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CNN Sunday Morning

`TIME' Magazine Person of the Year: Rudolph Giuliani

Aired December 23, 2001 - 10:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: "TIME" magazine today named New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as Person of the Year. For many, it's hard to find fault with the choice. Almost from the moment disaster struck, Mayor Giuliani was there, leading by example.

He started first at Ground Zero. Later he defiantly rang the Wall Street trading bell, offering the first tentative step toward recovery. He called on us to seek out a sense of normalcy. He invited us to visit New York and finally, he asked us to lower our guard a little and showed us how to laugh.

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O'BRIEN: You know, a little bit of that goes a long way, don't you think?

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A little too much.

O'BRIEN: You know, we know he's leaving his day job, but we can say for certain his next job will not be chart-topping singer.

Brian Palmer, however, we're told can carry a tune, right? You're in Times Square. You've been talking to people. Do you want to just sing this next report for us, Brian, or just keep up the opera?

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think you want that to happen. But we are in the middle of Times Square. We got cabs zipping by us. We're trying to take the pulse of New York and all the visitors to New York, to get a sense of what people think of Rudy Giuliani being named person of the year for "TIME" magazine.

We're joined by Suzanne Carey (ph), a librarian from Endicott, New York. That's about four hours away from here. Suzanne, welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

PALMER: What do you think of the choice?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's excellent. I think he, in a very difficult time, was able to pull this city together and represent the city in a very positive way.

PALMER: Now the Person of the Year is oftentimes someone of international stature, presidents, heads of state. Do you think Giuliani is such a person?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I think he -- actually I think the other heads of state actually looked to see what he was doing. This was a very difficult time, and I think other countries were looking at us and seeing him as an example of what we are.

PALMER: Thank you. Now we have Ron Cabrera (ph), who's visiting from San Francisco. Mr. Cabrera, oftentimes we've had people who have been called villains named as Person of the Year, Stalin, twice, Hitler. This year, we heard tell "TIME" was considering Osama bin Laden. What would you have thought about that choice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it would have been a wrong choice. I think it would have given positive influence on terrorism as opposed to negative impact it's had in our culture and their own cultures.

PALMER: So the Giuliani choice you're pleased with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, absolutely a great choice, and I think the pulse here in the city is that everyone is definitely 100 percent Giuliani.

PALMER: There were other people of prominent stature who were out and about making statements and trying to pull people together on September 11, including our president. Could you have seen perhaps other people, someone else chosen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. Giuliani stepped to the plate. He was the focal point of the New York people, and that was very evident in the media, and all the participation that took place, so good choice.

PALMER: Thank you very much for coming to speak to us. We've talked to a few people off camera, one person on camera who was a little bit skeptical about the choice. But I think by and large, folks are pretty firmly behind TIME Magazine's choice for Person of the Year. Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Brian Palmer. It's a bit of a hometown crowd there. I'm not sure that's a great sampling necessarily at the vox populi going to Rudy's own Time Square. Anyway, thank you very much for checking in nonetheless. We appreciate it. Stay warm out there.

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