The Funniest Political Joke I've Ever Heard

As if the video "Gathering Storm" wasn't funny enough, now comes perhaps the funniest punchline of all from the right: former mayor and failed presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has begun a campaign to re-brand himself as the family values candidate should he run for Governor of New York.

I know you're probably laughing so hard that you nearly fell off your chair, but I assure you this is not a joke. I mean it is a joke, but not one that I made up.

In a recent interview with the New York Post Giuliani explained that he believes Governor David Paterson's support of gay marriage could prove to be a political albatross for the Democratic Party. According to Giuliani the issue "will create a grass-roots movement. This is the kind of issue that, in many ways, is somewhat beyond politics." He went on to explain that while he supports civil unions for gay couples, "Marriage," he believes, "both traditionally and legally, has always been between a man and a woman and should remain between a man and woman."

This coming from a man who believes so strongly in the sanctity of "traditional" marriage that he is currently giving it a third go round. The same man who lived with a committed gay couple after his second wife put him out for dallying with the woman who is now his third.

Here's the thing. I actually think that what goes on between consenting adults, politicians or otherwise (as long as no law is being broken) is absolutely none of my business. People marry. People divorce. All of which has no relevance to a campaign unless the candidate in question chooses to make it relevant, and sounding like a hypocrite is a really easy way to do that. As conservative blogger Danielle Crittenden said so eloquently during our recent appearance on CNN's Reliable Sources regarding the Obama cabinet's tax woes, [I'm paraphrasing], "If you're going to be the party that supports raising taxes, you should probably pay your own. Just as if conservatives want to be the party that espouses sexual morality they should probably avoid getting caught up in sex scandals."

Rudy Giuliani is entitled to whatever political beliefs he wishes. That's the beauty of living in a free country. But if you are the president of the NRA it's probably best not to run for president of the United States on a platform of gun control and with his attempt to make himself over as some sort of conservative family values candidate, Rudy is doing just that.

I didn't think it would be possible for another party to become more of a laughingstock in New York politics than the Dems already are between the Spitzer-Paterson-Kennedy-Cuomo-Gillibrand soap opera that has been playing out for the last year, but if Giuliani runs, the Dems might just end up with the last laugh.

www.keligoff.com

Comments

[Snowball]

The sad fact is that the Corporate Media, being little more than a willing PR tool for Republicans, will help Giuliani reinvent himself. Discredited Republicans never go away, they just resurface in the media born anew, their past transgressions ignored. Think Newt Gingrich, George Allen, David Vitter, Ollie North, Tom Delay, the list goes on and on.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

I agree with you to a point, Snowball. The Corporate Media might as well be the 'MediaTrix', and everyone is in their thrall, to some degree.

However, Gingrich, North, and Delay now have as much 'street cred' as The New York Post. And Giuliani has descended to that level himself.

The public's own intelligence knows far better than the MediaTrix would believe. If Rudy wants to play the staunch moralist, he'll be laughed off the stage. As he was in the GOP Presidential primary.

[JohnBisceglia]

I think Rudy feels bad that he was one of the FEW heterosexual mayors of N.Y. state.

[mcfried]

Desperate little hypocrite. The worst part of this story is the man is adopting bigotry for political gain. This was a man who used to represent a socially moderate face for the GOP. This is just proof that there is no redeeming features left in the GOP.

[Beowoof]

His whole career rise from the abyss was on the deaths of over 3 thousand Americans, so why wouldn't he use a standard demagogue snake-oil sales trick?

[Beowoof]

Oh yea, also his effectiveness with a bullhorn can't be denied.

[BarryS]

of course his first was annulled because it was between cousins, but the second?? after 20 years an annulment seems like a pay-off. Actually, the church should have issued an excommunication, not an annulment. but then, he is one of the [supposed] powerful.

[TheWanderer]

Marriage is and always has been a a union between a man and a series of women.

[BarryS]

no, not a series of women: WOMEN. read the bible. we now require it to be sequential, but no biblical biggie thought it that way. actually, these one-man, one woman proponents are anti-bible.

[openhand]

The only threat to marriage is divorce, and it seems it's ok.

[FearlessFreep]

Actually, the only threat to marriage is unhappy marriages.

