On Demand
Rudy Meets the Press
Monday, December 10, 2007
Gail Collins, New York Times columnist and Fred Siegel, professor at Cooper Union and author of The Prince of the City: New York, Giuliani and the Genius of American Life (Encounter Books, 2005), look at Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign.
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Comments
Giuliani sounded like a slithery serpent answering or not answering those questions yesterday. He was a master at changing the topic. "In reality" Giuliani will never become president. "In reality" Giuliani uses the phrase "in reality" way too much.
On the Judith NAthan security detail, why didn't TIm Russert say, "yes Ms. Nathan may not have wanted the security detail, but if you were not having an extramarial affair with her she would not have 'needed it' in the first place, would she?"
Rudy is not the only one whose financial interests prevented him from "serving" on the panel - didn't George Mitchel & Henry Kissinger have to resign because they could not (would not) divulge the identities of all the companies on whose boards they served?
I would have thought that participating in the 9/11 commission would be especially important to Rudy if he thought the panel would disagree with him. After all, he relishes conflict and he has staked his future on being a 9/11 hero, what could be more important to him that making sure the commission got it right.
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He made $11,000,000 doing speeches while people were still being buried from 9/11 ! The depiction of him as a hero is crazy ! He keeps saying I have hired a # of folks do you think it's too much to ask that the mayor hire a police commissioner who isn't a crook !! The rest of the country needs to know what we who lived in this city know about the former mayor !!!
C'mon... let's step back for a minute. Look at all of the questions and concerns over the decisions and behavior of Giuliani. The next president will face an incredibly difficult and crucial time in the nation's history. Giuliani's missteps continue to reveal themselves and his credibility more than questionable. Is this really how the path to that presidency should look?
Judi Nathan isn't the only woman Giuliani was linked to while mayor. Could assigning a police detail to Nathan be a way to have kept tabs on her and to ensure that she didn't run into other "other women"?
re Kerik,
He cannot be allowed his answer that this was simply a singe mistake amongst so many great hires..
this was Kerik/ his pal/ protege/ close associate..Guiliani did not need staff to 'VET'
this person..
should not be allowed to get away with that response..
thanks for this discussion,
larry
Giuliani came off as a lying opportunist...nothing new there!!!!
why would attorney/client confidentiality apply to disclosing whether or not a firm had been solicited by a client? isn't that public information?
Were there any security details for Mr. Guiliani's ex wife and children during the same time period that his then mistress was being protected?
Giuliani: "Homina,Homina,Homina...!!!"
#11
It sure is. You're not allowed to give out any information about the client, but in terms of retaining someone--that stuff is public as can be.
Rudy Giuliani is a man who has said he'd have his RN/pharmaceutical sales rep former mistress/current wife sit in on cabinet meetings because she's qualified to opine on issues of national security. There are the many disturbing issues surrounding Bernie Kerik, the driver for Rudy who rose from an undistinguised detective to head of the police dept. purely based on cronyism. There's the Harding scandal as well. The man has the kind of judgment that makes Bush administration personnel decisions like Meiers and Gonzalez look inspired.
Fred Siegel's information about where the emergency command center is outdated. It is currently in a building in downtown Brooklyn. The location under the Brooklyn Bridge was temporary.
Gee. If you're Alan Hevesi, you have to step down and reimburse the public for the money you spent for security officers who "drove your wife" places. If you're Rudy, though, it's just fine to have your mistress chaufferred on the taxpayers' tab, while still de jure married to another woman on top of it. Please.
This is all a distraction- the fix is already in. Guiliani is the only candidate that can be counted on to continue the global neo-con agenda that the current administration has put in place, therefore he must, and will be the next president.
I think you are making too much fuss over the "toughness" of the
Tim Russert interview. Giulianni, as did Dick Cheney in the last election cycle, came out smelling like a rose. Especially, after the humanizing, soft ball sports questions Russert asks of all his male guests at the ends of these interviews.
Russert's real venom is directed at the Clintons.
Does your Giuliani defender think Rudy should pay the city back for having his girlfriend shuttled around when she wasn't even a public figure? And, should the city sue Rudy for a refund if he won't pay it back? I am one angry taxpayer, in case you haven't figured it out.
What does Mr. Siegel have to say about the appointment of Russell Harding to the NYC Housing Development Corp.?
any New Yorker who is isn't a member of the Mafia or a gangsta in the 'hood has to be a complete moron to be a Giuliani hater.
i happen to be a long-time supporter of Senator Clinton for president, because i think she is what this country needs at the moment; but, not because i'm a Giuliani hater.
The failure to pay counsel in a timely way led not only to lawyers unwilling to take cases at that time, but have *stayed* off the list, because they could not afford to do good work not only the pathetic amounts that he was willing to pay, but the months of delay in getting even that. Good work, as he clearly knows from his own demands/charges, costs.
This guy is so slippery. He does not give a straight answer to anything. There are clear conflicts of interest as far as his continued involvement in GP goes but of course, getting him to give a straight answer is impossible.
Giuliani as President would be Bush on steroids
I'm amazed by the people around Rudy another of his partners in his firm is Alan Paca, a priest or Msgr. charged with sex abuse but not tried because of time limitations. Also a lawyer and well connected. He performs two of Rudy's marriages. There is a constant lapse of ethic in this candidate.
to ANN HALL EVERY:
do you mean his FIRST EX-WIFE? Ann, Remember that Guiliani WAS MARRIED AT THE TIME he had the mistress. His SECOND WIFE at the time and their children were under security detail and protection and the wife and children were living the Gracie mansion WHILE he had the mistress who was ALSO receiving security detail.
In fact, the NYC Taxpayer was paying for security for his wife's travels to LA, his trips to the Hamptons, security for Gracie Mansion and Security for Judy as she moved around the City and when she traveled to her apartment in the Hamptons.
The NYC taxpayer should not have had to Pay for multiple concubines. This is NOT Saudi Arabia. Specially when poor mothers were being jerked around having to make multiple trips (and miss days of work) trying to get a couple of hundreds of dollars a month for subsidized day care so they could work full time.
Guiliani-hating phony moralists look silly ---
where were you when Clinton got BJ's in the oral office?
and what about all those killed around the Clintons during their reign?
Gail Collins is nothing but a lib hack.
I thought Rudy did a decent job. How could Russert blame Rudy for not understanding the treat Al Qaida presented when neither did Clinton.
Everyone owes Rudy a ton for cleaning up the city. How quick we forgot. Our R/E market is holding quite well do primarily to that fact.
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What were all those people killed around the Clintons? - one person who committed suicide? How does ONE suicide compare to the THOUSANDS of young American men and women killed in Iraq just so that Bush's cronies can line their pockets and the hundreds of enlisted young men who have committed suicide this year alone?
Rudy showed us the most salient aspect of his character when he strode into Ground Zero on September 11th. That showed leadership and courage.
As Mayor, he ran a government that would be the 17th largest nation on earth, were it a nation. NYC is bigger and more complex than most nations, certainly most states (including Massachusetts or Arkansas) and the job of running it requires executive skills unknown to any US Senator, including Hillary and McCain.
Nit picking from the cheap seats, like Gail Collins does, looks pretty lame next to the record of Rudy.
This thread is closed.
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