April 11, 2007
Giuliani Has A Supermarket Scanner Moment
Before throwing his hat into the White House '08 ring, Rudy Giuliani commanded upwards of $100,000 per speaking engagement. That kind of dough buys a lot of bread -- and apparently, someone to go out and buy the bread.
The former New York City mayor does not seem to know how much a loaf of bread or gallon of milk currently costs. ”A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30,” he said in response to a reporter's question while campaigning in Alabama.
That type of question, a favorite gotcha device of campaign reporters, is often posed to candidates to test their everyman credentials. At Safeway, the much-derided supermarket chain on which Washingtonians who live too far from Whole Foods are forced to rely, a gallon of milk goes for $2.50. A loaf of Wonder Bread Small White sells for $2.09. But who eats white bread anymore? Not the carb- and health-conscious, who might gladly fork over $3.99 for a bag of Vermont Organic Soft Wheat.
It might be a safe bet that if the red flags in Giuliani's bio aren't bothering his Republican supporters -- his position on social issues and guns among them -- then a lack of "The Price Is Right" know-how won't, either.
The episode will likely evoke memories of George H.W. Bush's encounter with a supermarket checkout scanner in 1992, in which the sight of the device reportedly filled the president with "wonder." The New York Times account has since been debunked as a hyperbolic description of the president's actual reaction; the urban myth specialists at Snopes.com have a handy deconstruction.
Posted at 2:07 PM
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Rudy Giuliani
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