What's Really Important It’s rather obvious why Rudolph Giuliani is so popular in the GOP polls around the nation; he has name and face recognition because of the events of 9/11, and for some people that seems to be all it takes. It’s as if being recognized for something automatically qualifies someone for anything.
Personally I don’t like Rudolph Giuliani. I don’t feel he is in any way qualified to be President, and I would have to agree with Joe Biden that he is “probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency…There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11.” In short, Giluliani’s only claim to fame is that he just happened to be the Mayor of New York City on the day the 9/11 catastrophe occurred, a rather dubious honor, even when meaningful. Not only did this disaster occur during Giuliani’s tenure, he had done nothing to prevent it and little to lessen the effects afterward. It’s one of the most popular myths circulating around the nation.
And while he is strutting from place to place taking credit for something, I’m not sure what exactly, there are things about his performance many don’t seem to know. It was Giuliani who had decided to build the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) at the World Trade Center, after having been warned not to in the mid 1990s by George Marlin, then executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Additionally, it was placed on the 23rd floor, where it would be vulnerable if and when the power went off. Communications on 9/11 were almost nonexistent between firefighters and the police because they had no means to communicate with each other. Giuliani claims the technology didn’t yet exist, but that’s bogus. It’s hard to believe that in one of the greatest cities in the world these separate and vital entities couldn’t communicate over a common frequency. The military had been using such technology for decades. Considering New York City, and the World Trade Center, specifically, had been targeted before, one would have thought that little problem would have been solved. It wasn’t!
I was motivated to write about Mr. Giuliani because of just one more thing: the headlines about Bernie Kerik, recently indicted by a federal court on sixteen counts, including fraud and conspiracy. Giuliani, Kerik's friend and former mentor, had appointed him as Police Commissioner. He had also recommended him to the President as a candidate for the Director of Homeland Security, a recommendation that looked strong until it was discovered that Kerik just might have mob connections.
According to Russ Buettner and William K. Rashbaum of the New York Times, Kerik “plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of accepting costly renovations to his Bronx apartment and failing to disclose a $28,000 loan to help buy it… At the heart of that case were allegations that a construction company with suspected ties to organized crime paid for the renovations in the hopes that Kerik would help it obtain a city license.” There was also mention of “charges that Kerik failed to disclose a $250,000 loan financed by an unnamed Israeli businessman and did not report as income more than $200,000 in rent paid by a developer on an Upper East Side Manhattan luxury apartment.” It has also been alleged he did not report more than $500,000 in income between 1999 and 2004. Phew!
Giuliani did apologize, stating he should have vetted Kerik more carefully. Though it’s nice that Giuliani admits to having made a mistake, I find it a rather curious one. We aren’t talking about a guy who was appointed dogcatcher, or the head of sanitation or transportation, but the head of the police department! Hmmm! -- Head of the police -- mob ties –- yikes!
When the only real qualification Giuliani has for any public office is that he was the administrative head of a large city, with a major role of appointing heads of local government, that seems like one huge blunder. Is this really a guy we want appointing people to important leadership positions in the federal government, especially after George Bush’s wonderful record of appointing countless incompetent political cronies to high government positions?
No doubt Mr. Giuliani has some redeeming features and talents, but I question not only his qualifications, but his truthfulness as well. This is a Roman Catholic who has been divorced twice, accused of “serial adultery” by his second wife, and who supports gay rights and legal abortion all the while pandering to the far religious right, telling them that he is conservative when and where it really counts. He recently told South Carolina Republicans, "I would want judges who are strict constructionists because I am. Those are the kinds of justices I would appoint -- Scalia, Alito and Roberts." This is in conflict with a statement by Ben Smith at Politico : “A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular...A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.”
Just a few reasons I don’t trust Rudolph Giuliani.
At a time when most political candidates have become tiresome and untrustworthy, I’ve grown weary of his visage, the sound of his voice and his 9/11 I can keep you safer blather and mantra. So apparently have the people of New York, including the city’s firefighters, people who have experienced his leadership directly, and have been quite outspoken about their dislike for the man. I surely wish people from all around the nation would pay some attention to them, and not just listen to empty words on the campaign trail. Sadly, all too many people are now getting their news from TV and radio, which unlike the print media, rely on sound bytes instead of the full story. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people in the United States of America are habitually vulnerable to the lies and charm of snake oil salesmen masquerading as leaders.
You are preaching to the choir here, with more in depth reasoning than I ever bothered to use regarding old Rudy. All I can muster is 'Rudy Guliani, wtf?' and laugh. Rudy and Pat Robertson, a portrait in desperation, don't ya think?
I imagine the conservatives are going to hold their collective noses and nominate him.
Thanks for the well written, speaking for me piece on this maroon.
