Rudy Giuliani answered that question Wednesday with a despicable performance in front of the Republican National Convention. The former U.S. attorney said he learned as a lawyer “if you don’t have the facts, you gotta change ’em.” Clearly, it’s a lesson he absorbed, filling his vindictive speech with distortions and cheap shots.

It’s considered the duty of some surrogates to attack the other party more viciously than the nominee does, but Giuliani was so spiteful in his delivery he risks a backlash.

As CNN analyst Bill Schneider put it: “I really think this tone is going to turn a lot of voters off — it’s ugly, it’s bitter, it’s nasty.”

RNC:

Click here for the prepared text (missing a lot of the juicier bits) of Giuliani’s speech.

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