Washington Week on PBS - Kerik and Giuliani
Alan Murray, The Wall Street Journal: Barbara's question gets to the Rudy Giuliani issue. The president didn't know all of this history but surely Giuliani had heard some of it.
Michael Duffy, TIME magazine: And Giuliani had some of the same problems in his past so he may not have been as sensitive to them politically. He managed to be mayor of New York while he had a complicated personal life going on and they were close. 9/11 probably obscured a lot of personal issues for people not just in New York but here and all over the country about what matters and what it takes to get the job done. We had more important things in our personal frailties. They get obscured in terms of crisis.
Gwen Ifill, moderator: If you take aside the personal frailties--
Michael Duffy, TIME magazine: This may be too weak a word: "frailties"--
Gwen Ifill, moderator: Well, yeah.
Michael Duffy, TIME magazine: Need a much stronger word.
Gwen Ifill, moderator: Let's assume that it was only the nanny problem. There is plenty of history of nominations being derailed for only that.
Michael Duffy, TIME magazine: Oh, yeah. And it's interesting the nanny has not yet emerged which makes you wonder whether the nanny is the diversion. They came up with the nanny explanation in order to cover what were far more serious problems.
