the McCain campaign Wednesday morning.
It shows “more concerned about the rights of terrorists than the American people have to safety and security,” Giuliani said. Under the new decision, ““It is fair to say that Osama Bin Laden [if caught and taken to Guantanamo Bay]…would be given new rights that no one else has been given before,” Giuliani said.
In addition to speaking to reporters on a conference call Giuliani appeared on MSNBC and CNN to blast Obama earlier that morning, indicating a substantial, renewed effort to boost McCain. “This is going to be a debate that is joined many times during this campaign because it’s an honest one,” Giuliani said. “Senator Obama has a defensive approach to terrorism.”