How Dangerous is this Guy?
August 17, 2007 7:03 AM   Subscribe

Giuliani promises a bigger longer war than we got right now with W. This from a guy that used his command center in NYC as a love nest. Of course, the Onion sums it up best.
posted by zzazazz (80 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Right, his command center that he put in the WTC.
posted by delmoi at 7:06 AM on August 17, 2007


He's an idiot. We all know that.
posted by billysumday at 7:09 AM on August 17, 2007




Harper's was making fun of this as well: "A few days ago the new Foreign Affairs arrived carrying an article which purports to have been authored by Rudy Giuliani entitled 'Toward a Realistic Peace.' I say 'purports to be authored' to give Rudy the benefit of a doubt, for this is single most cliché-ridden and dull-witted contribution ever to appear in the hallowed pages of Foreign Affairs."
posted by chunking express at 7:15 AM on August 17, 2007


Giuliani has no choice. He's a pro-choice, not anti-gay, non-born-again version of George Bush. He's holding two pair of GWB's full house of Republican "values."

Without the GWOT he has not much chance in a national election. His only play is to be tougher on "terror" than GWB, but that can be a very strong hand in the land of the fearful, home of the afraid.
posted by three blind mice at 7:15 AM on August 17, 2007


This post is a little grindy, but in case it survives: Giuliani will never be president for the same reason McCain will never be present. Clear and present baldness.
posted by DU at 7:16 AM on August 17, 2007 [2 favorites]


We are all members of the 9/11 generation.

I just threw up in my mouth a lot.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:17 AM on August 17, 2007 [7 favorites]


When I heard he had a piece in the new Foreign Affairs, I laughed, wondering when all the others would show up next. It is hilarious that the first line of the thing is, "We are all members of the 9/11 generation."

What a truly creepy campaign he's running.
posted by mediareport at 7:17 AM on August 17, 2007


I believe it was Atlantic Magazeine that not too long ago ran an article that said that Rudy would be even worse than Bush as president. They knew what we are discovering.
posted by Postroad at 7:19 AM on August 17, 2007




I believe it was Atlantic Magazeine that not too long ago ran an article that said that Rudy would be even worse than Bush as president. They knew what we are discovering.

I remember reading something at TPM along those same lines about 6-8 months ago by a Newsday columnist who'd covered Rudy for more than a decade.
posted by Poolio at 7:24 AM on August 17, 2007


Man, that Guiliani banner in the Onion article is really creepy. Me no likey.
posted by King Bee at 7:24 AM on August 17, 2007


We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.[ Interruption by someone in the audience. ]You have free speech so I can be heard.
— Then NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, at a forum on city crime hosted by the New York Post, 16 March 1994
posted by jefgodesky at 7:33 AM on August 17, 2007 [5 favorites]


In related news --

Another flip-flopper: Giuliani recants previous support for gay civil unions.

Rudy Giuliani dressed as a "lion," talks about the work ethic of people on welfare (from the documentary Giuliani Time).

Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend, a video that rips the former NYC Mayor's health and safety record with regard to the heroes of 9/11.
posted by ericb at 7:35 AM on August 17, 2007


He's now saying we'll "Stop" illegal immigration by building a fence. When he was mayor of NYC he actually sued the federal government because he wanted to create a 'safe haven' for undocumented new yorkers by not enforcing immigration laws at all. Federal law changed to require cities to cooperate, and he sued the government to get out of the new requirement.

His whole thing is ridiculous. He would have to moderate during the general election, but I think everyone needs to be talking about what a freak this guy is to their less informed friends.

At least this year, unlike 2000 there will be a pretty huge gulf between the general election candidates in terms of ideology.
posted by delmoi at 7:36 AM on August 17, 2007


I still don't understand why his performance in drag with a lecherous Trump has not destroyed his presidential hopes.
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat at 7:40 AM on August 17, 2007


At least this year, unlike 2000 there will be a pretty huge gulf between the general election candidates in terms of apparent ideology.

