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Is Rudy Running in '08?

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 11:19:25 AM EST
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Howard Fineman of Newsweek takes a look at whether Rudy Giuliani will run for President in 2008. Just the thought makes me cringe.

I hope he decides against it. He has nothing to offer except more of the same and worse than we've endured the last four years.

I'm not taking a Rudy candidacy seriously at this point. For one thing, he's touted as a social liberal (have they never looked at his civil liberties record as Mayor of New York?) because he has supported choice and gays in the past -- and that will make him unacceptable to hard core rightists.

More importantly, personal politics and ethics still count in the heartland and he'll never get past his Donna Hanover divorce issues and her allegations of infidelity and humiliation. His attempt to take credit for the drop in crime in New York will be revealed to be not his doing, but Bill Bratton's. Their long standing feud will play out. Rudy's support of Bernie Kerik for HSA chief will come back to haunt him and reflect poorly on his judgment when it comes to making cabinet appointments. Even many of the 9/11 victims don't support him.

In short, Rudy has too many skeletons. Unlike Hillary's, they are his own, not those of his spouse. I'm not counting him out yet, I'm just not ready to go into high gear opposing him just yet.

More Rudy reading: this New York Magazine article from November, 2004 and the book America's Mayor--a free excerpt by Michael Tomasky about Rudy's standing on September 10, 2001 is well-worth re-reading. I also like The Hunchback of City Hall written when Rudy had been Mayor for Six Years. And my earlier post, Giuliani: Could You Just Gag?

Update: A compilation of Rudy quotes is here. A few choice ones:

"Freedom," Giuliani argued, "is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it." Taking Liberties / Courts, critics fault Rudy on free speech, public access. - New York Newsday 4/20/98.

"I don't regard associations of my people that support me as fascists as a light matter ....But it's ultimately the results that matter." - NY TIMES 6/24/98.

"...the current mayor thinks he's a dictator and does not have sufficient respect, not only for other branches of government, but also for the citizenry and its opportunities to speak out and be heard" -Eliot Spitzer N.Y. Post 10/15/98.

"An exhibition of paintings is not as communicative as speech, literature or live entertainment, and the artists' constitutional interest is thus minimal." - Giuliani appeal brief against street artists having First Amendment protection, Giuliani v Lederman et al and Giuliani v Bery et al, filed with the U.S. Supreme Court 2/24/97.

"Even though there is generally no expectation of privacy in a public space, most people expect freedom from government monitoring when they eat lunch on a park bench or stroll down a street. The growing use of police video monitors in New York City may threaten the free and anonymous nature of public space." - 1/3/98 NY Times Editorial: Police Cameras in the Park.

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    • Is Rudy Running in '08? | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 12:37:07 PM EST
    They wanna run this guy? BRING IT ON!

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 02:57:45 PM EST
    Most NYers can t ell you the guy is a total self involved egomaniac that would sell out his grandma for the right price. He had the luck to have his term coincide with a national trend of crime reduction, because of demographics not his policies. Bratton did not have anything to do with it either. If anyone had to do with the eventual decrease in crime it it was Dinkins. it takes three to four years to see the effects of policy change on the streets. unless there is outright martial law. Guilliani tried to be as much of a fascist as NYC would let him. He would have loved martial law. Remember, he tried to cancell NYC mayoral elections because of 9/11. The guy should be in jail.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 03:18:29 PM EST
    Those who are Rudy's biggest fans know precious little about him. Here's another log to throw on the fire: in 1982 when he was number three man at DOJ, he went to Haiti for the day met with Baby Doc Duvalier and declared that therte is no oppression in Haiti. So on top of everything else he's a dictator coddler.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#4)
    by scarshapedstar on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 03:43:39 PM EST
    But his city got bombed, his city got bombed, and, um... 9/11?

