Rudy on Ryan's Speech: 'One of the Very Best'

Tampa
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani praised Paul Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention as "the best Republican acceptance speech" by a vice presidential candidate he'd ever heard. Giuliani added that Ryan's address may have been even more important than Mitt Romney's upcoming nomination acceptance speech.

"Could be one of my favorite convention speeches ever, including my own," Giuliani said of Ryan in an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD. "I thought it was one of the very best because in many ways, it was one of the most important."

Ryan, Giuliani said, addressed middle class concerns about the economy in a way that was accessible and "universal."

"I thought Paul Ryan did a very good job yesterday of talking to middle class people and using middle class circumstances," Giuliani said. "You know, the kid in his room with the fading picture of Obama. That touches any family with a kid in college or a kid just graduating from college."

So will Ryan's speech be even more important for the presidential campaign than Romney's?

"In a way, yes, because Romney doesn’t have to introduce himself," said Giuliani.

Giuliani, who called himself a "freelance" surrogate for the Romney campaign, says Romney's task in his own speech Thursday night is to improve his personal image.

"I think it would be good if he was a little more personal and kinda ended some of these what I consider silly critics who say he’s not personable enough, he’s not warm enough, he’s not fuzzy enough, he’s not cool enough," Giuliani said.