Giuliani's bad week
Rudy has had a bad, bad week. There was the story alleging misuse of expenses while he was mayor. There was the unfortunate exchange with Romney to begin the debate. There was the campaign's rather week rebuttal to the Politico...
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You kind of knew this was coming, didn't you? Giuliani's behavior differs from Clinton's in that Clinton stayed married.
Giuliani's behavior differs from Clinton's - Guiliani apparently married the Paula Jones character. Sorry, that was too easy. Both have huge issues with sexual morality. I have never quite figured out why people have blamed Hilary for staying with Bill. Something wrong with working through a difficult issue in your marriage?
I don't particularly like her, but I have to admire the work they did to save their marriage.
Rudy is a one trick pony (9/11) just as Bush Sr. was running against Clinton the First (Desert Storm). If the Republican candidates won't refresh the American memory that Guiliani was a unliked lame duck on September 10th, 2001 you know whoever the Democratic candidate is will have no problem talking about Mayor Rudy's baggage. In terms of how he ran NY, I can't help but feel that in terms of cronyism, a Guiliani presidency won't look a lot different then W's has.
Phil
A Giuliani presidency would be like W's on steroids. He'd be worse than Bush on pretty much any issue.
What I can't understand is the conservative support for Rudy. Everything about him seems to be anathema to the evangelical and social conservative crowds in the GOP. What on earth do Giuliani supporters see in this guy? Seriously. I don't get it.
The difference between Bush Sr. running on Desert Storm and Giuliani running on 9/11 is that Bush Sr. actually had an accomplishment to run on.
Giuliani gave very good speeches and provided a reassuring presence-- which were very important at the time.
But other than that, he had made a very bad decision as to where to locate the terrorism response center, and he had failed to ensure that the police and firemen could communicate with each other. That's why so many more firemen died than police-- the firemen never got the message that the buildings were coming down.
Also, he wants to bomb Iran.
So, on policy, experience, and character, Rudy fails.
As a Democrat, I want to see the GOP nominate him.
I think Huckabee is the GOP's best candidate. He's a likeable guy, and an authentic conservative. I will never get why the money men in the GOP lined up behind the flip-flopping android from Massachusetts and the unlikeable, unqualified, scandal-ridden former New York mayor.
I think Huckabee is the GOP's best candidate. He's a likeable guy, and an authentic conservative. I will never get why the money men in the GOP lined up behind the flip-flopping android from Massachusetts and the unlikeable, unqualified, scandal-ridden former New York mayor.
Perhaps I'm just becoming cynical, but I think it has to do with who is the most easily controlled. Guilianai, from what I've seen and read, can be controlled through both money and flattery. I think that's true to a lesser extent with Romney. And both seem to court only the wealthy and the powerful.
Huckabee, on the other hand, will buck his party on fiscal issues. He actually seems to care about the poor, the middle class - you know, the people who actually elect him. More than the other two, he comes across as a leader who understand what it means to be a public servant. And most of all, because of his sincere beliefs, he is not easily controllable. I mean, he might actually make a decision that would hurt him politically in order to do the right thing.
There are things I don't agree with Huckabee on, but I would trust him not to sell out the little guy (and gal).
Not sure about your diagnosis, David, although the illness is obvious.
It may just be that Republican primary voters have decided en masse that they no longer can tolerate his moderation on social issues just because he was the (perhaps ...) hero of 9/11. I mean, c'mon, it isn't like they haven't known, at least generally, about his personal foibles before ...
Rudy's a thug, a bully, a short-tempered strongarm guy, an enforcer. He lives and dies by cronyism. He has tons and tons of dirty laundry, and I'm just sure it's largely being held back by the NY Dems in the hope he gets the GOP nomination. There is no telling how gross it could get,(think recordings), and the Dem machine in NYC are just the guys to know how to deploy it. Lotta folks in the Big Apple with scores to settle.
So that would be disgusting.
Let's hope for the sake of the *ahem* tone of the public discussion that Rudy just fades away.
But Huckabee has that Goldwater thing happening, you know? The idealistic choice, that seems plausible enough, and then gets waxed in the general election.
And of course Mitt is running for Anti-Christ as well, so that creates a problem.
Head scratching time for the GOP insiders, I'd say.
The GOP has produced a lot of empty suits in these past few years. However, I am sure that there are people of integrity, decency, and intelligence who still exist within the GOP framework. It's gonna be a long long time before they're allowed out. We're being entertained by the burlesque, circus types right now.
Come on down, ladies and gentlemen
More torture than you can imagine
We're gonna double the size of Guantanamo
Watch this - your taxes -
Under this one, or this one - how about here under war profiteers
And now fellow Ozians - how about them illegal Aliens - we'll get em, we'll drive em out, trust us
There are no poor people in Oz
Oopps, got my pretend countries all mixed up.
True American conservatives won't be taken in by such nonsense, but there is a mob out there ready to be gathered - uneducated, poor, fairly racist - and they are gathered by such fears and nonsense.
Dems are little better
Come see how we'll reform health care and it won't cost you a dime
it's circus time ladies and gentlemen and let me introduce our Master of Ceremonies
____________________
Wait 'til Huckabee gets to the top of the polls and you will find out all about his issues from his fellow Republics. So far,he's still getting the free ride the "liberal media" give all Republics.
Guiliani's been making a buck with every bad actor in the world with his security firm since 9-11. More to come and unfortunately his affairs, divorces, misuse of tax money, stand for illegal aliens etc will pale in comparison once these dealings start seeing the light of public scrutiny. Being mayor on a single day in history does not change your stripes. How you behave in private is how you behave.
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