Wash. Post article called Giuliani "America's mayor," referred to his "triumphal leadership on Sept. 11"
SUMMARY: The Washington Post referred to Rudy Giuliani as "America's mayor" and suggested that after his "triumphal leadership on Sept. 11" Giuliani "transcended the life that was," including controversies involving his friend and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as well as controversies in his personal life. The Post article repeated a tendency by some in the media of touting Giuliani's actions as mayor of New York on 9-11 or labeling him "America's mayor" without mentioning that his performance before, during, and after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been questioned and criticized.
A November 17 article in the Style section of The Washington Post referred to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) as "America's mayor" and suggested that after his "triumphal leadership on Sept. 11" Giuliani "transcended the life that was," including controversies involving his friend and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as well as controversies in his personal life. In doing so, the Post article repeated a tendency by some in the media -- which Media Matters for America has documented in numerous instances -- of touting Giuliani's actions as mayor of New York on 9-11 or labeling him "America's mayor " without mentioning that his performance before, during, and after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has been questioned and criticized.
The Post article began by stating: "Before deciding to run for president, Rudy Giuliani might have consulted the late William Faulkner, who studiously said, 'The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past.' If America's mayor didn't know that before, he certainly knows it now." It then reported that Giuliani's "friend and former police commissioner Bernard Kerik was hit with a 16-count indictment last week on various charges of corruption and mail and tax fraud" and detailed a lawsuit by Kerik's former mistress Judith Regan claiming that "two executives at her imprint's parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., told her to lie when investigators questioned her about Kerik":
Before deciding to run for president, Rudy Giuliani might have consulted the late William Faulkner, who studiously said, "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." If America's mayor didn't know that before, he certainly knows it now.
They keep coming, don't they? Those hauntings from the past. First, his friend and former police commissioner Bernard Kerik was hit with a 16-count indictment last week on various charges of corruption and mail and tax fraud. Then, this week comes Judith Regan, once a Kerik mistress and former publisher of ReganBooks, claiming in a lawsuit that two executives at her imprint's parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., told her to lie when investigators questioned her about Kerik. The lies, she says, were meant to protect Giuliani's presidential bid.
[...]
Giuliani knows all about that. His colorful life even includes infamously comical episodes when he performed at political roasts dressed as a woman.
"Rudy's led a tabloid life," says New York historian and author Terry Golway. "Let's face it. When your wife has a press conference to address the state of your marriage, that's tabloid material. He's invited that kind of thing." (Said wife, Donna Hanover, found out about her separation from Giuliani when the then-mayor held a news conference of his own.)
The article concluded, however, that after Giuliani's performance on 9-11, he "transcended the life that was":
But late in 2001, Giuliani transcended the life that was. After his triumphal leadership on Sept. 11, Giuliani posed for a photo that would define him -- and perhaps more importantly, the idea of him -- for years to come. He'd been selected Person of the Year by Time; his photo would grace the magazine's cover.
And there he was -- standing with the city, his city, as the backdrop -- a monument to strength and fortitude, a man transformed. That is the Rudy Giuliani that much of America knows.
Yet Giuliani's performance before, during, and after 9-11 has been both questioned and criticized. As Media Matters has documented, New York City firefighters have been critical of Giuliani for what they see as his failure to ensure that the New York police and fire departments had interoperable radios. According to an August 7 Village Voice article by senior editor Wayne Barrett, co-author of Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (HarperCollins, 2006), a 1995 sarin gas drill conducted by New York City officials highlighted the radio interoperability problem that "would be identified years later in official reviews of the 9/11 response."
