Grand Illusion
Rudy Giuliani is slipping, if not quite sliding away. In early polls he led Hillary Clinton and every Democrat and was pulling away from the Republican pack, having benefited much from John McCain's gracious decision to set himself on fire.
Back then the smart money--and it's a wonder they still call it that-- fretted that Hillary was 'unelectable'. Today she beats Rudy in every poll. Among Republicans he's again in a dead heat, this time with B-list TV celebrity Fred Thompson.
A poll's a sometime thing; as in college sports, it's rare in politics to debut at number one and stay there all season. But there's a darker cloud on Rudy's horizon than just some poll-- his record.
Our politics is such that we know more about Rudy's personal foibles than his performance in office: He's on his third marriage. He cut his second wife loose in a press conference. His children favor other candidates. Every other day it seems he blurts out something strange.
Rudy claimed he spent more time at Ground Zero than the rescue workers, prompting Salon's Alex Koppelman to tally up: 29 hours in 90 days, far less than the workers and, half the time he spent coming and going to Yankee games.
He told London reporters he was one of the "four or five most famous Americans in the world." It's a good thing he wasn't in Paris; he might have said he was Napoleon.
As mayor, Rudy was always popping off. When the mother of a Latino shot by police while lying on the ground called into his radio show, he talked over her, misstating key facts and blaming the victim's death on his upbringing.
Rudy hopes we'll accept his nutty truculence as the price you pay for a guy who can handle the terrorists. After 8 years of Bush's chronic distemper voters may go for the nice guy or gal, in which case he's toast. He needs an electorate fixated on terrorism so he can sell himself as sheriff.
The worst thing that could befall Rudy would be if every voter went out and bought a copy of Grand Illusion by veteran New York journalists Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins. The book is a meticulous deconstruction of Rudy's performance on his signature issue before, during and after 9/11.
Grand Illusion exposes Rudy's alleged core competency regarding terrorism as a fraud. It also mercilessly depicts the cronyism, poor judgment and cash and carry politics that were the hallmarks of his years as mayor. The book is no partisan screed, its authors being content to let the facts make their case. Some examples:
On 9/11, the heads of his police and fire departments were Bernie Kerik and Tom Von Essen. Kerik had been Rudy's driver; Von Essen a friendly union official. Between them they'd taken entry level management exams three times and failed each one.
The Office of Emergency Management was headed by another Rudy loyalist, Richard Sheirer. Sheirer spent most of his career as a fire alarm dispatcher. Along came Rudy. He was soon a senior manager in the fire department and ultimately top dog at OEM.
Rudy and his three musketeers spent 9/11 walking north from Ground Zero, searching for a command center. Over the objections of the city's public safety professionals, and prodded by Republican influence peddlers, they had put the city's emergency command center at the Twin Towers, a site deemed one of the likeliest targets of terrorist attack.
So on 9/11, Rudy and company had nowhere to go. Worse, they had no one to talk to. It had taken them two terms to select a new communication system to replace the city's 1960s vintage two-way radios. When they finally did, it was in a no bid contract with a politically wired supplier who sold them untested equipment.
The equipment never worked. On 9/11, all the firefighters had were radios the city had called "obsolete" and "totally inadequate" 11 years earlier. Rudy would later tell spellbound audiences that fireman in the towers ignored orders to evacuate. In fact they never received them.
Barrett and Collins found not one instance of Giuliani, Kerik, Von Essen or Sheirer issuing orders to anyone that day. But as Bush flew about the country, Rudy walked in plain sight and spoke defiantly. On those words and pictures his campaign rests.
Amazing as it may be, Barrett and Collins show that prior to 9/11 Rudy's interest in terrorism was virtually nil. It makes sense. How else do you end up facing catastrophe with no command structure, no command center and no communications system?
Rudy conflates terrorism with domestic crime, using his image on crime to burnish his image on terrorism. But the former is mostly smoke and mirrors. In New York City crime began to fall under Giuliani's predecessor David Dinkins. All over America crime fell throughout the nineties. The biggest drop came in the category regarded as least tractable: serious, violent, urban crime.
