Earlier this week, in an interview with the , Barack Obama laid out a foreign policy that called for bilateral discussions with Iran regarding the dismantlement of its nuclear program. Apparently that was for Rudolph Giuliani. The former NY Mayor wants a more combative approach with Iran -- regime that has grown more powerful ever since the start of the war in Iraq, which Giuliani supported:
"This may be one of the few areas in which I agree with HillaryClinton," Giuliani said, "that Barack Obama in this area shows a greatdeal of – a great deal of inexperience and very, very naïve. This islike, you know, begging your enemy to negotiate with you. You don’t begyour enemy to negotiate with you; you change the leverage."
Begging your enemy? This is your typical example of what it means to '.' They teach this in philosophy:
Straw Man: A made-up version of an opponent’s argument that can easily be defeated.
At least we know beforehand what kind of campaign Rudolph Giuliani will run.
Towards the end of the presidential debate, Joe Biden said that as nominee he would to Rudolph Giuliani:
"And the irony is, Rudy Giuliani, probably the most underqualified mansince George Bush to seek the presidency, is here talking about any ofthe people here. Rudy Giuliani... I mean, think about it! RudyGiuliani. There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- anoun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else! There's nothing else! AndI mean this sincerely. He's genuinely not qualified to be president."
Mildly funny, but definitely true. Immediately after the debate ended, Giuliani's campaign issued a response:
“Senator Biden’s comments were of particular interest. The good Senatoris quite correct that there are many differences between Rudy and him.For starters, Rudy rarely reads prepared speeches and when he does heisn’t prone to ripping off the text from others. And, Senator Bidencertainly falls in to the bucket of those on the stage tonight who havenever had executive experience and have never run anything. Wait, Itake that back, Senator Biden has never run anything but his mouth.
“Such a desperate attack from Senator Biden is to be expectedconsidering I – Katie Levinson – have a better chance of becomingPresident than he does.â€
And what did Giuliani actually do after 9/11, since that is what he is running on? Oh yeah -- he at Yankees games than he did with 9/11 rescue workers.
As people questioned as a legitimate campaign tool, his campaign turned to another Republican wedge issue: Hillary Clinton.
The 1980 Reagan Revolution brought social wedge issues into the forefront -- mainly guns, god and gays -- which Republicans used to hold onto power in each even election year. Being that Giuliani is pro-gun control, does not wear his religion on his sleeve and is relatively tolerant of the gay community (compared to the other GOP candidates), he needed to invent a whole new wedge issue. His is :
The truth of the matter is, however, that Giuliani needs Clinton tocontinue to look like the frontrunner if he wants to have the bestchance of winning the Republican nomination next year.
Why?
It's no secret that Giuliani is far more moderate/liberal on socialissues like abortion, gay rights and gun control than the averageRepublican caucus or primary voter. Giuliani has largely neutralizedattacks from his rivals on these matters with a two-pronged message:you may not agree with me on everything but I am the best leader inthis field and I am the only candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton.
The latter appeal to electability has become more and more a part ofGiuliani's pitch to Republican voters. "We would have to view ourselvesas the underdogs and we should give ourselves the best chance to win,"Giuliani said in our interview late last week.
And for good reason. In a late September NBC/Wall Street Journalpoll, Republican voters were asked which of their candidates had thebest chance of defeating Clinton in the general election. Giuliani took47 percent as compared to 16 percent for former Sen. Fred Thompson(Tenn.), 14 percent for Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and eight percent forformer Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.).
It is no wonder that Giuliani does not spend time on actual issues. He would not be able to win the GOP nomination that way.
As far as Hillary Clinton, if she is a wedge issue in of herself, then Democratic voters might want to find a more electable candidate.
If Rudolph Giuliani had been able to deny that his campaign was based on fear, his ability to do just that ran out today. Yes, this was a supporter, not the campaign that did this. Still -- Giuliani and his supporters have succeeded in every chance they get:
A spokeswoman for Rudy Giuliani says it is unfortunate that a supporterthrowing a party that aims to raise $9.11 per person for theRepublican's presidential campaign is asking for that amount.
Abraham Sofaer is having a fundraiser at his Palo Alto, California,home on Wednesday, when Giuliani backers across the country areparticipating in the campaign's national house party night.
But Sofaer said he had nothing to do with the "$9.11 for Rudy" theme.
Then who did?
It just shows that the only messages the Republican Party has going for it today are filtered down to the public in the form of themes and slogans -- not ideas. Justin, a contributor to this site, put it well during a column last month:
The Right packages up talking point slogans and bores them into theheads of the American people. "Terrorists hate our Freedom. Iraq ismaking Progress. Democrats want to 'cut and run.' We fight them thereso we don't have to fight them here."
