NASHUA, N.H. – Hillary, you’re no Bill.
That’s the stinging assessment of Rudy Giuliani in an interview with The Post yesterday, painting the Democratic front-runner’s politics as “far left” of her ex-president husband’s.
“The Democratic candidates are not only to the left of Bill Clinton, based on the way that he governed, they’re the furthest left they’ve been. I hesitate to say ‘ever,’ but at least in a long time,” the front-running Republican presidential candidate said.
The former mayor claimed Hillary Rodham Clinton has lurched to the left of Bill on trade, taxes and spending and respect for the military.
“They all promise to raise taxes. That’s a promise they’ll keep,” Giuliani warned, referring to Democratic-poll leaders Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.
“They all seem to want to embrace protections rather than free trade,” he added in his Post interview at a Nashua restaurant, where he was accompanied by his wife, Judith.
Bill Clinton was a staunch free-trade advocate – successfully pushing the North American Free Trade Agreement over the objections of many fellow Democrats and labor unions.
Giuliani also said he was troubled by Hillary’s and fellow Democrats’ attacks on the military, saying it was reminiscent of the shoddy treatment of GIs in the 1960s and ’70s during the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
The Democrats “seem to embrace a defensive posture toward terrorism,” Giuliani said.
“They were afraid to criticize MoveOn.org when it personally attacked General [David] Petraeus” in a New York Times ad, he said of the Army’s chief military officer in Iraq. “That seems far left to me.”
In particular, Giuliani slammed Hillary as fiscally irresponsible for proposing giving all newborns, regardless of family assets, a $5,000 “baby bond” and pushing for “socialized medicine.”
Giuliani called it “a $5,000 giveaway program” and “indicative of a philosophy of big government.”
He said the Clinton giveaway resembled a plan offered by Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern in 1972 to give each citizen $1,000.
“It’s very interesting that she’s proposing something similar,” Giuliani said.
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer responded: “It’s unfortunate that the mayor’s entire campaign is premised on attacking others instead of talking about what he would do if elected.”
During the interview, Giuliani said the calamity of 9/11 bolstered his desire to make a run for the White House.
“Sure. Of course. Sept. 11 and the aftermath of it is not the only reason. But it’s an important part of my desire to serve,” he said.
His wife stumped with him throughout the day yesterday.
Giuliani said Judith would be a “wonderful first lady.”
For her part, Judith said she will play a supportive role on the campaign trail, and added, “I’m not going to morph into a politician.”