Byron York's admittedly "wildly inappropriate" comparison: Giuliani's Florida concession speech and slain Italian hostage's final words

In a January 30 online article, National Review White House correspondent Byron York wrote of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's January 29 speech on the night of the Florida Republican presidential primary, amid reports Giuliani would be dropping out of the race: "[I]t is probably wildly inappropriate to say, but in this setting and under these circumstances, it is hard not to think of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, the courageous Genoan who, taken hostage by Islamic terrorists in Iraq in 2004 cried out, 'Now I will show you how an Italian dies!' just before he was shot. On a small stage in front of a large RUDY sign, Giuliani, the mayor who saved New York City, the most accomplished executive of his generation, and the man who conducted himself with true heroism on September 11, has come to face political death, with dignity, in Universal Studios' Orlando-style approximation of Italy."

As Media Matters for America noted, on the June 11, 2006, broadcast of NBC's Meet the Press, host Tim Russert said that York is "a conservative writer," but then added that York is "an interesting, objective observer of American politics." York appeared on the most recent edition of NBC's Meet the Press.

From York's January 30 National Review Online article:

The Loew's Portofino Bay Hotel is an attempt to recreate one of Italy's most charming coastal cities in the flat, featureless landscape of central Florida. It was built by Universal Studios, whose executives insist on a theme for every major undertaking, and word is that back in the late 1990s, film director Steven Spielberg, a Universal creative consultant, had just returned from a vacation in the real Portofino when he suggested the company use the city as a model for the new resort hotel.

Universal architects and designers traveled to Italy and took thousands of pictures of Portofino, then came back to Orlando to begin their work. They created a large, semi-circular artificial harbor ringed by faux-18th-century Italian buildings. They put boats in the harbor and even parked a Vespa -- bolted into cement -- at the water's edge to make the scene a bit more realistic. They built the hotel behind the waterfront buildings, with a Piazza Centrale and a narrow winding indoor street, illuminated by little lights strung across an artificial sky. They built meeting rooms with names like Vicenza, Bernini, and Donatello. And they planned entertainment; on this evening, the hotel's program includes the nightly Musica Della Notte, by the harbor, with a tenor singing "Nessun Dorma" from a balcony overlooking the water. "Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen," he says as the crowd begins to applaud. "Ciao! Buona sera!"

It is here, in the Tuscan Ballroom, that Rudy Giuliani has come to address supporters in the wake of his resounding defeat in the Florida primary. And it is probably wildly inappropriate to say, but in this setting and under these circumstances, it is hard not to think of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, the courageous Genoan who, taken hostage by Islamic terrorists in Iraq in 2004 cried out, "Now I will show you how an Italian dies!" just before he was shot. On a small stage in front of a large RUDY sign, Giuliani, the mayor who saved New York City, the most accomplished executive of his generation, and the man who conducted himself with true heroism on September 11, has come to face political death, with dignity, in Universal Studios' Orlando-style approximation of Italy.

When he takes to the stage, shortly after John McCain has been declared the winner, Giuliani doesn't precisely say he is dropping out of the race. But it's obvious to everyone, and he begins to talk about his presidential run in the past tense. "We ran a campaign that was uplifting," Giuliani tells the crowd. "The responsibility of leadership doesn't end with a single campaign, it goes on and you continue to fight for it."