Fixed that for you.
posted by DU at 7:43 AM on August 17, 2007


make love and war!
posted by bruce at 7:45 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


America must remember one of the lessons of the Vietnam War. Then, as now, we fought a war with the wrong strategy for several years. And then, as now, we corrected course and began to show real progress. Many historians today believe that by about 1972 we and our South Vietnamese partners had succeeded in defeating the Vietcong insurgency and in setting South Vietnam on a path to political self-sufficiency. But America then withdrew its support, allowing the communist North to conquer the South. The consequences were dire, and not only in Vietnam: numerous deaths in places such as the killing fields of Cambodia, a newly energized and expansionist Soviet Union, and a weaker America. The consequences of abandoning Iraq would be worse.
Yup, if we had just stayed the course we would have won in Vietnam. This time we won't make the same cowardly mistakes.
posted by caddis at 7:45 AM on August 17, 2007


Giuliani: 'Leave my family alone'
“Republican Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that people should ‘leave my family alone’ when asked by a New Hampshire woman why the presidential candidate should expect loyalty from voters when he doesn't get it from his children.

Giuliani has a daughter who has indicated support for Democrat Barack Obama and a son who said he didn't speak to his father for some time. His ugly divorce from their mother, Donna Hanover, was waged publicly while Giuliani was mayor of New York. Giuliani has since remarried.

Answering questions at a town-hall meeting, Giuliani was asked why he should expect loyalty from GOP voters when his children aren't backing him.

‘I love my family very, very much and will do anything for them. There are complexities in every family in America,’ Giuliani said calmly and quietly. ‘The best thing I can say is kind of, 'Leave my family alone, just like I'll leave your family alone.’”
Uh, Rudy, with your recent flip-flop on gay civil unions what you really meant to say was: "...just like I'll leave your family alone, except for if you're gay."
posted by ericb at 7:48 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


May the great (insert deity of choice) in his/her benevolent wisdom grant this man the Republican nomination.
posted by Justin Case at 7:49 AM on August 17, 2007


We are all members of the 9/11 generation.


That's not true of me. I belong to the Blank Generation.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:49 AM on August 17, 2007 [3 favorites]


He's now saying we'll "Stop" illegal immigration by building a fence.

Many historians today believe that by about 1972 we and our South Vietnamese partners had succeeded in defeating the Vietcong insurgency and in setting South Vietnam on a path to political self-sufficiency.

Is he just making this stuff up now?

As for the border fence, I haven't heard one anti-immigration zealot suggest that the fence would stop illegal immigration. They all say that it's a deterrence, not a solution. To say it will "stop" means he's sloppy, cocky, or desperate. Probably all three.
posted by dw at 7:50 AM on August 17, 2007




And honestly, I don't see Giuliani as a "danger." I see him potentially as incompetent as the Dubya team. And right now, the last thing we need is four more years of incompetence, mixed with opportunism and a pinch of fascism.

The best candidate the GOP has is Mike Huckabee, and he has no shot. Everyone else is a mix of crazy, fascist, and incompetent. There's no way the Dems could lose. Which makes me wonder they're going to blow it this time.
posted by dw at 7:56 AM on August 17, 2007


He's a pro-choice

I bet you fifty dollars that, if elected, he'll try to ram an anti-Roe judge on the Supreme Court (if the Scalia boys don't overturn before that, in that case, I guess all bets are off)
posted by matteo at 8:00 AM on August 17, 2007


He's a pro-choice

I bet you fifty dollars that, if elected, he'll try to ram an anti-Roe judge on the Supreme Court

I think what we are finding out that Rudy Giuliani's philosophy is "Rudy Giuliani is awesome". He apparently pretended to be a liberal to become mayor of New York. Now he's pretending to be a conservative to become President.

So if he ever has the opportunity to choose a judge, I predict he will pick whoever will help him the most at the monent he does the choosing, whatever he said on previous occasions.
posted by DU at 8:06 AM on August 17, 2007


Hint: in the Onion article linked above, there's a photo. Take a close look at the design of Rudy's campaign banner in the background.
posted by bicyclefish at 8:07 AM on August 17, 2007


When the democrats win this thing next year, I'd really like to see it be about more than just the total incompetence of the republicans. Is it too much to hope that the electorate is finally ready to reject all the fear mongering?

Of course it is...
But who's the real terrorist here?

posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:07 AM on August 17, 2007


"The Terrorist's war on Us."

Get used to that line. The right-wing echo chamber is going to be using it a lot. Don't be surprised if GWB uses it soon.

Fact is, terrorists have been attacking political institutions for as long as civilization has existed. They will still be around long after everyone alive today is dust in the wind. They don't want war, they want insurrection.