Demographics, economics and public policy all played a part. At a national level, Bill Clinton banned assault weapons, put 100,000 cops on the streets and used RICO laws to put away urban gang leaders. Rudy contributed, but his specialties were inflaming racial divisions after public emergencies and, of course, taking credit.
After 9/11 Rudy made a fortune billing corporations and government for "security consulting." His new company was little more than a turkey farm for Sheirer, Kerik and other hacks from his city hall days. Apart from some lobbying and PR strategy, what they sold was the chance to be identified with Rudy Giuliani, America's mayor, hero of 9/11.
Republicans desperately need new wedge issues to perpetuate their strategy of divide and conquer. Gay bashing is turning off younger voters. They've won as much of the abortion fight as they can afford to. Stem cells and creationism make them look like idiots.
In the nick of time they discover "Islamo-fascism" and just the candidate to sell it. It's a stark message: our safety lies not in vigilance or reason or rule of law or diplomacy or conservation but rather in an armed struggle so endless as to make the cold war seem like a matinée. Forget about corruption or lost liberties; they've made us an offer we can't refuse.
Hollow tough talk, ignorant ideologues, incompetence, cronyism, poorly equipped men and women putting their lives on the line-- sound like any president you know? Here's hoping Rudy falls early. It's too painful to imagine one grand illusion following another.
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Whats a matter for you, you no lika Rudy, you a communist or somtin..?
Hey Rudys ah gonna make dem an offer dey can't refuse..
cabish..?
Dont get too cocky about Hillary. She must lose at least 5 points of her unfavorbles to have a chance, making her choice of VP crucial.
If Rudy can make it a one-issue campaign, then he we has a shot. And he will get plenty of help. Do you really think that Bush will have any qualms about engineering threats to scare the public?? Threat Level is Orange for the Dems!
Incisive Comment! If anybody would pursue wh at Kerik accomplished in Iraq while Rudy was connecting with the law firm in Texas and otherwise raking in the cash, plus suggesting Kerik for Homeland Security chief the people might get an inkling of what this guy is all about. Amadou Diallo's family and the other black victioms of Rudy's over enthusiastic police force might enlighten some of his supporters to the real Rudy. WE don't even need his ridiculous personal life, the cell phone calls from his personal decider, his children's mass exodus, the numerous wives,
Democrats, Clinton and Gore, brought islamofascism war on American soil. Republicans, Bush and Cheney, brought war on islamofascism soil. Democratic president will again inflict damage to America. Only republicans is capable to protect this country from inside and outside islamofascism threat.
But who will protect us from Christofascism?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Bush president on 9/11? (I won't bother to split hairs about whether there was a war before Bush or whether Islamofascism even exists or whether Bush is actually a Republican
Islamofascism didn't exist It does now because we or should I say this administration created it. Up until 9/11 the Muslem Jiahdist were and in some cases still are a rag tag group of disorganized mad men who, if it weren't for our idiot in the white house, would still be a rag tag group of diorganized mad men. Bush by making war with Iraq has helped give them a rallying point where they can focus and organize their efforts. As to the point at hand, Rudy is a fascist and if he becomes president he will make Bush look like a picnic.
"If you're not afraid, you're a coward."
....'Rudi Giuliani bumper slogan
To add to your list of bizarre statements Rudy makes, how about his recent claim that he was pursuing Arafat in 1985 before anyone knew who the man was. Eleven years earlier, however, Arafat graced the cover of Time magazine.
I wish Democrats were capable of learning. If they were, they would take a play from a winning, albeit base mentality, playbook and every time they were asked any question about anything they would bring it around to say things like, "Bush has sworn to veto healthcare for children. CHILDREN! Giuliani claims (fill in the blanks with several of Rudy's wild claims)." We allowed the press and the right to do it to Gore. We allowed the press and the right to do it to Kerry. WAKE UP!
Rudy knows what Rove has always known, if you say it enough times, it becomes true. Could we please get in on some of that action and not give away another election.
Great blog and it is so true. More people need to know the truth about Giuliani. Unfortunately, most of the main stream media talks Rudy up as being a 9/11 hero. If only blogs like this were aired on TV so that most ordinary Americans would be informed about the "real Rudy", he wouldn't be higher than single digits in the polls, even among Republicans.