Giuliani has also been criticized for selecting the 7 World Trade Center building as the site of his emergency command center, reportedly because the location was within walking distance of City Hall. Barrett and co-author Dan Collins reported in Grand Illusion that the site was chosen after Giuliani "overruled" warnings from former police commissioner Howard Safir and NYPD chief operating officer Lou Anemone not to locate it there, "[r]ejecting an already secure, technologically advanced city facility across the Brooklyn Bridge" because Giuliani "insisted on a command center within walking distance of City Hall" (Page 41). That building, 7 WTC, ultimately collapsed on 9-11. Thus, Barrett and Collins concluded that if the command center had not posed such a safety risk to Giuliani, "all the dramatic visuals ... would instead have been tense but tame footage from its barren press conference room" (Page 41). Barrett's August 7 Village Voice article reported that Anemone "had done a detailed vulnerability study of the city for Giuliani, pinpointing terrorist targets" and that Anemone said that "[i]n terms of targets, the WTC was number one."
Additionally, on August 9, Giuliani claimed that he "was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers" participating in the cleanup. Giuliani later attempted to clarify his remarks, saying, "I think I could have said it better. ... You know, what I was saying was, 'I'm there with you.' " The New York Times reported on August 17 that "for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001," Giuliani spent "a total of 29 hours" at the WTC ruins "often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble." The Times added that, "[i]n that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."
On September 10, 2001, Giuliani was a lame duck laughingstock. When the attacks on the World Trade Center happened the following day, Giuliani didn't do anything out of the ordinary -- he was simply present. Since then, we know he oversaw an administration that included an unqualified department head who is now under indictment, Bernie Kerik, and that Giuliani continues to suggest he didn't know about Kerik's misconduct, a claim that flies in the face of the facts. In addition, Giuliani's comments about Kerik can hardly be called condemnations of his misdeeds. As far as I can tell, Giuliani has no special claim to "leadership." Being a leader requires more than the coincidence of being on hand when a crisis occurs.
Good freaking lord, now the Washington Post has joined in the building of the Giuliani Myth. The idea that because Giuliani was mayor of a major American city on the day that it was attacked by terrorists and managed to get himself photographed standing on a pile of rubble (because he didnt have a command center, because he had it placed in the WTC complex) we should just dismiss as irrelevant all that came before? PLEASE!
Enough with the Cult of Personality that has been built up around this guy. We've managed for more than 200 years to avoid being swept into the arms of a charismatic demagogue, let's not get carried away by this one. Giuliani clearly sees himself on balconies and his image imprinted on the sides of mountains and on currency. Regardless of what he thinks, he's not a Demigod and he's not to be set above the usual scrutiny of the typical candidate for President of the US. Spare us the Hero Worship, Washington Post. It's a dangerous luxury for a Democracy to indulge in.
Giuliani also says that he was "at Ground Zero as often, if not more often, than most rescue workers"- which is a Lie wrapped in a Boast which belittles the rescue workers, many of whom worked 12 or 14-hour shifts. This guy has the longest arms in the world, the better to pat his own back with. When he isn't puffing up his chest and blowing his own horn, he's ostentatiously taking cell phone calls from his Wife-of-The-Moment. He's bidding to have his picture placed next to the world "Poser" in the dictionary.
I doubt we've ever had a more shameful self-promoter ever present himself for the Presidency. That he hasn't been laughed out of the race shows you the power of Star Quality in the media and the desperation of the GOP to find someone who can con enough votes out of the public.
I guess if telling the city's populace to go shopping the weekend after 9/11 is an example of "triumphal leadership on Sept. 11" then Giuliani is a triumphant leader.
Former Solicitor General Ted Olson, introduced Giuliani at his recent speech to the Federalist Society.
Olson said Giuliani as mayor had shown “the wisdom and humility to surround himself with talented, dedicated and energetic people.”
First, Giuliani and humility in the same breath? Jimmy Breslin described Giuliani as "a small man in search of a balcony."
Second, since this remark came just a week after the indictment of Giuliani's Corrections and Police Commissioner, Bernie Kerik, I'm going to guess Olson has no sense of irony.
He is America's Mayor.
Where do I write to America's Mayor to complain about my garbage not being picked up last Friday?
I don't recall electing Giuliani to any office, let alone Mayor. And I live in America. So please, spare us that particular bumper sticker BS. And spare us Giuliani as America's Il Duce.
Where do I write to America's Mayor to complain about my garbage not being picked up last Friday?
