Ted Olson, who is serving as Chairman of Rudy Giuliani’s Justice Advisory Committee, sat down with Hugh Hewitt last week to discuss a range of issues, including the right-wing opposition to Giuliani’s campaign. Olson was not particularly sympathetic or conciliatory:
HH: Jim Dobson penned a New York Times editorial. I’m sure you’re familiar with it, that if it’s Rudy Giuliani, he’s just sitting it out. What’s your response to that, and to the idea that you can’t trust Rudy with Supreme Court nominees?
TO: Well, A) you can trust Rudy with Supreme Court nominees. He’s the person in America that I trust the most in connection with this. If someone wants to sit out the election because they’re not satisfied with some aspect of Rudy’s background or Rudy’s policy, then he might as well just vote for Hillary Clinton, because that’s what’s going to happen. I think it’s exceedingly important for Republicans and conservatives and moderates alike to take a deep breath, if there’s a high likelihood, as I think there may be, of an even greater Democratic control of both houses of Congress. A Democratic president is going to appoint Supreme Court justices, appellate court judges, and other federal judges, and increase taxes, and increase the federal spending, and doing lots of things that only a Republican president can prevent. And Rudy Giuliani, in my judgment, is the most qualified and the most electable Republican. And anybody on the conservative side that thinks they’re going to sit that out, they might as well contribute to the Democratic victory, and then take responsibility for what happens, because it will be their fault.
If Giuliani has any desire to actually win over any of the right-wing leaders or voters currently unwilling to support his campaign, having surrogates out there telling them that they may as well “just vote for Hillary Clinton” if they aren’t going to back Giuliani probably isn’t going to help.
