Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday that he was not upset that the ceremony marking the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks would be briefer than in previous years, but did object to a Ground Zero memorial that remained uncompleted.
"I don't care," Giuliani said on CNN's "Starting Point" about the shorter ceremony, which will not feature speeches by top politicians. "I think it was perfectly appropriate for the mayor to make some changes in the program. Anything he did, somebody's going to criticize it. I think the fact that we change the nature of the ceremony a little bit, make it a little shorter, make it a little more compact, I'm not really offended by that."
But while the former mayor said it was "natural" that tributes to that day "might not be as long or it might not be as intense," he believed there must "be a remembrance of what happened on this day forever."
"I'm upset that the memorial isn't done yet," Giuliani said. "I was here last year, it was supposed to be done this year. Now it's not going to get done, I don't know, for a couple of years. I don't quite understand that."
Giuliani was also asked about the ongoing teachers' strike in Chicago, which has seen Republicans wary of public-sector unions siding with an unlikely ally: former White House Chief of Staff and current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Like GOP nominee Mitt Romney and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Giuliani offered support for Emanuel as the strike entered its second day.
"It seems to me he's bargaining for exactly the right things. He's asking to be able to evaluate, if there's a difference between good teachers and bad teachers. That seems almost common sense in 21st century America," Giuliani said.
The former New York City mayor added of Emanuel, "I hope he wins."