One other thing, in the Republican debates Giuliani has said he would favor use of "enhanced interrogation" methods against terrorist suspects..
Somebody please tell Rudy that 9/11 was all about the Carlyle Group, Bush's Daddy, and the Bush's family ties to BinLaden's family and the Saudis. And if the media dick-waggers would be so kind as to hammer him about the radios and why the command center was moved, Rudy will show his true colors as a bald, cross-dressing bullshit artist.
I won't vote for him...
If we're all lucky, Rudy will keep answering his cell phone during taped engagements, like he did last week while speaking to the NRA. It's a nice illustration of what a certified nut case he is that he thinks that pretending to talk to his wife (you know it was some staff lacky) was somehow HOMEY or FOLKSY or maybe, LIKABLE? Keep up the good work Rudy. And I can say the same for Fred "Lazyboy" Thompson, who can't be bothered to express an opinion unless it's at a paid appearance on the Tonight Show or a hand-held video interview in the back of his limo. These are the guys you want running the country, right?
Is it true that folks can run for office just to get campaign funds? Is it true they can keep unspent private donations or otherwise when they get out of the race and/or lose?
I'm thinking Fred is only running to get more money for his family. He's not serious about winning and is just playing by the rules and stringing out his campaign in order to keep some of the money when it's all over. Excuse my ignorance, I'm asking, can they do that? keep the left over money when the race is over?
Rudy is a nut and that is why there is a good chance that my fellow citizens just might elect him.
If we want another 4 years of cronyism, imcompetance, lies, swagger and smirking - then I say, by all means lets vote for Rudy. It's worked so well for George and the gang.
He's "all Gucci, no condo." (I think that might be the NY equivalent of "all hat no cattle.")
Just about all of the Republican candidates are unabashed crackpots. And as the head of this class of philistines, Rudy may be even more idiotic than George W. Bush, as hard as that is to imagine.
Well I guess you're in for a tough 8 years.
2009-2017
Our current weariness of a petulant, stubborn, ill-suited and unprepared leader won't translate well to any of the Republican candidates ... and most especially to the overbearing and always camera-ready Rudy.
We also like our first ladies to be ... well, quite frankly, ladies. First Onetime Mistress might be a bit cruel to say, but even without stating the obvious, I believe a great many people won't be able to keep that fact from the back of their minds.
I don't want another president who claims to be my protector-daddy. Next time, I'd like someone who can think their way out of a paper bag. We've already experienced a stubborn Decider-in-Chief, much to America's dismay and detriment.
Next time, can we have someone who actually engages other leaders in thoughtful conversation, rather than a "we're kicking ass" cowboy?
Next time, can we elect a president who would rather guide us into peaceful leadership, rather than one who would like to plunge us into a religious Armageddon nightmare?
Ah, but these are just the dreams of a simple woman.
Have a good day all,
Ani
Keep dreaming because while you can put 'we're kicking ass cowboy' on TV , you can't put 'think thier way out of a paper bag' on TV.
Ahh Ani, I have the same dream. Fortunately there is one such candidate a man of peace and vision that can lead America out of the terrible mess these idiots have gotten us into. Naturally the establishment loves this mess as they can make great profit out of the war and the health care insurance boondoggle so they ignore or ridicule Dennis Kucinich as a kook. Kucinich will win the debate tomorrow nite as he has every debate he has been in and after watch the pundits ask each other"so who do you think won - Hillary or Obama?
The stakes are too high to keep putting up with these pandering tweedledums. Kucinich for President!
Great post - hopefully people will look past the curtin at the real Rudy and as was said about Oakland, CA - "There is no there, there."
After 9/11, a lot of people (too many, actually) were calling Rudy "America's Mayor". Kind of makes you wish for city manager form of government. You only have to look at how he treats people who disagree with him or are not in a position to help him or for that matter, how he treats his ex-wives. Hopefully, Judith has some sort of exit strategy in mind for when that day comes because based on past history, with Rudy, the day always comes.
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