Discussing Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's assertion during an April 24 speech that the United States will be “going on defense” in combating terrorism if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, Mike Rosen stated on his April 27 Newsradio 850 KOA show, “I think it's more likely” that a terrorist attack on U.S. soil will “happen sooner if a Democrat's elected than if a Republican is elected.” Furthermore, after saying that he believes “we're going to be hit again,” Rosen added, “So it's just a question of, is the probability greater that we'll be hit again if a Democrat's elected president -- one of the Democrats that are out there contesting for it -- than if a Republican is? And I think that my clinical answer to that question would be 'yes' because I think the Democrats are going to be softer on terrorists.”

From the April 27 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

ROSEN: Rudy Giuliani made some strong statements the other day and Democrats have responded predictably. He said that we'd have a new 9-11 if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2008. [U.S. Sen.] Barack Obama [D-IL] responded that Giuliani has taken the politics of fear to a new low; [former U.S. Sen.] John Edwards [D-NC] said that Giuliani's comments were divisive and plain wrong; [U.S. Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] called it political rhetoric that would not lessen the threat of terrorism. All right. Rudy's point was -- and I've got a more contextual, comprehensive quote -- he said if one of them gets elected, it sounds to me like we're going to -- going on the defensive. We've got a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq; we're going to wave the white flag there. We're going to try to cut back on the Patriot Act. We're going to cut back on electronic surveillance. We're going to cut back on interrogation. We're going to cut back, cut back, cut -- cut back, and we'll be back in our pre-September 11th mentality of being on defense.

So what he said -- or Giuliani said -- that should a Democrat get elected, we're more likely to have another 9-11-type event. Strong talk, but even if a Democrat doesn't get elected to the presidency in 2008, I think it's probable that we will at some time in the future have another 9-11-type of attack on the United States -- on the homeland. I think it's more likely it'll happen sooner if a Democrat's elected than if a Republican is elected, but the other side -- the other position to take is that we will never again be attacked in a major fashion such as we were on 9-11. And while I'd love to believe that we can live in a world where that'll be the case, if I had to come down on one side or the other, I'd come down saying, yeah, I think we're going to be hit again. So it's just a question of, is the probability greater that we'll be hit again if a Democrat's elected president -- one of the Democrats that are out there contesting for it -- than if a Republican is? And I think that my clinical answer to that question would be 'yes' because I think the Democrats are going to be softer on terrorists.

As Media Matters for America has documented repeatedly (here, here, and here), there have been numerous questions surrounding Giuliani's own record on the issues of terrorism and national security.