Without context, these slogans mean nothing. But through the miracle of incessant repetition, people start to buy into it.
Giuliani, 9/11, New York Mayor, 9/11, fought the mafia, 9/11, cleaned up New York, 9/11. Oh, and before I forget -- 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.
It's disturbing that a mayor who for an event like 9/11 is now making a presidential campaign out of it.
Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani was campaigning in one of those little-known battleground states this week; the United Kingdom. Not able to resist an opportunity for a photo op with conservative icon Margaret Thatcher in a London hotel lobby, Giuliani proudly declared, (Interestingly enough, most of the people gathered in the hotel were paying attention to Dustin Hoffman as he walked through the lobby.)
Well I know who Rudy is, but not the way he wants me to. The Rudy Giuliani I know:
regarding the location of the Emergency Command Center, which had to be abandoned and cost emergency responder lives
Refused to , preventing different emergency response units to communicate with one another
Did not disclose knowledge of high levels of , now causing severe respiratory illness in cleanup workers
So I guess he’s right. He is probably one of the best known living American former mayors. And he’s one of the best known living Americans; providing you remove Presidents, Artists, Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Athletes.
If I had screwed up as much as this guy has, I certainly wouldn’t be touting my actions as great accomplishments. If anything, I would downplay them and discuss something else. But Giuliani keeps banging the 9/11 drum so much, that I honestly don’t know where he stands on any other issues. As Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson aptly said, “.â€
But if this election thing doesn’t work out for him, at least he has his fame to fall back on.
It's his way or the highway. Rudolph Giuliani's security credentials have already been thrown into question after from city officials before 9/11 to move the emergency response command center outside the World Trade Center. As a result, on 9/11 Giuliani had to conduct emergency management from a trailer.
Giuliani's people skills are being thrown into question as well. An article this morning in the cites his record on education as just one example of the former New York mayor's inability to compromise:
New York City schools went through eight years of political chaosduring Giuliani's terms, which ended in 2002. His bare-knuckle tacticscontributed to the departure of three chancellors, according tointerviews with former school administrators, Board of Educationmembers, teachers, parents, union officials and outside experts.
He left behind an expired union contract, an army of angryteachers and a school system that by his own admission was stilldelivering inferior educations to hundreds of thousands of students.
How Giuliani handled education provides a window into his potentialpolitical skills as a U.S. president, especially in terms of the way hemanaged people and his refusal to compromise on issues big and small.
"I don't think he achieved anywhere near what he wanted toachieve," said Joseph P. Viteritti, an early Giuliani administrationadvisor and now a professor of public policy at Hunter College, part ofthe City University of New York. "There were no significant changes inthe system while he was there. He tended to make enemies. He was verytough and abrupt. I think his instincts were right, but sometimes heoverplayed it and caused a reaction against himself."
Giuliani fought with administrators, board members and statelegislators over budgets, union contracts, vouchers, gay toleranceeducation, lunchroom supervision, curriculum, testing, social promotionand summer school, among much else.
As far as funding was concerned:
"While Giuliani was the mayor, things did not improve," said CarolGresser, a former city education board president who was the swing votebetween liberals and conservatives. "The system was denied the money itneeded. I was on the board for eight years and it was constantly,'Let's cut back on the school system.' "
She added: "He demonized the school system."
Yet, this is the same former mayor that the traditional media already painted as reformist, heroic and decisive.
GOP presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani cared more about attending paid speaking engagements than serving out his tenure as a member of the . That's right -- the former New York City mayor was actually an of the Iraq Study Group. But after being a no-show for two of its meetings, and deciding instead to give paid speeches elsewhere, he quit the group.
If you think this underscores his lack of leadership, what was even worse was for stepping down:
Giuliani said the main reason he quit was that it "didn't seem that Iwould really be able to keep the thing focused on a bipartisan,nonpolitical resolution."
So in other words, Giuliani is admitting that he would have let political calculation impact the findings of what was meant to be a fact-based document about the most pressing issue facing our country.
And this guy thinks he should be our next president? What is to stop him from choosing political expediency over realism when he is in office?
As Rudy always , it's all about trusting your leaders:
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 and how you do it.
But what then happens if our leaders use that authority to mislead people and politicize the truth?
Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there. We're lite on posts today, but we'll be back up to full speed at midnight eastern tonight with the nightowl clips.
