Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made unflattering comparisons to former President Jimmy Carter. Actor Jon Voight recited lines from the musical "Camelot."
On the eve of today's presidential election, the two men led an entourage of Republican heavy-hitters to Scranton on Monday to rally the GOP faithful to keep working for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and deny Democrat Barack Obama a second term in the White House.
"We must save this country," Mr. Voight told about 50 people, mostly party operatives and campaign volunteers, who crowded shoulder to shoulder in a small room at the Republican headquarters on North Washington Avenue.
Billed by the Romney campaign as a get-out-the-vote event, the 40-minute stop served as a counterbalance to former President Bill Clinton's appearance on behalf of Mr. Obama later Monday at Scranton High School.
"Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!" the crowd chanted when Mr. Giuliani arrived and then again when he started to speak.
Mr. Giuliani, whose term as New York mayor coincided with seven years of the Clinton presidency, said Mr. Clinton was being the loyal Democrat by supporting Mr. Obama and "saying what he has to say." Mr. Obama, the former mayor said, "is no Bill Clinton."
"I want the people of Scranton to remember: Bill Clinton was a very different kind of president than this guy. This is more like Jimmy Carter - and worse," he said.
Mr. Giuliani skewered Mr. Obama for what he described as the president's incompetence before and after the terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
He accused Mr. Obama of turning down requests for additional security at the embassy because he wanted to "preserve this fiction" that the war on terror ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden.
"This man is a failure as president," Mr. Giuliani said.
He said the president has done "a really bad job" of responding to Superstorm Sandy, but the media will not report that it is worse than Hurricane Katrina because of a "sick love affair" with Mr. Obama.
"They cover up for him. It's an outrage, an absolute outrage," he said.
Mr. Voight recited parts of the mournful speech from "Camelot," during which King Arthur asks a boy to remember "that once there was a fleeting wisp of glory called Camelot."
"I don't want the United States to be 'once there was,' and your efforts may make the difference," Mr. Voight told the campaign volunteers.
He said Americans will see a nation broken like never before if voters re-elect Mr. Obama.
"Obama says how can we trust Romney," Mr. Voight said. "The truth is how can we trust him (Mr. Obama)."
Joining Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Voight were former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley at the rally, the first of four planned Monday across eastern Pennsylvania. The group also held a rally at the Luzerne County GOP Victory Center in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com