So Rudy’s in.In the days after 9-11, America needed a hero and it picked Rudy. Talk of “President Giuliani” began just a few days after 9-11, and I’m still waiting for someone to explain to me just what Rudy Giuliani has done to indicate he deserves to sit in the Oval Office. He was an unpopular, scandal-ridden mayor known mostly for his police department’s torture and murder of unarmed Black men. But then the terrorists brought down the towers. He didn’t soil himself and hide under his desk on 9-11 (or even fly around aimlessly like our current President). He kept his cool and did his job. That’s expected, not extraordinary.**UPDATE: Doug comments,
Darrin, I don’t know where you are getting your information about the NY police “torture and murder of unarmed Black men.” Truthfully, it sounds like something that was reported in the National Enquirer, rather than a legitimate source!
For some reason, I’m not able to respond in the “comments” section right now, so I’m updating the main post with my reply:Here you go. This (and his arrogant response to it) is what Giuliani was known for until 9/11:The Diallo and Louima casesGiuliani took credit for falling crime rates, but crime rates fell in all big cities at the time, due in no small part to Bill Clinton’s COPS initiative, which put 100,000 new cops on big city streets across the country. Other Giuliani achievements:• He tried to have Yasser Araft booted out of NYC (despite Arafat having been invited by the UN), nearly causing an international incident.• He decided, over objections, to place the anti-terror command center in the World Trade Center, which was as smart a decision as placing an earthquake response center on the San Andreas Fault. Perhaps the constant video we saw of Giuliani bravely roaming the streets of Lower Manhattan were due to his having no command center to go to.• He caused a big stink about a museum that hung an African artist’s painting of the Virgin Mary that was made with elephant dung (insisting on mischaracterizing it as a deliberate insult, despite elephant dung being sacred in that artist’s culture — I don’t know about you, but politicians who mischaracterize to score political points lose points with me).• He tried to use 9/11 to advance his own political career when he proposed cancelling the mayoral elections so he could stay on indefinitely.
