By Martin Bosworth
So let’s say you’re Rudy Giuliani–darling of the media for turning New York City into Disney World, fawned over as the Saint of 9/11 and a “national security authority” simply for being mayor of a city that was hit by a terrorist attack, and considered socially liberal enough to sap the Democratic advantage even though your political positions put you to the right of George freakin’ Bush.
What are the three worst things that could happen to sabotage your seemingly anointed ascension to the GOP nomination?
- Word could get out that your campaign director in South Carolina was federally indicted for selling cocaine. No, that’s not a typo–this isn’t some garden-variety GOP fraud like robocalls or bribery. Ravenel apparently was selling the crack rock.
- It could then be publicized that you got kicked out of the high-profile Iraq Study Group for failing to show up to meetings–and that said failures had to do with the ISG meetings conflicting with your high-priced speaking engagements.
- Your successor, Mike Bloomberg, a self-described “Short liberal Jewish billionaire,” could switch his party affiliation from GOP to “independent,” fueling talk of a third-party run or even a switch back to the Dems, thus turning any presidential contest between you and him into a “Subway series”–and a referendum on how things REALLY went in New York when you were in charge.
It amazes me that people think Giuliani is capable of being president. I knew a smart woman blogger–very intelligent and erudite–who was absolutely convinced Giuliani was the guy in ’08, because he cut down crime in New York City and demonstrated authority on 9/11. That was it. I’ve also argued with otherwise intelligent, well-informed friends who think Rudy’s okay because he’s pro-choice, soft on gay rights, and dressed in drag. People are so willing to buy into the idea–the illusion–of a tough authority figure that they’ve willfully blinded themselves to the reality that Giuliani is all about extending his own personal power. Even more than Bush, who is driven by insecurities and messianic complexes, Rudy is all about Rudy–first and foremost.
The late Steve Gilliard had Rudy nailed on any number of issues, not least being his utter disdain for civil rights and hypocrisies in his personal life. Let’s hope these latest scandals and setbacks remind people that you can put lipstick on a pig, but that doesn’t mean it’s something worth kissing.
UPDATE: The folks at Blah3 wrote in to correct me on one point–Ravenel was arrested for intent to distribute powdered cocaine, not crack. While it may seem like a small difference, it IS significant, and one which should not be overlooked. Thanks, guys. 😉
Categories: Journalism, Politics/Law/Government, Race/Gender
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
Most folks attempt to put themselves first…some are better at it than others (or do a better job of making it less obvious that this is exactly what they are doing).
Human beings do not tend to come with the robotic prime directive to put another human before self. It is why those who truly do put others first are so special.
Mostly it is about like minded folk ‘coming together’…the stronger groups tend to hold more power/leverage.
Elaine,
Maybe so, but that sure doesn’t mean I want them to be my president. 😉
🙂
Give me Dwight D Eisenhower any day of the week – I’m still appreciative of what he did for my country.
Rudy was part of 9/11 he should be in jail for life with the rest of the people who subjected us to this false flag event. Please explain how building 7 fell like it was imploded even though no plane hit it.
Give me back Amadou Diallo.
The King of 9/11 has no clothes.
I’d much rather kiss a pig than Rudi.
I think RoveCo put the kibosh on Rudy to make way for the poor man’s Reagan – Fred Thompson.
Martin,
Great post.
My son went to Columbia and was in NYC on 9/11. He literally called me (after several frantic calls from his helicoptering dad) – to reassure me he was okay – from a dorm roof where he and other students were watching the towers fall. The second went down while we were on the phone.
His take on Rudy was very much like yours – Rudy did everything possible in those days and weeks after 9/11 to further “Disney-fy” NYC and make Manhattan into a place where “undesirables” (i.e., anyone who looked remotely leftish [read “poor,” “bohemian,” “different” from typical NYers and tourists] and couldn’t produce a Columbia/NYU, etc., ID card like he and his friends could) were removed – how, it’s probably important we know, though we probably never will.
From all I’ve learned about him – through reading, research and my son’s recollections and reflections, your analysis of him as a person and as a candidate/pol are spot on.
Trudi Giuliani must have his panties in a knot!
9-11 First Responders are sick and dying because of him.
Rudy is a typical Republican hoax. He takes credit for positive things he little or nothing to do with, exaggerates and distorts his record for political and financial gain (not necessarily in that order) and flat out lies about his mistakes and deficiencies. “Mr. 911” has a lot to answer for on that awful day: the aforementioned 9/11 rescuer debacle, his refusal to provide fire and rescue with new radios to replace the old ones whose ineffectiveness and failure rate were well-documented and his insistence that his prized “Emergency Command Center” be located at 7 World Trade Center immediately spring to mind.
With our country teetering on the edge of financial, military, public health and other disasters, the last thing we need is another callous, vicious megalomaniac in the White House.
AF
When life comes at you full speed vote RP
http://www.Ronpaul2008.com
He accidentally married his cousin. I am being generous to him by using the word accidental — he claims that he did not know she was his cousin! His second cousin. How did that work out at the church on wedding day? Didn’t he notice the confusion in the pews when family showed up and couldn’t figure out where to sit — on which side of the church to sit? Didn’t recognize family on both sides of the church? Can you trust a man who accidentally marries his cousin.
