CNN's Sesno baselessly asserted Giuliani would be "pro-military" and "tough on ... spending"

On the June 14 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN special correspondent Frank Sesno asserted that "[i]f past is prologue," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) would be a "pro-military" president who would also "butt heads with Congress, interest groups, and conservatives, who already distrust him." Sesno did not cite any aspect of Giuliani's record in public life to indicate why he would be more "pro-military" than any of the other presidential contenders, nor did he provide any indication of what he meant by that term. Sesno also asserted that Giuliani was "tough on crime, taxes, and spending" as New York's mayor, despite what Time magazine and The New York Times called Giuliani's "second-term spending spree."

As Media Matters for America has noted, CNN has repeatedly characterized those who supported the Iraq war or now oppose the withdrawal of U.S. troops as "pro-military" or supporters of the troops, suggesting that those who take contrary positions do not support the troops or are anti-military.

On Sesno's claim that Giuliani was "tough on ... spending," Village Voice reporter Tom Robbins wrote in 2002 that while Giuliani "made good" on a promise to reduce the size of government in his first term:

[T]he second term was a different story. City expense spending (not including state and federal contributions) rose by 6 percent in 1998, 4 percent in 1999, another 6 percent in 2000, and, finally, an added 9 percent in the Giuliani administration's last full year, according to the Independent Budget Office. In the last five years of the Giuliani administration, spending grew at twice the rate of inflation.

Similarly, Steven Malanga, senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, wrote in 2002 that Giuliani "abandoned [his] abstemiousness during his second term":

During the late nineties, as the economy boomed, the city went on an especially extravagant spending spree. In 1998, the part of the budget financed by city tax revenues rose 6 percent, more than double the inflation rate; in 2000, it increased 5.7 percent; and in 2001, it rocketed up 9 percent -- three times the inflation rate.

In December 2001, the Citizens' Budget Commission (CBC), an independent fiscal watchdog, reported that spending increased more in Giuliani's second term (through fiscal year 2001, which ended on June 30, 2001) than in the three previous terms (Giuliani's first term, David Dinkins' (D) only term, and Ed Koch's (D) third term):

The CBC also reported that Giuliani's second-term capital budget was higher in 2000 dollars than was either of his two predecessors':

From the June 14 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

SESNO: What if New York's last mayor becomes America's next president? He'd be the first mayor ever to go from here to here. He'd be the first Republican who favors abortion rights, domestic partnerships, and gun control. The first Catholic, twice-divorced Republican to make it to the Oval Office.

That's a lot of firsts.

You can bet he'd be tough on crime, taxes, and spending. He was in New York. Made the city safer; cleaned up the streets; famously filled potholes himself. "Gotham's Action Hero," The New York Times once called him. But he ticked off a lot of people, too; was accused of being imperious; a dictator in mayor's clothes, who ruthlessly pushed out the homeless and aggravated racial tensions.

What if he were president? If past is prologue, he'd be pro-business, pro-military, but he'd butt heads with Congress, interest groups, and conservatives, who already distrust him.

What if the man who lived 9-11 so up close and personal became president? Well, for him, it's still personal. The country is weary and worn, but he'd continue the offensive against terrorism in Iraq and around the world, he says.

—B.J.L.