[RepugsOut08]

You've painted up your lips and combed over your fading hair
Oh Rudy are you contemplating going out somewhere?
Just because Obama's so popular, don't let it get cha down
Oh Rudy, don't take your love to town

I know it wasn't you who started that old crazy Iraq war
But Rudy you supported it, that makes you Bush's whor@
That dress you put on for SNL, was it just to act the clown?
Oh Rudy, don't take your love to town

He's headin' out 'cause I can hear the slammin' of the door
Dressed up like Cher just like he's done a thousand times before
And if I had just what he needs, I could make him turn around
Oh Rudy, don't take your love to town
Oh Rudy, for the GOP's sake turn around

[Raleigh Dave]

Rudy does believe in marriage between a man and a woman.

Three Times

[Raleigh Dave]

Jullie-Annie was so liberal when he was Mayor of NYC, he marched in the Gay Pride Parade and donated to Planned Parenthood, then he makes a feeble run for the White House and becomes a born-again Republi-thug. Anti-gay, pro-life, blah blah blah.

The only thing going for him is 9/11 and all those great community organizers that donated their time, money, blood and sweat to help clean up ground zero.

I wonder what all those community organizers think of him now.

[VJ2008]

Gulliani should take a class on community organizing, ha. He sold his soul to the devil that fateful night at the republican convention when he mocked President Obama for be a good community organizer. Sure paid off for him, didn't it.

[PhilipB]

yes, you tell the truth!

[Temsi]

"I actually think that what goes on between consenting adults, politicians or otherwise (as long as no law is being broken) is absolutely none of my business."

So what happens if there are laws that limit what goes on between consenting adults?

Judging by your writing, you're obviously for gay rights and marriage equality, but that sentence is very poorly constructed as it actually contradicts your opinion completely and feels more like an afterthought.

Some states still have laws outlawing sodomy - which in something most people do in private.
Most states still consider gay marriage illegal (not banned in so many words, just not permitted)

So what you're really saying is: "what goes on between consenting adults, as long as it's not whatever sexual act deemed illegal by the state and as long as it's not a marriage that has been deemed illegal by the state, is none of my business."
That extra phrase in the parentheses was completely unnecessary.

The line simply should read:
What happens between two or more consenting adults, is none of our business.

[Strepsi]

@Temsi - at first I thought you were a grammar-troll, but you are right. Some of the laws themselves are wrong. Or, as Canada's great late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau put it when he (as Justice Minister) decriminalized homosexuality in Canada in 1968:
"THE STATE HAS NO PLACE IN THE BEDROOMS OF THE NATION."

[PhilipB]

thank you, stepsi!

[Isis N]

Thank you! Best quote of the day!

[mishi]

Sorry, Temsi...get with the program. Sodomy laws were overturned nationwide by a Supreme Court decision six years ago.

[Clavis]

Republicans fight for the rights of "potential humans" and concepts/words like "marriage". Real people who need actual help? Ah... not so much.

[Strepsi]

Don;t forget they also insist we fight against abstractions and emotions, like the "War on Drugs" and "The War on Terror"

[Raleigh Dave]

A definition of a War is a conflict with one side winning.

When it comes to drugs and terror, I don't see our side winning.

[JohnBisceglia]

I.E. - "War on Educated Adults" :-)

[bkbzipper]

There's a lot of talk about marriage equality, as it should be, but there's a big population of bi-national same-sex couples that cannot even be together, and would love some EQUAL rights, with the same restrictions and rules as our straight counterparts to sponsor our loved ones. Please check www.immigrationequality.org, and please help. There have been a few stories in the Huffington Post, THANK YOU, regarding United American Families Act and what it would mean for those of us who have been forced to lived separately. We just want some equality, we don't want to change anyone's religious beliefs, but I think everyone has a right to equality in a land supposedly based on equality, freedom of religion, and justice for ALL.

[bekhuff]

Okay, wow, thank you. I've been through the immigration process and that particularly odd appointment where I somehow must prove that my marriage is "real" enough. I am ashamed to say it never occurred to me to contemplate the impossibility of immigrating to be with your loved one if your loved one happens to be of the same gender.

I will follow up. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and to others'!

[binarystar]

Two words: weirdness factor

[rascalcat]

That was a good one, Kelli! But of course everything the GOP is now doing has great and unintended comedy potential. The GOP is the SNL of this decade.