Another Republican chicken hawk: Giuliani could have served during the Viet Nam War, had this rabid militarist decided to put his money where his mouth was. Instead, he pulled strings, even persuading District Judge Judge Lloyd MacMahon to request a deferment for him as an "essential" employee.
November 6, 2007
Wouldn't it be nice some day to wake up and find out that the a well-known leader of the "Christian" right in America did something noble and pure and decent, something that was not, in any respect, almost completely self-serving.
In your dreams. There are lots of honest, authentic, spiritually-driven Christians in American-- they just don't get on the news very often.
Pat Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani makes remarkably clear a few facts about Robertson and his ilk.
1. It never was about God. If it was, Pat would be endorsing Mike Huckabee, who is a Baptist preacher, or John McCain, who used to have ethical principles. It's about power. I suspect it's about getting to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom and having your picture taken with the President of the United States, and if you think that Pat Robertson is a spiritual person, you need to re-examine your concept of spirituality. Giuliani wants to bomb Iran. That's spiritual. Robertson is playing realpolitik.
2. Giuliani is several times divorced; he is in favor of gay rights-- but not gay marriage-- and abortion rights. He has been married three times and he has cheated on his wife. But he is more electable-- at this point-- against any of the three leading Democratic contenders than any other Republican prospect. Robertson wants, more than anything else, for his political party to win. It was never about God.
3. Is there a religious right in America? No. There are these snake-charmers and charlatans and hucksters and pimps. There are sincere religious people in America, but not on TV.
Giuliani the crime-fighter? The graph (From Wikipedia) shows that the crime rate in Newark, Los Angeles, and Nationally all dropped at similar rates to New York's during Giuliani's tenure.
4. Giuliani is the most over-rated politician in America, next to, perhaps, Hillary Clinton. Almost every effect he takes credit for, in New York, was the result of the actions of other men or general, nation-wide trends, especially the reduction in crime. He fired the police chief widely credited with improving police services in New York, and hired Bernard Kerik, who was later charged with corruption.
He had a brief, shining moment on television on 9/11. His skill-set consisted entirely of looking serious in front of a camera. Other than that, what did he achieve?
For that, he deserves a brief, shiny moment in the primaries.
5. Giuliani's role in 9/11? He failed to ensure that the Firefighters acquired functional radios in the 8 years preceding the attacks, after it was made clear that the analog system repeatedly failed. Giuliani insisted on locating New York's Emergency Response headquarters in the World Trade Centre, against recommendations of Jerome Hauer, the Director of Emergency Management for New York City. Then he appeared to lie about the fact, even when confronted with a memo by journalist Chris Wallace.
After 9/11, Giuliani demonstrated remarkable efficiency-- at raising his own net worth, collecting more than $10 million in speaker's fees.
Time Magazine named him "man of the year", but, well, that's Time Magazine. Whatever it was, it was certainly a slap in the face of George W., and a mockery of the idea of "significance", and, indeed, a mockery of the very idea of seemliness.