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Former mayor Rudy Giuliani is in Florida today, skipping the Iowa caucus that his team never counted on anyway. Still, his staffers are trying to remain relevant in Iowa by "contacting reporters, reminding them that even though the former New York mayor is lagging badly [in Iowa]...he will remain a player in the big states that hold their primaries in upcoming weeks."
We kept Giuliani on the brain by reading Elizabeth Kolbert's New Yorker feature in this week's New Yorker. The essay goes over some of Giuliani's greatest blunders (like hiring the son of the Liberal Party chairman to head the Housing Development Corporation, only for the hire to eventually embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars), personality and general working dynamic. Our favorite quote:
Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, who served as commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration under Giuliani, has described the dynamic among the Mayor’s top aides—the so-called “yes-Rudy’s”—this way: “If Rudy would say, ‘Let’s kill twelve-year-olds,’ there would be a deep silence in the room and then somebody would say, ‘That’s brilliant! ’ And then somebody else would say, ‘Have you thought of thirteen-year-olds, too?’ ”Our second favorite quote is from Jerome Hauer, who started the Office of Emergency Management during the Giuliani administration. Hauer, who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Kolbert, “From my perspective, Rudy would be a very dangerous President. And I think people need to be very frightened of him. When you look at the way he picked battles unnecessarily as mayor, imagine if he’s got nuclear weapons at his disposal."
Another way Giuliani might try to remind the public he's around is some very provocative advertising that involves images of Middle East violence - and the remains of the World Trade Center. See the ad after the jump:
VOICEOVER: “An enemy without borders. Hate without boundaries. A people perverted. A religion betrayed. A nuclear power in chaos. Madmen bent on creating it. Leaders assassinated. Democracy attacked. And Osama bin Laden still making threats. In a world where the next crisis is a moment away… America needs a leader who’s ready.”All class!MAYOR GIULIANI: “I’m Rudy Giuliani and I approved this message.”
The New Yorker also has a Giuliani Time quiz. And the Guardian's Iowa caucus FAQ is pretty cute and helpful, even for American registered voters.
Photograph of Giuliani in New Hampshire yesterday by Jim Cole/AP
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I swear, I thought that video was a Parody!
Did they get Don LaFontaine to do the voice over?
WOW! Can the 9/11 Whore go any lower??
So... Rudy has decided to "write off" Iowa voters. That's exactly the way he ran his two terms as mayor, "writing off" those who he felt wouldn't help his further political ambitions. Rudy wrote off all of the city's African-American voters, the NYCPD (after he used them to get elected), the FDNY (asking for two-way radios that would actually work!), the teachers, the municipal workers... basically those who weren't wealthy and white.
One of the few good laughs that I've had lately is reading that the more time & money Rudy spends in New Hampshire the lower his numbers there drop. They're getting to see the evil, Machivellian plotter who has turned his back on every ideal & principle that he once held and doublecrossed every friend and allied whom he once had.
Rudy: get ready for history to write you off!
If you can't get any support in Iowa you probably won't for the rest of middle america or the south as a republican - and you won't win the big states such as cali, il, and new york cause they are democrats.
Apparently not, SD.
Though Rudy writing off Iowa reminds me of the time I wrote off the prom after my girlfriend broke up with me.
Something tells me he should start thinking about writing off the Granite State as well.
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop on this, but... having said that... Rudy's drop in the polls has renewed my faith in some parts of this land. Maybe trying to make people comfortable with their prejudices and scare the shit out of them as a political tactic has had its day. Who knows.
If you strip away the whole '9/11' hero nonsense, Ghouliani is nothing but a two bit creep, and not much of a politician. He always gets credit for 'cleaning up New York' (even though a lot of great things were bulldozed in the process), but NYC was cleaned up because the economy improved. Simple as that. Plus, all his buddies are Grade A criminals, he treated his wife like garbage, and the list goes on and on.
ED, you are a moron, 1995-1998 murder fell almost by half. Check Compstat. That wasnt the economy idiot.
My favorite quote is.
For all the reasons that he mentions—the fall in crime, the drop in the welfare rolls, the general change of mood in the city—Giuliani was an unusually accomplished mayor.
the photo says it all - those are the hooded eyes and sneer I'm lookin for in a leader.
What a twerp.
@Rolltide: Really, that's funny. Last time I checked it costs money to hire cops, and cities generate money through tax revenue, which is a by product of a strong ecnonomy. The murder rate fell because there was more money in the city coffers to hire cops. The murder rate would have fell if Mickey Mouse were mayor. My point being that Ghouliania isn't the great mayor he's made out to be, it's a function of right time right place. Just like his 'hero' status during 9/11.
My point being that Ghouliania isn't the great mayor he's made out to be, it's a function of right time right place.
Funny. That's what I say about Bill Clinton all the time. The Cold War ended in 1991 and Russia wouldn't bottom out until 1998 so defense and intelligence budgets were cut. The previous recession ended in 1991 and Congress and George H. W. Bush cut a deal to raise taxes meaning Clinton didn't have to campaign on a platform of raising taxes. This adds up to a balanced budget helped buy the fact that health care reform didn't pass. Throw in the Asia currency crisis of 1998 and $10/barrel oil and the US was able to import deflation which kept the domestic economy humming along right until the bubble popped - conveniently when Clinton was leaving office. No President has ever been so lucky. For all the talk of how great Clinton was how was he ever tested?
So when the Democratic candidates i.e. Clinton say they are going to bring back the 1990s I suggest you stop and think about how they are going to do this. Are they going to ask China and India to shrink their economies back to 1992 levels?
yes, ask the republicans and their ilk first if they would return their investment income.
Put a fork into Giuliani's presidential campaign. Such a terrible thing couldn't even happen to a more horrible person.
As much as I despise the man like most others, I wouldn't write him off just yet. The big states are still in his favor and with Romney losing in Iowa, things might start looking better for him...
BTW I'm still trying to figure out what exactly makes him an expert on terrorism - aside from walking amid the rubble on Ground Zero...
i agree with you roltide23