Let’s not malign the pigs. Non-human mammals and others of the animal kingdom are generally noble by nature and have few if any of the human political or social foibles, like lipstick that is somehow found to be attractive, although an artificial enhancement. Humans are, by nature, fond of deceits and disguises, for which cosmetics are handy dandy items to facilitate said deceptions and other character artificialities.
Why not just leave it with putting lipstick on a Ru-Dee, not worth kissing with or without?
Why would it amaze you? Look at the idiot in office now. Consummate traitor, stupidest person ever to inhabit any room of the white house, evil beyond words…
Guiliani is nothing more than a political whore who will say anything to be elected, just like McCain.
Rudy got the urine smell out of the subways.Thats a big plus for an idiot.
I agree with Alexis. I am unclear why you should find Rudi Giuliani impossible to understand, yet live with the daily reality of George W. Bush.
isn’t is also amazing that a book about him , his actual reality, came out just about the same time as the two hit piece books on hillary clinton that the corporate/repiglican media has been ejaculating about for weeks now, all the interviews with the authors on every station, all the coporate/repiglican pundit pimps like chris matthews spewing forth their bombastic crap about her, and yet, at the same time, no one .. none of these pimps, no station, no news reports, about the book about the reality of guilliani has been anywhere to be read or heard ….
welcome to the corporate / repiglican media and it’s evil agenda ..
Did I miss the part where Dubya and Rudy became an either/or proposition?
Don’t forget this one–Lawrence Ray is very close to Bernie Kerik, and therefore to Rudy Giuliani. Here’s the latest on Lawrence Ray, who seems to have an unquenchable desire to be a bad actor:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/06/21/2007-06-21_kerik_pal_fights_marshals_breaks_arm_dur.html
let’s also not forget Rudy closed down the strip clubs in NYC… I wanted the city cleaned up, too, but I mean pollution, puke and other crap on the streets… leave the dancing girls alone!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Republicants who vote for Giuliani are hypocrites… they made quite a bit of President Bill Clinton’s philandering and “questionable” ties to business partners… but it seems Rudy’s got him beat in the sleaze dept.
That article on him is particularly harsh. I can’t wait until things get rough in the primaries and Rudy tries to sell himself as the morally superior family guy to Mitt Romney. Meow!
These things you say about Guiliani can also be said about Hillary (putting power for themselves first, etc.)
You put the picture up, I gotta supply the quote:
Londo: Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you!
As President, would Giuliani continue to hire people such as Bernard Kerik and Alan Placa?
Oh, who is Alan Place? Just Google ALAN PLACA GIULIANI and find out.
Se
So if Rudy is Londo, does that make Bernie Kerrick Vir or Refa?
I was actually thinking more like Mr. Morden, including the abrupt distancing and dismissal once Londo had no further need of him. 🙂
8 million New Yorkers can’t be wrong:
NOT RUDY!
Dude. B5 reference. Score!!!!
Does this make Hillary Delenn? Are we beating this analogy to death?
Poor little analogy!
Rotten Rudy doesn’t stand a snowflakes chance in HELL of winning the nomination. Sam Brownback will take the lead by a landslide. PTL!
watch him lie on youtube when he was asked by a 911 truther to explain who told him that the south tower was ging to collapse BEFORE the event took place. he’s already on tape in an ABC interview with peter jennings saying just that. now he lies that he said nothing of the kind. this guy is on the inside of the inside job of 911, and if they steal the election for him like they did for bush twice, this country will become FAR worse than it is now. full on jackbooted martial law, with rudy as dictator.
Jumbo Jets Can Not Demolish Skyscrapers.
http://ae911truth.org
To # 25 –
And let us not forget his three wives – Pestilence, Famine, and Death!
As a NYer when Giuliani was mayor, all I remember about that time: police brutality, his penchant for publicity, the circus-like atmosphere of his personal life.
Many Americans do not trust him. And the fact that his son is against him does not help.
Thanks for this.
Ghouliani would be George Orwell’s worst nightmare,…. he’s a bookcooking eugenist who would extent emminent domain from coast to coast, wipe his ass with the Constitution & we’d all be wearing ankle bracelets by 2009.
I can’t wait until Guiliani is president. Although I wish Bush could still remain in office, I’ll be content with him.
I agree
Kahlee (Kahlee’s Blog – Never Give a Cheerleader a Keyboard)
————————–
http://kahlees.wordpress.com
While I appreciate the crack vs powdered coke correction–it is always good to get the facts right–why is it a “significant” difference “which should not be overlooked?” Is it because there is a de facto race- and class-biased legal distinction between the two, in spite of the fact that there’s essentially no difference between the two substances? I wonder, because it doesn’t seem to me that there’s any medical, moral, or ethical reason to distinguish.
Rojo:
I just made sure to fix it because I can’t go around criticizing the media for making mistakes if I don’t ensure my own work is accurate. Sometimes a correction is just a correction.
Still, you make a good point–will pundits be more willing to forgive Ravenel (and thus Rudy) for selling coke (a rich white man’s drug) versus crack (a poor black man’s drug)?