Writing would be your best strategy because Rudy probably STILL doesn't have all of the NYC first responders talking on the same frequency.
What does that even mean?
It means he was Mayor of the city that was attacked by terrorists. If he were a Democrat he would still be America's Mayor.
If Giuliani were a Democrat, he'd be criticized as weak and effete for letting al-Qaeda successfully fly planes into the WTC.
No, "America's mayor" is yet another GOP meme, intended to cover over Rudy's legacy of corruption, incompetence, and abuse of power.
You're only confirming that it's a meaningless catchphrase.
And you're only confirming how twisted and bent out of shape liberals get whenever it's used to describe Giuliani.
No, I just asked a simple question: What exactly does "America's Mayor" mean beyond just being an empty GOP catchphrase. You're welcome to step up to the plate and explain it to us.
Bruce already did.
But as usual when you don't like an answer, you keep asking for another one, or something??
I don't like it because it's an idiotic and meaningless non-explanation, as DaveChicago, Solon and others have pointed out. Why don't you just admit that "America's Mayor" is an empty GOP catchphrase that the press has willingly bought into in order to boost Guiliana's "hero" status?
If you weren't so blindly partisan you would acknowledge Bruce's point, that Giuliani's political affiliation is actually irrelevant to the "catchphrase", for if it were a Democrat as New York's mayor, he or she would undoubtedly have been given the same title.
But whining about it just shows how you and the others you referrred to as being nitpicking little crybabies.....but then it's hardly the first time.
But you never do any namecalling, right?
Well, considering you called Jeter and I "idiots" just last week, I would say you're really not in any position to judge anyone.
Tommy, Do you really believe that if Democratic candidate for President was mayor of NY on 9//11, that the mouthpieces for the Republans sych as Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter would actually emphasis the term "Americas' Mayor"? I personally do not think it would be that way. Just being there does not automatically give you Eminent Domain over such a title....by the way, does anyone know who bestowed this title on Mr. Guiliani?
Of course Limbaugh, Hannity or Coulter would not attach that phrase to a Democrat - their entire "schtick" is about demonizing Democrats.....so No, they wouldn't.
But I believe the media in general would have.......now I know Giuliani is exploiting 9/11 for his own political aspirations, no one can really deny that. But that is not the reason, for me, that I don't support him, there are many others.
I beleive that the phrase is a political piece to tout Rudy...but I also feel that the positive of it for his campaign will be balanced out by the negatives which will be attached to it.
Also, the story about Rudy Washington will diminish Rudys' fame when it becomes mainstream. I wonder, what ever happened to Mr. Washington?
"Well, considering you called Jeter and I "idiots" just last week, I would say you're really not in any position to judge anyone."
Well, you and Jeter are idiots, but then I'm not the one who's always scolding people for name-calling. The only thing I'm judging is your blatant hypocrisy.
People only call you and Jeter idiots because you ARE idiots, Tommy.
:-)
"If you weren't so blindly partisan you would acknowledge Bruce's point, that Giuliani's political affiliation is actually irrelevant to the "catchphrase", for if it were a Democrat as New York's mayor, he or she would undoubtedly have been given the same title."
Right, and if terrorists hit San Francisco, I'm sure everyone would be calling Gavin Newsom "America's Mayor." Or let's just imagine that New Orleans was hit by a devastating hurricane that brought the country together in overwhelming support for some of our country's poorest citizens. We would surely be calling Ray Nagin "America's Mayor," wouldn't we?
It means compliantConsent has completely ditched any effort at critical thinking, and has decided to just repeat ridiculous media instructions.
Just check out his blog, it's a virtual case study for cultism.
Just check out his blog, it's a virtual case study for cultism.
Or a plea for the frontal lobotomy he so desperately needs....
--"It means he was Mayor of the city that was attacked by terrorists"--
Bruce is right. Giuliani beat-out the mayors of Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C. for the title in a very tight, televised competition. I was one of the many millions who texted my vote in via cell phone.