It is an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the "swing voter" majority again, and pretend that Iraq was sponsoring terrorism prior to our invasion. It attempts to shroud the fact that going into Iraq had nothing to do with fighting terrorists and that it only does now because our attack gave them an area to engage us.
posted by mystyk at 8:08 AM on August 17, 2007


I'm not too worried about Rudy. This is how stupid our fellow countrymen are: polling well in the primaries has everything to do with name recognition and nothing at all to do with presentation and policy.

I really hope he gets the nomination, because not only will he lose the general election to whomever the Dems choose, but the non stop parade of skeletons leaving his closet will cause him to become something beyond completely humiliated. A condition he very well deserves.
posted by psmealey at 8:12 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


They will still be around long after everyone alive today is dust in the wind.

Carry on, my wayward son.

Oh, and Giuliani is an asshole. I knew it years ago when he started telling NYC cops to give tickets for jaywalking.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:13 AM on August 17, 2007


It really bugs me that Foreign Affairs has published articles by presidential candidates in the last two issues. This is not the venue for that sort of thing. While these sorts of articles do give us insight into the candidate, they do not belong in a journal dedicated to providing thoughtful analysis of global matters.

Oh, and Rudi is a douche. A potentially dangerous douche, but a douche nonetheless.
posted by Tullius at 8:15 AM on August 17, 2007


freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

And that was BEFORE 9/11. Imagine what he thinks NOW.
posted by Legomancer at 8:15 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


Damn, I should have previewed. Didn't intend to copy you, flapjax.
posted by Tullius at 8:16 AM on August 17, 2007


The consequences were dire, and not only in Vietnam: numerous deaths in places such as the killing fields of Cambodia

Dear Rudy... The killing fields of Cambodia had been levelled with American bombs, and while the U.S. was busy giving the Khmer army military support for a foolhardy assult on Vietnam it was the (North) Vietnamese who finally stepped in in 1979 and ended the Khmer Rouge terror. I doubt we could have expected the same from the corrupt governments the U.S. had propped up in Saigon.
posted by kowalski at 8:19 AM on August 17, 2007 [2 favorites]


Excellent point, Kowalski.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:22 AM on August 17, 2007


I'm not a member of the 9/11 generation. I'm a member of the Pepsi generation until Pepsi says otherwise.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:28 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]




He is not to be trusted, let alone elected.

I've started referring to him as Benito Giuliani.

As a second generation Italian American, I know guys like this like the back of my hand.

I see Giuliani, and I think: Fascisti.

I'm serious ... if this little insect gets elected, it'll be a shit-storm of mammoth proportions.
posted by Relay at 8:38 AM on August 17, 2007


the non stop parade of skeletons leaving his closet will cause him to become something beyond completely humiliated

Sure! Just like how the media wouldn't shut up about Bush's draft dodging and history of alcohol and drug abuse.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:41 AM on August 17, 2007 [2 favorites]


Sure! Just like how the media wouldn't shut up about Bush's draft dodging and history of alcohol and drug abuse.

I just don't think the hard right (or the media) is as fiercely loyal to Giuliani as they were to Bush. They were willing to overlook a multitude of (er) sins, because he was their guy. Giuliani is not.
posted by psmealey at 8:45 AM on August 17, 2007


I'll vote for Guiliani if he can go one news cycle without invoking 911, but he won't and he can't because he it's his one trump card and because he's an opportunist dick, so I say give him enough rope...
posted by Skygazer at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2007


It continues to astound me that the guys who beat the 911 drum the loudest are the ones who were completely unprepared for it.

Why does Giuliani get credit for his 911 "heroism" when the fact of the matter was the he was the one who put his terrorism command center in the fucking WTC, and seemingly did everything he could before the fact to ensure the cops and firemen had no command and control process, which likely resulted in senseless deaths of hundreds of them.

Giuliani is a fucking boob. The fact that we're even talking about him in the context of the presidency depresses me beyond words.
posted by psmealey at 8:52 AM on August 17, 2007


Linchpin and thorn.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:52 AM on August 17, 2007


Did anyone else notice in the new Adam Sandler movie Chuck and Larry where Dan Ankroyd's fire chief character stood up to testify and said that he had served under NY mayors Koch and the Great Guliani?!!

