"...and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for 9/11."

ACT I:

REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They attack us because we've been over there, we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East. I think Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics.

RUDY GIULIANI, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's an extraordinary statement of someone who lived through the attack of Sept. 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I've ever heard that before and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11.

-Rudy Giuliani, GOP debate, May 16, 2007

ACT II:

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters -- the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats -- what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact -- if, in fact -- God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system..

JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged". In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time - calling upon God. ~~~

PAT ROBERTSON: Amen.

Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson, September 13, 2001

The punch line:

Giuliani Gets A Standing Ovation At A Christian College

Mayor Giuliani's battle to win over social conservatives in the Republican Party may not be the impossible task that many political pundits have predicted.

That certainly appeared to be the case yesterday at Regent University, the Christian college founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, where Mr. Giuliani's message of leadership and strength on terrorism met with a standing ovation.

-JoinRudy.com, June 27, 2007

And a comment:

Steve Benen could not be more right. The Mayor of New York City on September 11th, the guy who's made "9/11" his middle name, just visited a school founded by a radical theocrat who blamed Americans for the deaths of 3,000 of its citizens. This should be the first, last and only question for Rudy Giuliani at every press event. "Do you agree with Pat Robertson that the ACLU and feminists and abortionists and gays and lesbians are responsible for 9/11?" If the guy's so consumed with talking about the terrorist attack, let's talk about it. Why are you validating the work of Pat Robertson, who has recently said that the perpetrators of 9/11 were "just a few bearded-terrorists who fly into buildings” and who thinks that "activist liberal judges" are a greater threat to America?

Forget Giuliani’s ridiculous Clinton smear; this is what matters. Reporters should be confronting Giuliani with Robertson quotes and asking a) whether he agrees with them; and b) whether presidential candidates should lend their credibility to fringe fundamentalist extremists.

In 2000, when Bush visited Bob Jones University, it became a controversy — why would a credible presidential hopeful sanction BJU with a high-profile appearance? The questions dogged Bush for weeks. There’s no reason Giuliani shouldn’t face similar scrutiny now.

I’m curious, if a top-tier Democratic candidate publicly appeared with a radical extremist who blamed 9/11 on Americans and encouraged a terrorist attack on the State Department, do you think it might become a big deal?

A smart activist would start attending Rudy's campaign events with a "Mullahs for Giuliani" sign. Look, despite what everybody thinks, Giuliani can still win the Republican nomination on an explicit "electability" argument. His negatives in the swing states are extremely low, and he's very competitive where the race will count. The time for defining Rudy, yoking him to the likes of Pat Robertson, saying irresponsible things like "Giuliani blames Americans for 9/11" and also responsible things like "Giuliani left the emergency command center at the World Trade site despite it being a terrorist target in 1993" and "Giuliani didn't fix the radio communication problem between police and firefighters which caused many unnecessary deaths on 9/11" and "Giuliani was more concerned with making people think the city was on its feet again than protecting Ground Zero rescue workers who are getting sick and dying"...

That time is now.