Rudy Giuliani: Tea Party 'Respectable', But Some Members 'A Little Crazy'

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani expressed some mixed feelings about the Tea Party Monday, saying that the movement had honest intentions but had been marred by some select members who were "a little crazy," which he compared to antiwar protests during the presidency of George W. Bush.

"There was a big antiwar movement in this country against the Iraq War, people hanging President Bush in effigy, people saying President Bush should be killed," Giuliani told CNN's Piers Morgan in an interview aired Monday night. "The core of that movement legitimately opposed the war in Iraq. I didn't agree with them, but they had every right to do it. They were very emotional. They're very angry. But they were respectable people who opposed it, with some extremists who made them look bad."

"The Tea Party, the same thing -- respectable people. They have a legitimate political point," Giuliani added, arguing that there were "a couple of people that are a little crazy who take it to an extreme."

Last year, Giuliani endorsed to Marco Rubio, a Tea Party-backed Republican candidate for Florida Senate. Since his election, however, Rubio appears hesitant to embrace the brand of the Tea Party.

In another segment of Giuliani's interview with CNN, the former mayor also said his best shot at another presidential campaign would be if Sarah Palin were to announce her own candidacy so that he could "show a contrast," perhaps implying that the majority of his constituents would likely not consider themselves Tea Party followers.