It made me so sick considering -
1. the controversy surrounding Guliani's treatment of firefighters WRT 9-11 and the whole movie was about firefighters
2. Dan Ankroyd was actually saying it. I wonder how many takes it took him to get thru it with a clear conscience?
3. Product placement in Adam Sandler movies has hit an all time low.
posted by daHIFI at 8:59 AM on August 17, 2007


Giuliani is a fucking boob. The fact that we're even talking about him in the context of the presidency depresses me beyond words.

Wow, there's someone more pessimistic than me.
posted by Relay at 9:03 AM on August 17, 2007


Did anyone else notice in the new Adam Sandler movie

That would entail watching it, so...no.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:09 AM on August 17, 2007 [3 favorites]


I don't approve of you "people" calling it 9/11. As a New Yorker who witnessed these events first hand, I hereby ORDER you peons to refer to that fateful day by its one true name:

"The Tragic Events of Septemeber the Eleventh, Two Thousand and One"

By no other moniker shall it go!
posted by Debaser626 at 9:27 AM on August 17, 2007


In the time leading up to the 2000 election, I couldn't believe that GWB was being seriously considered as a candidate. In much the same way that I can't believe that Rudy is seriously considered to be a candidate. America needs a wake up call, and it won't do that until it hits bottom. Sadly enough considering that Rudy can talk to crowds larger than 20 and not be boo'ed off the stage, and furthermore that the press isn't lampooning him onion style, America has not hit bottom.

Luckily for me, as an American living in Canada, I'll be slightly insulated from the effects of the US bottoming out. But for the good of the country, it needs to. As such, while this pains me to say it, I hope to be able to absentee vote for Rudy for President.

I urge all of the true patriots of America to do the same. The ones who loved the country and the ideal of freedom that it was founded on have to admit that none of the democrats will fix things. Currently a non-corporate sponsored candidate doesn't have a chance. But, if we expose the bedrock communities to just how bad having a knucklehead for a president can damage the country. Expose them to the long term effects of selling out. We might create change. Currently, I think that it looks like Rudy would be worst for America. If he drops out, I'm switching my vote to Romney.

Hopefully it will only take Rudy's first term to teach people, but after having seen two terms of GWB (and can anyone these days read that, and not read "great white beast" as easily as he who's name must not be mentioned?), we must be prepared to vote Rudy in 2012 if that's what it takes to get the populous to wake up to the fact that they are members of the world, not the ruling elite.

Alternately, if there is a main stream candidate who'd be worse than Rudy, I'd like to know who. But in the meantime, please vote for the worst pandering demagogue you can find. Just be ready to speak about impeachment; we want to hit bottom, not commit suicide. I apologize in advance to those of you living in the country, especially for those in the armed forces. But we need to get people to realize that they need someone better than Eugene Levy for village president, much less for the office of the President of the United States.

/me wonders at what point can voting for the same candidate be considered treason by one person, but not by another person because of said intent.
posted by nobeagle at 9:46 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


To achieve a realistic peace, U.S. diplomacy must be tightly linked to our other strengths: military, economic, and moral.

ROFL
posted by felix betachat at 9:54 AM on August 17, 2007


Giuliani '08: The Worst Pandering Demagogue you can Find.
posted by psmealey at 9:55 AM on August 17, 2007


Relay: As a second generation Italian American, I know guys like this like the back of my hand.

First generation and I went to HS with "guys like this", control freak momma's boys who can't suck enough of the Father principle's dick if it means getting into a good college (Which some did anyway without spunk,metaphoric or not, on their faces).

Flapjax: Oh, and Giuliani is an asshole. I knew it years ago when he started telling NYC cops to give tickets for jaywalking.

Yeah, I was thinking too. When he took over as Mayor in 1994, the NYPD's attitude toward the publlic changed overnight. Getting harassed and the full shakedown (emptying pockets) for stupid stuff like Jaywalking, urinating in the street, open containers in a paper bags (which was traditionally tolerated), jumping turnstiles etc became standard procedure and everyone became a criminal overnight (unless of course you you were of a certain political party or lived in a wealthy neighborhood).

I shudder to think what that would be like on a national scale. We would all become members of Al-Queda, especialy if you were a Progressive or a Democratic. Il Duce-liani, indeed.
posted by Skygazer at 9:58 AM on August 17, 2007


nobeagle: Please don't make things get worse. There are lives in your hands.
posted by ODiV at 10:05 AM on August 17, 2007


We are all members of the 9/11 generation.