Meanwhile, new are in from South Carolina, which are great news for Obama and Thompson. Obama, within the last month, has vaulted ahead of Clinton. Here are the numbers. First, the Democrats:
South Carolina Democrats Barack Obama - 35% Hillary Clinton - 24% John Edwards - 12% Joe Biden - 2% Undecided - 24%
Now to the Republicans. Thompson, who is scheduled to announce his run for the White House in July, leads Giuliani, Romney and McCain:
South Carolina Republicans Fred Thompson - 25% Rudolph Giuliani - 21% Mitt Romney - 11% John McCain - 7% Mike Huckabee - 5% Undecided - 28%
Maybe it's not some coincidence that the two candidates on top, Obama and Thompson, are thought of as Washington-outsiders. People on both sides of the spectrum are sick of business as usual in Washington and want change.
Many conservatives are uneasy about Rudolph Giuliani's stances on . To try and win the hearts of these particular voters, the Giuliani Campaign unveiled what it calls -- reminiscent of the :
1. I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on Us. 2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, and identify every non-citizen in our nation. 3. I will restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending. 4. I will cut taxes and reform the tax code. 5. I will impose accountability on Washington. 6. I will lead America towards energy independence. 7. I will give Americans more control over, and access to, healthcare with affordable and portable free-market solutions. 8. I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children. 9. I will reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges. 10. I will ensure that every community in America is prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters. 11. I will provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents. 12. I will expand America’s involvement in the global economy and strengthen our reputation around the world.
Maybe it was smart for Giuliani to write his own commandments. If he went by the Christian ones, he has already violated a few -- in particular, the one about :
Giuliani informed his second wife, Donna Hanover, of his intention toseek a separation in a 2000 press conference. The announcement wasprecipitated by a tabloid frenzy after Giuliani marched with histhen-mistress, Judith Nathan, in New York's St. Patrick's Day parade,an acknowledgement of infidelity so audacious that Daily News columnistJim Dwyer compared it with "groping in the window at Macy's." In theacrid divorce proceedings that followed, Hanover accused Giuliani ofserial adultery, alleging that Nathan was just the latest in a stringof mistresses, following an affair the mayor had had with his formercommunications director.
At least Giuliani is not as hypocritical as Newt Gingrich, who while he backing Clinton's impeachment.
Fearmonger extraordinaire, Rudolph Giuliani, struck again in this week's :
... I think the Republican Party can unite around two major principles ... being on offense against terrorism -- unlike the Democrats, who are on defense against terrorism. And you saw that two nights ago here. They couldn't even utter the words "Islamic terrorism." It's our biggest enemy. They couldn't utter it. We need somebody who can stand up to that.
If you can't win on your merits and visions as a leader, scaring the hell out of people is quite a good strategy, despite the obvious desperation. Here's another quote that may make you want to stay inside, in your basement, in a bomb shelter, with your hands over your eyes:
Iran is not 10 years away from nuclear weapons. And the danger to us is not just missiles. The danger to us is a state like Iran handing nuclear weapons over to terrorists.
Not 10 years away? Based on the hearsay that passed for intelligence in 2001, I'm inclined to require more proof than a former mayor supposing something is so. How about another:
And during the debate the other night, the Democrats seemed to be back in the 1990s. They don't seem to have gotten beyond the Cold War. Iran is a threat, a nuclear threat, not just because they can deliver a nuclear warhead with missiles. They're a nuclear threat because they are the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and they can hand nuclear materials to terrorists.
Right, they are in close negotitions with several terrorists who would take the nuclear material, simply develop a nuclear bomb in their cave, then overnight it to Manhattan. Could happen tomorrow.
At least he's consistent though. Let's look at his fear mongering from :
When you had this debate last week and all the Democrats were up here, I never remember the words "Islamic fundamentalist terrorism" being spoken by any of them. And I heard it a lot tonight.
You sure did hear it a lot. That's how you brainwash people. That's how you market an idea: by repeating it. And one for the road:
We are facing an enemy that is planning all over this world, and it turns out planning inside our country, to come here and kill us...They hate you!
The scariest thing here is the prospect of Giuliani becoming President. His entire platform appears to be to get the nation so on edge about the propect of Muslims killing us that even the slightest thing would push us over the edge...again.
So despite Giuliani's stark predictions of our future if he is not elected, or worse, a Democrat is elected, this is how he laughably responded to the question of "how do we get back to Ronald Reagan's morning in America?"
We get back to it with optimism.
Now that's advice I will use - and it's precisely why I'm currently supporting Senator Barack Obama's campaign.
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