Chiming In On Giuliani

by tristero

Just a brief post to say that as a New Yorker, I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by Digby and Glenn Greenwald below in re: Giuliani (and as far as I’m concerned, it’s not “Rudy,” an affectionate moniker which humanizes him the way “Arnold” did a certain Nazi-lover, and “W” did the worst president ever) . He would be one of the worst conceivable replacements for Bush. When he was mayor of New York, he alienated the black community and many others. He was known to be exceedingly histrionic, vindictive, self-righteous, and petty, all so extreme that on occasion, many doubted his mental health. Had it not been for 9/11, he would be remembered as, at best, a mediocre mayor.

In regards to Giuliani and 9/11. Much has been written about Giuliani’s fake heroism for his behavior on 9/11 (links to come) and responsiblity for the failures in the response. Now I’m sure to get some strong objections to this, but… My recollection of the time, was that Giuliani – in public – acted very much as one might hope the mayor of of a stricken community would act. That is especially true when I recall the widespread panic, confusion, and cowardice exhibited by the Bush administration, especially by Bush himself. If this is an illusion, it remains a commonly-held illusion, even among those of us who otherwise loathe much of what Giuliani did and the way he did it. Fighting this perception will be very hard.

I think the point should be made, over and over again, that Giuliani’s behavior on 9/11 says less about Giuliani than it does about the utter lack of character and competence of the Bush administration. Giuliani’s character is easily spoken for by noting that the Bush administration is one which Giuliani has gone out of his way to support and defend.

It is just not that exceptional for mayors, governors, and presidents to behave appropriately during emergencies. That’s part of their job. What is truly aberrant is for any official, let alone the president, to remain for 7 long minutes reading a children’s book after s/he has been informed the country is under attack. In fact, that’s bizarre beyond belief.

So yes, compared to Bush, Giuliani looked competent and brave on 9/11. Golly.

Ths country needs a far more competent and stable person than Rudolph Giuliani to be its president. “More stable than Bush under pressure” is hardly a positive reccomendation.

Fortunately, it appears that the Democrats already have several candidates running who are not merely competent and stable, but downright superb people, any one of which would, if the campaign is run effectively and the press doesn’t fall at Giuliani’s feet (too big ifs), demonstrate how truly unfit for president Giuliani is, if he, God help us, becomes the Republican candidate in ’08.