Gullani No Hero

[erpowers]

Gullani is not a hero. He was in New York during the attack, but as far as I know he did not do anything to help anyone. He did not rush into the burning buildings. He did not put his life on the line for anyone. The only people who can be called heroes are the cops, firefighters, and other people who rushed into or stayed in the burning buildings to help others get out alive. I think it is a sad commentary on the Republican Party and America for Gullani to be considered a hero when he really did not do anything helpful on September 11th that actually put his life at risk.

[southernleftylady]

1. just like bush showed so much strenght right after 9/11

:eyes: crazy uh?

[physioex]

2. I agree......

He was a failed Mayor before the attacks. Really what power does he hold in the party other than going to events with a lot of flag waving...

[Maine-i-acs]

3. RNC style - you don't have to be brave, just latch on to someone who is.

Evoke 9/11 by clutching onto anything mildly heroic and become heroic by proxy.

[kikiek]

4. The Republicans have nothing else they can do but exploit 9/11.

There is no record to run on. Nothing to be proud of. Have to try and wrap people around the flag to buy their bullshit for re election. Can't trash Kerry's war record anymore. People weren't buying that. Keep em scared and confused. I can't believe they are still buying that the Iraq war is fighting terror.

[IronLionZion]

5. I disagree

sure he didn't go in the building, but he did organize rescue efforts and get people evacuated and what not. He kept the city running. I don't care that he has an R next to his name. He was decisive and thought on his feet. He did well on that day. His actions were the exact opposite of our president's.

And yes, it's disgusting to see him endorse Bush. I can't watch this anymore. I'm switching to Comedy Central.

[NYCGirl]

7. He did nothing more than a reasonably competent mayor would have.

NT

[brook]

10. Exactly.

Grabbed more photo ops than were necessary though.

[NYCGirl]

16. And remember, he didn't want to give up the office of mayor...

tried to hold on for a few more months, but thankfully, that idea was overruled.

[IronLionZion]

6. He's an asshole today

He was a good leader on Sep. 11 2001 but a complete asshole on August 30, 2004 at the RNC.

[Jane Austin]

8. He clearly has a mean streak in him, but

It was good of him to go to all those firefighter and police funerals.

[IronLionZion]

12. and he came to Shanksville

which is like 5 miles from my house to speak at their graduation. And what good do photo ops do him? He's not running for any office.

although they may swap him in for Cheney

[Chovexani]

24. He wasn't a good leader

He did his fucking job. I know Shrub has our expectations for leadership in the toilet, but Saint Rudy was never a hero, he was a lame duck mayor who shamelessly exploited the tragedy to boast his ailing political career.

[Generic Other]

9. Longwinded (and I have him on mute!)

Didn't they give him a time limit?

[Reverend_Smitty]

11. yeah nobody will say boo about him going over...

but Al Sharpton is a loose cannon...the hypocrisy will be mind boggling, you watch..

[liveoaktx]

13. Family Values- he is a *notorious adulterer*

****Isn't this a little like putting Clinton onstage?

http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?art_id=qw1024671600263U245&click_id=2396&set_id=1

June 21 2002 at 05:15PM



New York - Former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani, lionised for his leadership after the trauma of September 11, was relegated to tabloid fodder on Friday as his wife filed for divorce, citing "notorious adultery".

A year and a half after Giuliani himself filed for divorce, his wife Donna Hanover has hit back with a counter-suit, details of which have begun to filter out as the judge in the case releases her rulings.

[drbtg1]

20. After Barr, Hyde, Livingston, Gingrich, etc....

...sounds like a typical Republican to me.

This is also the guy who worked very hard to get Faux News Channel on Time Warner cable in the City.

[liveoaktx]

14. And remember, here's how NewYawkCops feel about this creep

http://hometown.aol.com/newyawkcop/

I remember his popularity was in the toilet before 911 due to his treatment of cops.