If he was a Democrat America STILL wouldnt have a mayor
now all we need is INJUSTICEUNTRUTH to confirm that Giuliani is America's Mayor with one of his fact checks. Then we will know it's true
After careful consideration, he'll call this one FOR GIULIANI and AGAINST MMFA. :>)
Sorry if you trademarked that one, TruthJusticeBS, but you are getting WAY too predictable.
Correction:
"He is America's Mayor"*
Billiybobjustytruthy, you forgot the disclaimer:
*http://bloxword.ca/disclaim.htm
Correction to above correction:
address it to copious b.s., not billiybob/truthyetc.
void where prohibited. If emergency shelter is reduced to rubble, stand on rubble.
Mary, I have some problems with line 164. Could we delete it?
HBL, ok but it's a risky strategy. Line 164 may or may not be:
Warning: May contain nuts. Do not eat. Access hole only -- not intended for use in lifting box. Warning: May cause drowsiness. Warning: Misuse may cause injury or death. Do not use orally after using rectally. Turn off motor before using this product. Not to be used as a personal flotation device
<!-- new --> He is America's Mayor.
"America's Scumbag" would be more accurate.
---"He is America's Mayor"---
You make a convincing, persuasive argument there in just four simple words. I will repeat that throughout the day so that others may know it, too.
America doesnt HAVE a mayor. Try to keep up
If you have to tell everyone, in print, someone is a " triumphant leader" propbably because he isn't. A real triumphant leader doers not need a newspaper to say so.
I love his story about him walking aroung the rubble, and (so he says) he turned to his aide next to him and said "Thank God George Bush is President."
HA hahahaha haha hee hee. What a buffoon.............
i do agree that rudy's actions before and after 9 11 can be criticized. but his actions on that day were far ahead of the [non] reaction of george bush. his behavior defies explanation. instead of running to a bunker in the midwest, he could have gone to macdill air base in tampa, a short hop from the school in sarasota. it was not just bush's sitting in that classroom that deserves criticism, but the fact he went in there to begin with because he had already heard about the first plane. and it was not until after 1030 that orders were finally given to shoot down planes that had been hijacked. the 9 11 commission's timeline showed that the plane that was brought down by the passengers in pennsylvania could have reached washington otherwise. the commission said the passengers "may have saved either the capitol or the white house from destruction". certainly it was nothing bush did.
So Now MMFA has a problem with any positive story about a conserative. I hope they keep this up, it lets people see how far the radical left will go and shows the true nature of the people who belive the crap here.
Did MMFA lie? NO! They pointed out misinformation. That's what they do. We get it that you don't like this. Problem is, it's your party providing us with easy examples.
'Rudy--The Legend' is a bunch of horshit. He just happened to be the Mayor when they happened to attack us. Nothing more. He did the same thing Junior did--run around the rubble looking for good photo ops.
You've got THAT right! How many people OUTSIDE NYC know that 9/11 was election day in NYC. They would have been voting for mayor. Of course the election was POSTPONED, but if the attack had occurred on Sept TWELVE 2001, someone ELSE would have been mayor
Please! Giuliani's not just ANY "conservative". He's America's Mayor. Everybody knows that and agrees with that and there's nothing that would dispute that.
I don't want a mayor who makes bad decisions like RG. I don't want a mayor who fails to fix problems that were well known in the years since the first WTC attack -- problems that may have led to many of the deaths of the first responders.
So no, not everyone agrees that RG is fit to carry the label you want to put on him.
What I want to know is how far will hivemind, brainwashed sheeple go when buying ANY baseless rhetoric and repeating it endlessly AS IF IT MADE SENSE, trying to pretend its reality instead of something made up out of whole cloth by those doing nothing more than PRESENTING A NARRATIVE. Here is a clue the Limborg desperatly needs. It doesnt become true OR a TRUTH just because you repeat it mindlessly and endlessly.
So Now MMFA has a problem with any positive story about a conserative. I hope they keep this up, it lets people see how far the radical left will go and shows the true nature of the people who belive the crap here. Pointofview
No problem with a positive story but a factual one would help.
