Comments on: Giuliani Clueless on Milk and Bread Prices

By: carpeicthus

carpeicthus — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 02:15:20 +0000

Giuliani drinks Real American milk, straight from the cow.

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:04:44 +0000

Giuliani off on cost of milk, closer on bread, gas...

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hasn't done a lot of grocery shopping lately at lea...

By: just me

just me — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:42:48 +0000

A lot of pricing depends on where you buy it.

I can get milk for about $2 a gallon at most chain stores around here, but if I run out of milk, and send my daughter to the corner gas station to buy it it costs about a dollar more.

I can get off brand break for 99cents a loaf, but if I buy fancier name brand stuff it can cost $3 or more a loaf.

I think how much this stuff costs depends a lot on where you shop, and I am not convinced a lack of knowledge on these questions means much, although it does make for bad PR when the questions aren't correct.

I will also say that I hardly expect that Guliani or really any of the candidates for the presidency do much of their own grocery shopping.

By: DR

DR — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:44:09 +0000

Why can't Giuliani (and all politicians) just be honest when asked a question. He should have just said "I haven't bought a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread in years."

Of course its entirely possible that he did say that, and then gave a guess. Actually, that is quite likely given the ethics of the typical campaign reporter.

By: jeff b

jeff b — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:52:40 +0000

Wow, everybody is missing the point. Guiliani should know the price of milk because most people buy milk. It doesn't matter that he doesn't buy his own milk, or that he doesn't drink milk. He should also know the price of gasoline, cars, clothes, and houses. He should know the median household income and the median federal tax remittance and the cost to build one lane-mile of interstate highway and how many officers and men are in each branch of the service and a lot of other things. Anybody who wants to be in charge of the country should know what's going on!

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:51:08 +0000

John Burgess has got it right—this is poor staff work. Why wasn't RG prepped for the question?

IMO it's a perfectly reasonable question since one's views of wage rates for average folks, knowledge of prices for stuff that average folks buy, and economic policy views are interrelated.

By: GOP and College

GOP and College — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:48:59 +0000

He Didn't Miss By Much...

Actually, Rudi's figures are only $0.66 short of the actual price of bread and milk here in Cookeville, TN. Also note that the first figures the article gives are from the Upper East Side, despite the fact he was talking to people in Alabama....

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:23:55 +0000

Btw, Ugh, much tho I cherished the supermarket-scanner story when it came out, Snopes says it's bogus.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:22:00 +0000

More relevant is that Giuliani gives stupid answers to relevant, important questions, too.

Can't provide links due to the OTB spam filter, but the most glaring (to me) was G's statement that he would agree that the executive can lock up U.S. citizens w/out judicial review.

TNR's The Plank blog and Matt Yglesias have been doing good jobs keeping up with other Giuliani absurdities.

At some point, I would think that Republicans have to ask themselves whether winning is really everything, if the result is a President Giuliani. The man is an arrogant fool.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:18:02 +0000

I have a wife and son who can't eat store bought bread (because of the wheat). A lot of people are milk intolerant. Was there a follow up question on whether these are things he eats?

I suspect that every candidate so far announced doesn't do the majority of his/her own grocery shopping.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:17:31 +0000

I am mildly lactose intolerant, so I do not buy milk. Damn, I guess I cannot get elected president because of this.

Well, that and the fact I am only 32...

By: Ugh

Ugh — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:17:14 +0000

This isn't as bad as GHWB showing up at the supermarket and being surprised by the bar code scanner. IIRC the media made a fairly big deal out of that one, my reaction was "The man has been either President or Vice President for the past 12 years, you expect him to have done his own grocery shopping?!!!?"

OTOH, the staffer who thought that was a good idea was an idiot.

By: ama055131

ama055131 — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:53:02 +0000

wow golly real important questions I buy milk and bread when my wife asks me to go for her and I never paid attention to the price ,I need it I buy it. Really sounds like anything to bring Rudy down and it's too petty for me not to support someone who has other things that benefit him like national security tax's you know like Ronald Reagan. Remember it was Pres. Reagan who said it's one big tent everyone is welcomed!

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:39:53 +0000

The Democrats are probably going to win in a cake walk in 2008 because all of the Republicans are going to end up as damaged goods well before the election. Every Republican has not realize that they have no friends in the national media and need to be super prepared. Yet, every Republican candidates seems to stumble around, act unprepared, and continual make assinine comments.

All they are going it making it easier for the Democrats and sending the U.S. down the rode to a one party state.

By: Triumph

Triumph — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:31:11 +0000

Yes this is a stupid question--but other seemingly stupid questions like the one Bush faced in 1999 where he failed to name the leaders of Chechnya, Taiwan, Pakistan, and India can be revealing.

His failure on this front was a harbinger for his abysmal and reckless foreign policy record.