Giuliani's Vietnam Deferments May Cause Problems For '08 Run

NY Magazine Geoffrey Gray April 18, 2007 11:57 AM

Rudy Giuliani, speaking about terrorism and the Iraq war, said last week, "It is something I understand better than anyone else running for president." How long will John McCain--a real-life war hero down seventeen points in the polls--stand for such bluster, considering the lengths Giuliani went to to stay out of Vietnam?

He won't mention Rudy's military history--yet. It's too early in the primary cycle to go negative. But opponents know this is the warrior-mayor's biggest weakness. "If Giuliani is the nominee, we're going to hammer him with ads, and it's going to be easy because the issue is simple: He's a draft dodger," says Jon Soltz, an Iraq vet who served as a captain and runs VoteVets.org, a left-leaning version of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "Giuliani gets a zero-zero," says General Wesley Clark, an adviser to the group. "He wasn't willing to risk his life for his country, and he has no relevant experience that's in any way useful to be commander-in-chief. He hosted the U.N. and had a large police force."

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