Giuliani Wants US Prepared for Attack From Space Invaders

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

Usually, when Republican presidential candidates field questions about "aliens," it's a conservative voter worried about immigrants who've entered the country illegally. Yesterday in New Hampshire, however, a young boy was worried about actual aliens.

Later Sunday, during a town-hall meeting in Exeter, Giuliani assured a young questioner that preparedness will be key for all crises, including those from outer space.

"If (there's) something living on another planet and it's bad and it comes over here, what would you do?" a boy asked.

Giuliani, grinning, said it was his first question about an intergalactic attack.

"Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that, yes we will. We'll be prepared for anything that happens," said Giuliani, who mayor during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Now, I'm willing to cut Giuliani plenty of slack on this one -- it's not like he brought up space invaders on his own. He did his best to respond to an unpredictable question from a young kid. Fine.

But his response gets back to something we were talking about earlier.

As Giuliani sees it, he's such an expert on counter-terrorism, he's equipped to keep us safe, whether our attackers originate on this planet or not. He'll get us prepared for anything.

But therein lies the point that Giuliani critics have been trying to emphasize all year: Giuliani's record on emergency preparations, particularly in regards to foreign attackers, is awful.