By Joe Anuta
Republican Bob Turner will know if he won the race for New York’s 9th Congressional seat Tuesday night, but he got some last-minute support from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Forest Hills this afternoon.
Giuliani touted Turner in front of the leafy neighborhood’s Long Island Rail Road station — the same spot where Turner began his campaign — lauding the former television executive’s business experience. He also used the opportunity to take repeated swipes at President Barack Obama, comparing his recent plan to foster job growth to “warmed spit” and criticizing the president’s stance on Israel.
“We need to send somebody to Washington who will send a message to President Obama,” Guiliani said.
Giuliani bashed the president over job growth and the ballooning national debt.
The former mayor also said Turner’s opponent, state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck) who is an orthodox Jew, would likely follow Obama’s position that the Middle Eastern nation concede territory in accordance to the pre-1967 boundaries with neighboring Palestine.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s what your policies are and who you’re going to support,” he said. “It seems to be David Weprin will be just another vote for the Obama administration.”
But if Turner is elected, Giuliani said it could change the course of the president’s agenda in the Middle East.
“I think it would be a wake-up call to the Obama administration to have a realistic policy about the Middle East, particularly about Israel,” he said. “Israel is our ally, not the Palestinian authority. Israel has legitimate concerns about their safety.”
Turner also fielded questions, but gave answers that seemed curt compared with the lengthy explanations offered by the former mayor.
When asked if he was a Tea Party activist, Turner replied that he was not ashamed of the Tea Party’s backing and supported some of their ideas.
“Tea stands for ‘taxed enough already,’ I can live with that,” he said.
Turner also clarified that he does not plan to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, despite what his critics have said.
Giuliani chimed in to say that Social Security reform is necessity for the future of the country.
“If you are 45 [years old] or younger, you won’t collect it,” he said.
Turner was confident about the result of tomorrow’s elections, echoing pundits who have called the election a bellwether for the rest of the nation.
“I think it is a referendum in many ways,” Turner said. “That message will come through loud and clear tomorrow and can be interpreted as anyone wants.”
If Turner wins, his time in Congress might only last for a year. Redistricting that is set to take place in 2012 will likely abolish the 9th seat, but that will not mean the end of his political career.
He said that he will run for office again in 2012.
“That fight might be more fun than this one,” he said.