Did you know:
After being caught in the dust plume when the WTC’s South Tower collapses at 9:59, Rudy Washington, who is one of Rudy Giuliani’s deputy mayors, heads to City Hall, where he coordinates the city’s emergency response to the attacks. He is in contact with New York Governor George Pataki, high-ranking New York Police Department officers, and Navy Admiral Robert Natter, the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet (see (Shortly After 9:59 a.m.) September 11, 2001). He orders the closing of bridges. (Though, according to some accounts, the New York Port Authority ordered all bridges to be closed earlier on, at 9:21 (see 9:21 a.m. September 11, 2001).) Washington also finds “heavy machinery to get downtown for the cleanup and got the Navy to guard against a seaborne attack. He evacuated City Hall, which shook like crazy when the second tower fell. He gathered people who could give medical help, gave the order to find lights that could be used at Ground Zero and worked out new phone communications, since power was being lost. Accompanied by city engineers, he went into the streets around the fallen towers, testing the ground to make sure it would hold when the heavy equipment came in.” Washington’s efforts at developing an emergency strategy are reportedly aided by what he learned at an anti-terrorist training session chaired by counterterrorism “tsar” Richard Clarke and held at the WTC, in preparation for the millennium celebration. Rudy Washington “ran New York for the first few hours after the attack during a period when Giuliani was thought to have been killed inside the first building that went down.”
I'm sure Rudy Washington wouldn't mind a positive story as well!
Sure, Pearlene, but while Washington was busy doing that, Rudy G. called dibs on "America's Mayor".
Which is more meaningful (to copiousdescent and PointonHead)?
Rudy Washington, America's deputy mayor?
Nice ring to it. :-)
washington is americas deputy mayor
Again we're going to see gushing press about Rudy's "performance" on 9/11 and his expertise on terrorism, when it was he who insisted (against the counsel of his advisors) to put the city's emergency command center in the WTC itself.
Why was it such a great idea for Rudy to insist on putting that command center in the biggest target in New York, so that it was completely destroyed just when it was most needed? The media remain conspicuously silent on that subject.
Giuliani is a Republicans' Republican, more extreme even than Cheney and Bush. He, and all his foreign policy advisors, are itching to bomb the f**k out of Iran, and his record of turning the cops loose to bang heads does not augur well for what remains of our civil liberties. And yet the media continues to treat him as a moderate, just like they did for Bush in 2000.
If he is elected, it will mean the end of the American republic. And the frightening thing is, he just might pull it off.
How many names are theRepublans going to bestow upon Rudy?
"AMERICAS MAYOR" "Mr. 9/11" etc.etc All very cute and politically effective to the sheep. But my favorites are "Mr. Adulterer", "Your Cheatin' Mayor", "Kerik's Buddy". "The Heartbreak Mayor", and many more. But the newest is the best..."MR NOUN VERB 9/11".
Just kidding...But I like the title of the new movie about Rudy... "My 9th and 11th WIVES"
what else would you expect the washington post to say. their applecart { reps.] is about to be trampled. gotta get this bush administration B.S. perking
TRIUMPHAL (From Webster's)
adjective 1. relating to or celebrating a triumph; "a triumphal procession"; "a triumphal arch" 2. joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success; "rejoicing crowds filled the streets on VJ Day"; "a triumphal success"; "a triumphant shout.
A more fitting description is:
Vain-Glorious
One who boasts without reason, or, as the canters say, pisses more than he drinks.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
"What on Earth did this man do on 9/11 and in its aftermath that was so breathtakingly heroic?
More accurately, they are campaigning to expose how Giuliani short-changed and endangered the city's 11,000 firefighters over the course of two terms, and then went on to exploit their heroism during and after the 9/11 attacks for his own political advantage.
Martin Steadman, a spokesperson for New York's Uniformed Fire Officers Association (UFOA), explains that the New York City Fire Department issued a report on communication devices after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing showed that the department's hand-held radio devices were wholly inadequate.
The report, which landed on Mayor Giuliani's desk his first day in office, explained that department radios didn't work between floors in high-rises or in deep subway tunnels.