[avenueb]

15. I disagree

Guiliani did show leadership that day. Not only that, he was a half way decent mayor. He is still a repuke, and has sold his soul to the devil, but I can't say he didnt perform on that day.

[NYCGirl]

17. I don't think he was a halfway decent mayor...

Crime may have been down, but the price we paid was a police force that was seen as jackbooted thugs by much of the city. He let the chain stores move in, putting lots of small businesses out of business. And much more...

[cthrumatrix]

19. and started a "terror defense consulting firm" to proft from 911

I call that a whore!!!!!!!!

[BurtWorm]

18. I actually disagree. I think Giuliani showed real leadership

for two weeks beginning on 9/11. He provided what Bush was incapable of providing. Running into burning buildings is great, but being awake and available to talk and put the right words on the situation is a kind of heroism as well. Rudy was in the zone for two weeks. Then, very suddenly, the old Rudy stuck his ugly head up and proclaimed himself dictator until 3/02--as though the city really needed HIM and not just a competent, selfless leader. That was the end of the Rudy charm. He's been faking it ever since. He'll never get it back.

[liveoaktx]

21. Article: Guiliani tries to use city's loss for his gain

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnists/wickham/2001-09-28-wickham.htm

In recent days the mayor has begun to talk about extending his time in office beyond Dec. 31, the last day he is permitted to serve under the term-limits rules that New Yorkers approved by referendum twice during the 1990s. Sounding as if he has overdosed on the tide of emotions that has swept the Big Apple, Giuliani says he wants to stay on in his job for a few more months to help maintain the extraordinary unity New Yorkers have shown in the wake of the terrorist attack.

If he doesn't get his way, the mayor holds out the not-so-veiled threat of trying to get the state governor and Legislature to roll back the city's term-limits law so that he can stay in office another four years. Nothing is likely to divide New York more than Giuliani's attempt to squeeze some political advantage out of this human tragedy.

During most of his time in office, Giuliani has had a stormy relationship with Hispanics and African Americans, who now comprise about 53 percent of the city's population. When asked in December if he might make an effort during his final 12 months in office to reach out to the city's black and Hispanic leaders, Giuliani panned the idea.

"If I had spent my time engaged in that dialogue, the changes that you saw take place would not have taken place. Because what happens when you engage in that dialogue is, you compromise," Giuliani told The New York Times.

[BurtWorm]

22. Old Ugly Giuliani

wold up and took control from that moment on. The stink of Giulianism as usual returned.

[NYCGirl]

23. Here's an article by Jimmy Breslin (originally published in NY Newsday)

Excerpt:

Giuliani ran a city of aimless departments, of tax assessors shaking people down, of correction officers bullying people in campaigns, of an illness being used for publicity, of so much golf with a lobbyist that they called him the Commissioner of Golf, of so many strutting around and snarling at the helpless and the powerless, using Giuliani's name as a baseball bat. And always, everybody fearing and shunning blacks. Crime had dropped in his first term. It had dropped all over the country, but he made it seem like it was only his doing. "My crime decrease."

He wanted an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum closed because it offended his strict Catholicism. And then, with a wife in Gracie Mansion and one girlfriend in a car outside, a friend of mine, a detective, drove in with another girlfriend, and he and the other girlfriend's car nearly hit each other. He marched with his girlfriend in a parade and his kids could watch it on television.

Giuliani wanted a high security bunker, placed 23 stories high in a building at 7 World Trade Center. Anybody with the least bit of common sense knew that the bunker in the sky was insane and the price, $15.1 million, a scandal. But he said it would house "My Police Commissioner" and "My Fire Commissioner." In Giuliani's world, everything was "mine."

And on the morning of Sept. 11, Rudy Giuliani's bunker went out into the air like a Frisbee.

Full article:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/01552.htm

[Oilwellian]

25. Didn't he also know about...

the toxic air after the attack and do nothing to protect those who were working to recover bodies?