Thompson Whacks Giuliani on Home Turf

Oct. 15, 2007— -- Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson came to Rudy Giuliani's home turf of New York City Monday to assail the former mayor as insufficiently Republican.

"Some think we can best beat the Democrats next year by becoming more like them," Thompson told ABC News in an interview. "I don't. I don't think the mayor has ever claimed to be a conservative."

When told that Giuliani identifies himself as a conservative on economic, national security and counterterrorism issues — though not on social issues — and asked if that isn't enough, Thompson said, "People have to decide that for themselves."

Giuliani campaign press secretary Maria Comella responded, "Mayor Giuliani is the only candidate who does more than just talk about the importance of Republican principles — he actually has the track record to back it up.

"It's easy to throw around meaningless rhetoric, but quite another thing to stand up to a Democratic majority and successfully cut taxes, control spending and reform welfare."

Thompson's salvo, which he planned on repeating Monday evening at a meeting of New York's Conservative Party, fit in perfectly with the latest back and forth among the GOP presidential candidates about who is authentically Republican, and who is faking it.

It's more than traditional campaign rhetoric — they are challenging one another's very legitimacy as Republicans. It's a dynamic that seems natural in this race, with no clear Republican front-runner who can claim overwhelming support among the GOP's conservative base.

The dust-up began over the weekend with comments made by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Nevada.

"I know there are some out there who say, 'Oh, we can't win the White House unless we take a left turn ... show we're more like Democrats,'" Romney said.

"Look, in a race between someone who pretends to be Democrat and a real Democrat, the real Democrat's going to win. And so, I believe we have to once again stand firm. More social conservatism, economic conservatism as well as national defense conservatism. And I tend to be a candidate that is a real Republican, through and through. And on that basis, I think we reignite the excitement in our party."