The city eventually bought several thousand new Motorolas in 1999, according to the New York Times. Chaos soon ensued, says Steadman, after firefighters complained that there were strong echoes and voice delays on the new radios. But as the 9/11 Commission report shows, when the FDNY responded to the 9/11 attacks, it was using the analog radios that "performed poorly" during the 1993 bombings.
As a result, more than 200 firefighters in the north tower did not receive an evacuation call on their radios.
"We're saying he had eight years to solve that problem," says Steadman. "
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=real_911_heroes_speak_out_against_rudy
Well, here we go. Assuming that Giuliani is the Republican nominee, and Hillary is the Democratic nominee, we are probably seeing a preview of what's coming over the next year. The Mainstream Media Whores will perpetuate the Giuliani 9/11 Hero myth, and dig up every little accusation manufactured against Hillary over the past 15 years. It will be 2004 and 2000 all over again. Rudy will get a pass on his own scandals, while Hillary's will be analyzed to death by the overpaid Media Bobbleheads.
And then, after counting all the votes, and after several recounts: Rudy wins in a squeeker. Reports of fraud in Ohio and Florida are pouring in, but ignored by the conservative media.
Please, don't let them do it again!!!
By the headline here you would think the Washington Post piece was praising RG and faild to highlight any past problems. It doesn't. This Style Section piece comes off as more negative than positave towards RG. This story could also be read as a liberal hit piece.
The items Media Matters has chosen to add to their "wet dream" hit piece adds nothing to the story. This story is nothing more than a launch pad for Media Matters to upchuck it's fears that Hillary might loose.
----"By the headline here you would think the Washington Post piece was praising RG"----
Absotively. Who the hell'd ever think that calling Rudy "America's Mayor" was praise?!
Or the following passage. Praise? HA!:
"But late in 2001, Giuliani transcended the life that was. After his triumphal leadership on Sept. 11, Giuliani posed for a photo that would define him -- and perhaps more importantly, the idea of him -- for years to come. He'd been selected Person of the Year by Time; his photo would grace the magazine's cover.
And there he was -- standing with the city, his city, as the backdrop -- a monument to strength and fortitude, a man transformed. That is the Rudy Giuliani that much of America knows."
DAM, that just ripped Giuliani to shreds.
You do know the difference between reporting a story and editorializing an opinin - correct?
You know the difference between a biography and a hagiography right? Between writing a story and pushing a narrative? Then again maybe you dont.
You have a point. However, a line toward the end of the article pretty much defines the slimey political landscape in which we find ourselves...
"I think a lot of people don't care about Kerik and the marriages and living in a gay friend's house, because they think he's going to run against Hillary Clinton."
The Troglodytes will emerge from their caves once again and pull the Republican lever, if only to keep the Great Satan Hillary from winning.
The Troglodytes will emerge from their caves once again and pull the Republican lever, if only to keep the Great Satan Hillary from winning.
On this we are in total agreement. If HRC gets the nomonation I don;t think it matters who the GOP runs. She will be running against herself.
To be more accurate, she'll be running against the Media Caricature of her.
I've said this before and I will say it again. The rabid right will vote for satan as long as he puts an "R" behind his name....wait a minute....they already have and are getting ready to do it again....run I tell you....run
Your post was simply YOU upchucking your hivemind delusions. Clean up after yourself please.
Other day on tv they were reviewing Giuliani's career as a district attorney going after big gangland figures.
And they had a clip of him joking about the ...what's it called?...the mark or sum of money on his head from people who he'd put in prison, the contract bid. And the joke was he'd depreciated over so many years and different ordered hits.
I guess that's supposed to be funny in light of 9-11. Shoe on other foot now.
Ghouliani is a corporatist - he gave the no-bid contract for new FDNY and NYPD radios to Motorola and guess what - THEY DIDN'T WORK!
So he just goes back to the old radios and puts his counter-terrorism HQ in the World Trade Center (run by another crony named BUSH). This qualifies him to be president?