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 03:47:54 PM EST
    That might've just sealed the deal for him. That's a GOOD thing in the republican party, pal. They give out merit badges for that sorta thing. I still have my doubts that he can win the nomination. Not with the kukluxkristian whack-jobs that control that party. His only hope is that they hate Hillary more than they pretend to love Jesus. Then again, I hope Hillary stays right where she is.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 04:35:05 PM EST
    charliedontsurf1
    Then again, I hope Hillary stays right where she is.
    My understanding, from a source closre to her, is that she is running.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 05, 2006 at 07:22:42 PM EST
    Oh, I don't doubt that for a second. I just wish she wouldn't. I don't think she's that bad and she's obviously a major improvement over this illegitimate trash putz and whatever dreck they dredge up to replace him on any conceivable level but I just think we can do better. As a Presidential Candidate, She's a good Junior Senator from New York. She's perfectly competent, but she just doesn't have Bill's political skills and let's face it, every nra trash, aryan nations, gun show goin', slimeball from the timothy mcveigh wing of the republican party is gonna be gunnin' for her. I mean the wacks just hate her. They're totally irrational. Bush loses Lower Manhattan, blows the surplus, invades the wrong Country, loses the Gulf Coast and all the wacks wanna talk about is a couple of overdue library books Hillary had in 7th Grade. The wacks will always be wacks with their swiftboating and whatever bottom feeding they can come up with in the name of the Lord, but we can live without that nonsense.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 10:28:47 AM EST
    scar - You better hope he doesn't. He's the only Repub out there who could and would enjoy, chopping up Hillary. Squeaky - Hillary us running? Wow! Who would of thought...

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 10:45:56 AM EST
    Now all you have to do is figure out how to get the enlightened red-state folks to vote for a Northerner whose name ends with a vowel. I still remember the congressman a few years back talking about how "folks down here aint gonna vote for someone named Coo-mo."

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#11)
    by jondee on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 11:22:04 AM EST
    When Guliani announces that he's born-again, we'll know he's running.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#12)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 03:19:14 PM EST
    Jondee - And I remember Yankees so dumb they'd lick their fingers during a cow patty throwing contest. Who'd actually eat boiled okra. Who'd actually put sugar on their grits. (A capital offense in all states of the Confederacy.) Now. Your point is? BTW - Why they even have TV and the Internet. And not just in Atlanta, eitehr.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#13)
    by Johnny on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 11:41:58 PM EST
    Jim, ain't ya sorry the South got whipped? Ain't it time you start living the conquerors way? That's what conquered people are supoosed to do you know. All that wanting to hold onto tradition is naughty, you need to realize how much better off you are living under northern rule.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#14)
    by scarshapedstar on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 02:29:19 AM EST
    scar - You better hope he doesn't. He's the only Repub out there who could and would enjoy, chopping up Hillary.
    It would certainly be an odd matchup, with her looking better in a suit, and him looking better in a dress.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 05:42:30 AM EST
    41 shots! 41 shots! Amidou. Amidou! Abner Louima must've done something to ask for that plunger.... I trust Bernard Kerik implicitly. Rudy - unlike shrub - actually did a good job rallying the people of NYC in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He was there from the first. While he was sure to go on to a lucrative future in republican circles, as a career move, 9/11 was the best thing that that ever happened to Rudy G. HOWEVER, on the morning of 9/11/01, he was a less than popular, deeply-polarizing, outgoing mayor who was not a sure thing to be reelected had he chosen to run again with a history of terrible relations with minority communities bordering on hostility and charges of outright racism and blind loyalty to Police and Fire Departments despite overwhelming evidence of patterns and instances of systematic criminal behavior.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 05:49:35 AM EST
    Posted by The Dark Avenger March 7, 2006 05:50 AM
    Hey, if we photoshop Rudy eating grits with sugar, he'll probably lose more than a few Southern votes if the picture gets released to the MSM. Thanks for a good idea, PPJ :)
    Mr PPJudgement does chime in with a good one from time to time, doesn't he, DA?

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 08:10:52 AM EST
    I hope he continues his 9/11 profiteering and stays away from national office. The last thing we need is another leader enamored with the formation of a police state.

    Re: Is Rudy Running in '08? (none / 0) (#20)
    by jondee on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 08:56:53 AM EST
    ppj - Okra and cow patty contests. I think you made my point better than I could.

    Is Rudy Running in '08? | 17 comments (17 topical)