Why Rudy Wasn't in Iowa on Tuesday

Iowa caucus goers will cast their first ballots in the 2008 presidential race in just five weeks, and Rudy Giuliani, trailing rival Mitt Romney in the Hawkeye State, needs to spend every available moment campaigning there.

Yet on Tuesday, Rudy could instead be found in a state whose April primary has for years meant little to the presidential nominating process. He was drawn to Pittsburgh by matters of friendship, loyalty and respect -- concepts seldom broached with focus groups and direct messaging.

"I needed to come here today," he said to me.

Rudy came to the Iron City to honor a friend we had in common, the Honorable Jay C. Waldman, who left this earth at age 58 in 2003 after a battle with lung cancer. Judge Waldman sat on the federal bench in Philadelphia for almost 15 years. He was formerly general counsel to Gov. Dick Thornburgh.

Gov. Thornburgh has since donated his papers to the University of Pittsburgh, where the Dick Thornburgh Forum in Law & Public Policy has been established. Within that facility, Thornburgh honored Judge Waldman with the naming of the Judge Jay C. Waldman Seminar Room, which was dedicated in a private ceremony on Tuesday.

I think the fact that Rudy Giuliani would interrupt his presidential campaign at a time when he is in a dogfight with Romney to pay homage to an old friend who has been gone for more than four years speaks well of Rudy's character. And it offers more insight into to him than any combination of 30-second ads or debate appearances ever will.

Seeing him in this context was a reminder that I had seen the way he supported his friend in the direst of circumstances a few years ago. When our good friend Jay was terribly and fatally ill for several weeks in the winter and spring of 2003, Rudy was there, too.

Even then, he was enmeshed in a schedule that could only be described as world-class, yet he came to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital -- far from the cameras, pollsters and advance men -- to participate in a process for which there is no playbook. Without fanfare, he constantly made himself available and provided comfort, caring and compassion.

I know. I watched. And was touched.

Rudy and Jay met in 1975 when both were young prosecutors in Gerald Ford's Justice Department. They were drawn to one another by their love of law, their intellect and ethics (and probably a little cigar smoke).

Jay was a Pittsburgh native who earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and his law degree in 1969 at Penn.

He clerked for a state court judge in Pittsburgh before briefly entering private practice. He joined the federal prosecutor's office in Pittsburgh in 1971.

Thornburgh was then the U.S. attorney, and it was in this era that Jay met Rudy.

In 1988, Jay was nominated to the federal bench by a man both he and Rudy admired: Ronald Reagan. And one month before Jay's passing, President Bush nominated him to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

When Jay died, Rudy told the Inquirer that he so valued Jay's political advice that he consulted him before deciding to run for mayor of New York. "I think he had the brightest political mind in the country," Rudy said of our mutual friend.

I remember that one of Jay's dying wishes was to dance at Rudy's wedding. He never got that chance. Only Rudy was more brokenhearted than Jay.

I wish the people of Iowa knew where Rudy was on Tuesday.

Comments

[Nommo]

Wasn't he in the Hamptons? A P.Diddy production, I'm sure.

[RagingJerseyBoy]

No one questions that Giuliani is loyal to his friends (cronies). So is Bush. Bush has his good old boys from Texas and Giuliani has his network in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. These are the people who have supported him and helped bolster his career, catapulting to where he is today. Does that make me like Rudy any better? Of course not. A true reflection of Rudy's character is his estranged relationship with his children and how he treated his ex-wife.

[Cybesq]

Too bad Giuliani didn't care enough about his Judge pal to get him to stop smoking cigars. So much easier to show up for a dedication than to actually take a stand against an unhealthy vice.

So far Rudy, a fellow cigar smoker, has collected over $60,000 in contributions from big tobacco. In fact, Rudy is the favorite candidate of the tobacco and gambling industries.

As for "loyalty", ask one of his ex-wives, or maybe even his children who won't speak to him.

I wonder if given the choice between visiting the dying Honorable Jay C. Waldman, and his South Hampton squeeze (billed to tax payers apparently), which choice Rudy made more frequently. I bet I know.

[OddManOut]

When I saw your name in the list of bloggers, I couldn't believe it.

Let me say that I and others welcome people from the other side of the aisle to share viewpoints and participate in a discussion of issues. While I don't agree with much of what I have heard you say or read, it doesn't mean that I won't listen and discuss.

Keep blogging here and ignore the idiots.

[FearlessFreep]

BTW, Judge Waldman's record includes using a technicality to reject a petition to save Mumia abu-Jamal.

What fine company Giuliani keeps!

[LutherBrixton]

"He was drawn to Pittsburgh by matters of friendship, loyalty and respect -- concepts seldom broached with focus groups and direct messaging."

By those standards wouldn't members of the mafia be presidential material?

I think the past 7 horrific years of mass incompetence and criminal stupidity have shown the value of blind "loyalty and friendship". Brownie, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Libby, Gonzalez, etc. Not just a disasterous way to conduct leadership, but also a guaranteed way to ensure countless deaths and long term damage to the country. No more "loyalty and friendship" in the White House, please!

[Tennessean]

Yeah, he's a great guy, our Rudy! He announced he was leaving his wife in a news conference, after stealing taxpayer's money set aside for the poor so he could enjoy his excellent steamy summer of love in the Hamptons boinking Judy on the taxpayer's dime!

WHAT A GUY!

[DanBest]

Oh, Mike, you can barely contain yourself, can you?

I'll give you credit for coming on this site and talking up Rudy when most of your fellow travelers have no interest in serious engagements with the opposition. For that, and your consistent posting on this site, I respect you. Now if you could just get some of your rightwing buddies to pull their collective heads out of their asses we may be able to get somewhere.

[PaMike]

What the hell was Guiliani doing in 2003 that was so "world class" ? Milking the 9/11 teat for speaking fees, getting paid for no-show celebrity board positions, shilling for GOP candidates. Please, don't insult us!

[eddiegeorge]

"They were drawn to one another by their love of law, their intellect and ethics."

Well gee, I can only guess this love of law and ethics lasted as long as a Giuliani marriage.

[SteveD]

Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 by Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins (Hardcover - Aug 22, 2006)

Giuliani: Nasty Man by Edward I. Koch (Paperback - Jun 25, 2007)

The Full Rudy: The Man, the Myth, the Mania (Nation Books) by Jack Newfield (Paperback - Dec 16, 2002)

[jbstonesfan]

Thornburgh is a complete ass.

[lakat]

Did you expect to get tears of sympathy here? I think I have enough information to guage Rudy's character and let me tell you, my eyes are dry and open wide. Good try though. Loyalty is very big in crime families. I'm just sayin'.

[flatus]

OK, Mike. Good job. You can cash your check now.

[RedRooster]

The author picked the wrong day to serve up this pablum about Rudy's character...seeing as how this morning, Rudy is now embroiled in yet another ethics problem stemming from his, well,

lack of character.