In a news brief on Monday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams managed to twist a positive development for Mitt Romney, the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, into a negative: "Giuliani, who had been out spreading the word for Newt Gingrich up until right now. And so for months he'd been saying bad things about Romney like this on Morning Joe."
In the sound bite that followed from the December 15, 2011 edition of the MSNBC morning program, Giuliani said of Romney: "I have never seen a guy...change his positions on so many things so fast on a dime." Williams used the past comments to make an indictment of campaign politics: "So the latest politician to change his position on a dime apparently, Rudolph Giuliani now endorsing Romney....Perhaps part of what makes so many Americans cynical about the process."
Here is a transcript of the April 23 report:
7:10AM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: To presidential politics. Mitt Romney picked up another GOP endorsement today. This time it was Rudy Giuliani, who had been out spreading the word for Newt Gingrich up until right now. And so for months he'd been saying bad things about Romney like this on Morning Joe.
RUDY GIULIANI: I have never seen a guy – and I've run a lot of elections, supported a lot of people, opposed them – never seen a guy change his positions on so many things so fast on a dime. Everything.
WILLIAMS: So the latest politician to change his position on a dime apparently, Rudolph Giuliani now endorsing Romney, and as so often happens in politics. Perhaps part of what makes so many Americans cynical about the process.
