Giuliani

SUMMARY

Mister Noun-Verb-911’s record on 911 is actually terrible: even after the first World Trade Center attack he ignored the threat of a new Islamic terror attack, gave firemen the same radios that failed the first time, and put his emergency site right in the WTC even though it was a known terror target; he botched the 911 response, lied about his incompetent actions which killed firefighters, lied about his efforts at Ground Zero, and treated the victims’ families, policemen and firefighters like dirt. Meanwhile, he also lied about his anti-crime efforts, lied about his deficits and tax cuts and theft of pension money, lost more than thirty lawsuits trying to silence critics, violated the law by working to get a prosecutor fired in a case he was defending, hired criminals to work for the city, hired smearmongers for his political team and crafted a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton, was forced to take his name out of the running for senior posts because of scandals, and has a record of infidelity that is almost as embarrassing as Newt’s.

DETAILS

In case anyone is serious about drafting Rudy, here is a short and incomplete list of the potential issues. Giuliani…

• Put the Office of Emergency Management headquarters at the WTC even though it was a known terror target, and placed diesel tanks there which helped the facility burn down
• Gave firemen the same radios that failed during the first WTC attack, which killed many firefighters, and then he lied about it
• Botched the air-quality issue at Ground Zero, and failed to protect the firemen
• Allowed turf wars and corruption to slow the 911 response
• Admitted lying about how much time he spent at Ground Zero
• Ignored the threat from Islamic extremists even after the first WTC attack
• Claimed to be a terrorism expert but had no idea who bin Laden was
• Shut victims’ families out of the effort to design the 911 memorial; eventually he had to limit his appearances in New York because of protests from victims’ families, police and firefighters
• Hired a number of criminals for senior positions
• Threw poor families in the street so big corporations could launch development efforts
• Indulged in racial profiling and angered much of the city for his support of the NYPD after the Amadou Diallo shooting
• Tried so often to restrict free speech against his opponents that he lost 35 lawsuits on that one issue alone
• Claimed credit for a drop in New York crime which actually began before he took office
• Claimed credit for an anti-Mafia strategy which was actually launched by a Cornell professor
• Created gigantic deficits with rash tax cuts and raids on pension funds, and then was caught lying about it; the next mayor, Bloomberg, was forced take extraordinary measures to save the city from collapse
• Said with a straight face, “Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.”
• Went to work for polluters, Big Tobacco, and the drug firm that was caught lying about Oxycontin; used his political muscle to get a U.S. attorney fired so he couldn’t pursue the drug case, which Giuliani absolutely should have gone to jail for
• Has no experience in national issues
• Admitted ignorance about North Korea’s nuclear arms program
• Wants to ban late-term abortion, opposes same-sex marriage, supports school vouchers, supports torture, supports school prayer, supports putting the Ten Commandments in schools, and promises to appoint Scalia-like judges to the bench
• Hired a political consulting team known for racist smear attacks
• Admitted crafting a Senate campaign strategy which was based on repeated dishonest attacks against Hillary Clinton
• Made grandiose projections for 2008 campaign fundraising which fell short by 70 million
• Was caught in a series of scandals which forced him to take his name out of consideration for a Senate seat and then for DHS chief
• Was forced to annul his first marriage because he married his first cousin; dumped his second wife via a press conference rather than break the news in person -- he was having an affair with the woman who would become his third wife.

To gauge how impractical this idea is: Giuliani is pro-choice; he personally opposes abortion but doesn't want it criminalized. Try selling that to the wingnuts in Iowa, Carolina, the Super Tuesday states....It is reported that if he runs he will gamble all his chips on New Hampshire, just as he did during his doomed effort to take the Florida primary in 2008.