Thanks for your support in the way of your comments beanie! There wouldn't be much sense in writing if I didn't know someone was reading. Thanks for that, and even more, for your friendship!
like chimp and ghoul-cheney jullie annie also crawled out of the devil's toilet... a man who wanted to make his his high school dropout driver and all around thug - head of homeland security (because charles manson wasn't available?) would indeed be the logical choice to occupy the whitehouse... he has been given the blessing of dominionist whackjob pat robertson - a man who wants to assasinate Chavez, who thinks God is pissed that mary cheney doesn't want dick and is the cause of 911... maybe jullie annie will get the blessing of fred phelps too... after all he's just robertson without the $5,000 suit... as i read recently:
America deserved 911
jullie annie IS 911
so America deserves jullie annie.
that the faux-christian hucksters are reduced to aligning themselves with a multi-married transvestite who lived with a gay couple is amusing...i look forward to seeing jullie annie in Vogue wearing the j edgar hoover collection...
Cant you see that the big boys ( GOP ) have already started their machinery in motion ; thinking Rudy might just pull this off. Same exact scenerio when da Bush was chosen. They will blind you with false facts and distortion. Rudy is so un-qualified to head any government position other then the City level. He knew and was part in proposing someone for such a high post that he knew full well was involved with criminals and accepting monies and gifts and free rent lavish Apartments (why and for what?)
Something is very Wrong when someone like a Rudy can get away with all this crap and no-one other then a few local reporters (NYC) knew and tried to let people know for 10 years of this mans ill-doings.
This is what we are stuck with my friends. They shove them down our throats and manipulate all news and in my mind actually threaten people and their families to cover up and lie, or as you will see shortly;misplace or lose vital paper and cyber trails. And we still sit back and bitch and only a few of us try and do something about it. Get off your asses and write,demostrate,march ;something instead of just letting this kind of bullshit ruin our country and freedoms and your childrens hopes of what we have taught them to believe is AMERICA.
Didnt mean to rant on but i am so sick of seeing the same ole shit beig forced on us all. Good blog ya have here. Now if only we could get heartfood to share some of his Warehouse of Malibu Rum. Selfish dude he be.
thanks
Well said. And great title. That would have made an excellent review of his "Leadership" book of which I've read a few chapters.
It won't surprise you to learn that I share your distaste for Giuliani, Stephen, and I'm glad you wrote this. Wish it could go out to a wider audience, those who may not know that Kerik was nearly appointed head of Homeland Security, thanks to Giuliani. And what was it again that he did on 9/11 that was so special? Oh yeah, he raced around holding a medical mask to his mouth for the benefit of cameras while the working stiffs on the NYC payroll did all the work. But that's ok, Pat Robertson likes him.
Unfortunately this is all a cartoon comedy that bled into our real lives.
One must remember, that idiocy can be masked during such a travesty to our country.
Poor proof of our value as a country now to the entire world comes with these bush commando puppets running for his seat.
The truth is, we as a country of innocents for the most part have been sold. People will be shocked when they wake up from this republican governments having lost freedom of speech, rights, choices, and an underground militia.
I will always believe as I have told you as far as who caused 9/11.
We stood for freedom! We have lost it, and too many have their heads mushed into lemmings that we are not united. Why worry about these two idiots who look for the same powers of da bush?
We are seeing the end and destruction to our own country in every arena possible.
When daddy bush goes on to television to say,"WHAT DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO?" "OF COURSE, I AM LOOKING AT HIM AS MY SON,AND WILL DEFEND HIM. AM I WORRIED FOR HIM? YOU BET I AM."
There is already an underground government to which people don't get data on it. I catch their slips! They said the president will go to the underground tunnels of government for safety. Another group given permission to kill anyone they choose.
One by one I see my predictions coming true, and I wish to God I was wrong.
I was going to just say, Why bother our brain cells with the trash of those two? Maybe I should have.
We are no longer allowed free speech.
Do I get shot for this?
I like this blog on Giuliani. He is another scary authoritarian, but people want to percieve him as a hero. He did come off well for a few weeks in 2001, but he's a scary dude nonetheless. Another thug and not what we need. I just finished Broken Government by John Dean, and he talks a bit about the authoritarian nature of the current "leaders." In the last paragraph of the book, Dean quotes a friend of his, a long time Republican who "knows all the key movers and shakers." The person said: "People should not vote for any Republican, because they're dangerous, dishonest, and self-serving. While I once believed that Governor Geroge Wallace had it right, that there was not a dime's worth of difference in the parties, that is no longer true. I have come to realize that Democrats really do care about people who most need help from the government; Republicans care most about those who will only get richer because of government help. The government is truly broken, particularly in dealing with national security, and another four years, and heaven forbid not eight years, under Republicans, and our grandchildren will have to build a new government, because the one we have will be unrecognizable and unworkable." This is a very clarifying book, by the way.
For further information on Giuliani and Kerik, there is an interesting article by op-ed columnist Frank Rich entitled, What 'That Regan Woman Knows'