Does Rudy Giuliani think gays and abortion helped cause 9/11 too?

As a supporter of gay rights and abortion rights, you wouldn’t think Rudy would buy into such an argument. And several months ago he loudly lambasted Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) at a Republican presidential debate for suggesting that U.S. policies in the Middle East may have played a role in triggering the Sept. 11 attacks. But on Wednesday a beaming Rudy stood before a gaggle of reporters in D.C. to receive the endorsement of TV preacher Pat Robertson, who does believe that gays, abortion and sundry other sins of secularism were some of the main causes of the 9/11 attacks.

Only days after Sept. 11, 2001, the late Jerry Falwell appeared on Robertson’s “700 Club” to say that America probably “deserved” the attacks for its various transgressions, most notably the expansion of gay rights, abortion rights and various other bugaboos of the religious right. In response, Robertson agreed with Falwell’s view and told him he “concurred” in his judgment.

The Falwell incident generated a huge furor, particularly his efforts to pin the blame specifically on organizations like the ACLU and People for the American Way.

The directness and aggressiveness of Falwell’s remarks may have sent Robertson running for cover. But his own views, the ones he continues to embrace, are basically identical to Falwell’s “totally inappropriate” ones.

Even today on Robertson’s site you can find his own statement in response to Sept. 11, released only days after the towers fell.

According to Robertson, secularism, “rampant pornography on the Internet,” abortion and various other evils had led God to withdraw his protection from America and allow the attacks to happen. In fact, Robertson reiterated his position in the fall of 2005, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina calamity, which he also blamed on abortion, gays and all the rest.

Considering that Rudy is for abortion rights, gay rights and various other things Robertson said led God to withdraw his protection from America, Robertson’s claim that Rudy is the guy to protect America from terrorist attacks suggests that he thinks more highly of Rudy’s leadership and national security credentials than God’s.

But leave that aside for the moment. What does Robertson really think? A few hours after the Robertson endorsement, reporters caught up with Rudy and asked him about it. What did he think of Robertson’s claim that 9/11 was part of God’s punishment for a sinful America? Not much, apparently.

“I think the comments he explained a long time ago,” Giuliani told a reporter for the Columbia, S.C., State. “I’ve had to explain lots of comments of mine.”

Explained?

That’s a pretty dodgy answer. But Rudy clearly wants to suggest that Robertson’s comments were merely a verbal gaffe that was long ago explained or apologized for.

But again, that’s just not so. Robertson has said consistently that America’s own embrace of sinful social policies — ironically, ones Rudy endorses, or at least did until recently — were a prime cause of the Sept. 11 attacks. Rudy refused $10 million of emergency aid from a Saudi prince after he suggested Americans may have played some role in bringing about the attacks. And he knocked Ron Paul around just months ago for saying something similar. But somehow the same principle doesn’t apply to Pat Robertson.

Wake me up when some reporter presses Rudy on this one. Can’t say I expect the call anytime soon.

Marshall is editor of talkingpointsmemo.com. His column appears in The Hill each week. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it