Kerrey, Unbound, Rates Dems and Blasts Giuliani
The former Senator has some questions about Rudy’s security credentials and likes Obama’s name

by Jason Horowitz

As a former Presidential candidate now long out of politics, Bob Kerrey has become the unleashed id of the current Democratic candidates for President.

In response to Rudy Giuliani’s recent remarks doubting the ability of Democrats to keep America safe from terrorism, the Vietnam veteran and former Navy SEAL questioned whether the former Mayor is himself qualified for the job.

“It’s an outrageous statement,” Mr. Kerrey said about Mr. Giuliani’s assertion that a Democratic President would make the country more vulnerable to a similar terrorist attack. “His record of preparing New York between World Trade Center attack No. 1 and attack No. 2—it wasn’t exemplary.”

Far from it, argued Mr. Kerrey in an interview. The former Nebraska governor and then Senator said that he thinks Mr. Giuliani showed solid leadership in the hours and days after the attack, but he just won’t stand for the idea that Republicans—and especially President Bush—did a better job than Democrats at keeping danger at bay.

“When he turned and said to Bernie Kerik, ‘Thank God George Bush is President,’” said Mr. Kerrey, echoing one of Mr. Giuliani’s favorite (but now retired) 9/11 anecdotes. “What he should have said was, ‘Why the f--- didn’t George Bush call us and tell us this was going to happen?’ That was a more appropriate response.”

http://www.nyobserver.com/2007/kerrey-unbo...blasts-giuliani


After repeatedly touting Giuliani as 9-11 hero, Matthews wonders why people think of him that way

Discussing former New York mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's performance on September 11, 2001, during the May 1 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, HBO host Bill Maher told host Chris Matthews that "the reason why Giuliani was on the streets that day is because his office was blown up" and said, "All of the experts told him to move the command-and-control center out of the World Trade Center. He put it in the World Trade Center." Maher added: "He's not a terrorism fighter. He has no credentials in this. In fact, he failed at the one time he had an opportunity, just like Bush."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200705020008?f=h_popular

This point about the "reason" Giuliani was on the streets makes sense, now. He had nowhere to go! But that was certainly not mentioned at all when it happened, was it? At least I certainly don't recall anybody in the media mentioning it!

I hadn't heard about that, either, until Maher raised the issue. The media were out to lunch, obviously.

The Full Rudy: The Man, the Mayor, the Myth

by JACK NEWFIELD

Rudy Giuliani was a C-plus Mayor who has become an A-plus myth. Since the atrocity of 9/11, Giuliani has managed to merge himself with wounded New York until the man and the metropolis--and this almost religious event--seem to be one heroic blur.

But in April 1999, in the sixth year of his term-limited mayoralty, Giuliani had only a 40 percent approval rating from the people he governed, who knew him best. A year later his divorce lawyer was savagely attacking his wife, Donna Hanover, while the Mayor was flaunting his mistress in public. He even brought his girlfriend into the Mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion, while his wife was still residing there. They don't allow this kind of behavior in trailer parks!

As a result, Giuliani's popularity plummeted again in the spring of 2000. He was almost a laughingstock when he withdrew from his Senate campaign against Hillary Clinton. The official reason given was the Mayor's diagnosis of prostate cancer, but even conservative writers like William Safire in the New York Times and Robert Bartley in the Wall Street Journal had urged him not to run in pointed columns focused on his chaotic personal life.

In May 2000 Giuliani looked like a control freak who had lost control of himself.

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=...&s=newfield