I don't know if he's really missing the point, or just speaking like it for the polls.

But come on, looking back on this, we're not going to be the 9/11 generation. We're going to be the fucking Iraq War generation, the same way there was a Vietnam War generation. We are the 9/11 generation the same way that those alive in the 1910s were the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand generation.

9/11 killed ~3000 innocent people.

This war/occupation has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, as well as >3000 additional Americans, squandered our enormous supply of international goodwill and lost us any assumed moral high ground we used to enjoy, contributed to our disgustingly massive deficit, destabilized a critical region, encouraged further extremism and anti-American sentiment, enabled a laughable president to shit all over Constitutional checks and balances and assume the authority to spy on, imprison, and torture American citizens without evidence or oversight, further polarized our politicians and devolved the political discourse to a shouting match that fails to accomplish much of any use to anyone who isn't a huge corporation, watered down and debased our news media, and so on. And even most of the people who admit that they want us OUT of this war admit that it's not going to be anytime real soon.

I like to think that, centuries down the road, whoever is reading history books at that point will see 9/11 and think of it as some kind of quaint overreaction from an ancient, irrational culture, like we look back on the Defenestration of Prague now or something. Onion article or not, the way this man flies that scorched, tattered fucking 9/11 flag at any possible opportunity is disgusting and needs to be called out for those who are too naive or partisan to notice it.
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 10:06 AM on August 17, 2007 [3 favorites]


America needs a wake up call, and it won't do that until it hits bottom.

You know which other country needed a wake-up call, and didn't get it until it hit rock bottom?

That's right.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:17 AM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]


His Foreign Affairs article is 5843 words long. In it, he mentions September 11th seven times and terror(ism) thirty-three times.

FUD much?

If this guy is elected, we will live under a constant terror alert. Because, we are at risk, from everyone, everywhere, all the time, now get back under your bed and don't come out till it's time to buy something. Wait! Is that an Islamist terrorist behind your door?! Booga-booga!

September 11.
posted by quin at 10:18 AM on August 17, 2007


> "...see 9/11 and think of it as some kind of quaint overreaction from an ancient, irrational culture, like we look back on the Defenestration of Prague now or something..."

Well, since Wikipedia tells me that the "Defenestration of Prague was an event central to the initiation of the Thirty Years' War," I'm going to hope that you're wrong, although I think that you may be pretty close.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:21 AM on August 17, 2007


Kadin2048: Maybe it was just us, but in my adolescent days in high school, when we heard that that's what started the Thirty Years' War, we giggled a lot. Also, we started using the word "defenestrate" irrationally more often. The fact that it was central to the initiation of the Thirty Years' War was my point, really.
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 10:35 AM on August 17, 2007


From Rudy Giuliani to Adam Sandler to The Defenstration of Prauge in 59 comments. That's what I love about Metafilter.

Well, maybe without the Adam Sandler part.
posted by marxchivist at 10:35 AM on August 17, 2007


Oh, and Giuliani is an asshole. I knew it years ago when he started telling NYC cops to give tickets for jaywalking.

I knew it during his inauguration when his spoiled brat of a son was acting like a privileged little prick. I thought "uh-ohhhhhh..."
posted by papercake at 10:40 AM on August 17, 2007


I knew it during his inauguration when his spoiled brat of a son was acting like a privileged little prick. I thought "uh-ohhhhhh..."

YouTube to the rescue!

[God Bless Chris Farley!]
posted by ericb at 10:44 AM on August 17, 2007


This war/occupation has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, as well as >3000 additional Americans

Yeah, but those people are all poor and don't matter. 9/11 NEVAR FORGET
posted by grouse at 10:46 AM on August 17, 2007


Kadin2048: Also, I misread the emphasis of your point. I hope that analogy is less than perfect, too. <3
posted by cobra_high_tigers at 10:49 AM on August 17, 2007


I was seriously just thinking about this last night. I truly fear this fuckhead. The authoritarian quote is certainly one of them.

The many cases (Diallo, Louima and the latest I've heard, Dorismond) and Giuliani's disgusting praise of those involved frighten the bejesus out of me.

I was recalling an old Anarchy magazine article (though I think they exaggerated a bit) about Giuliani essentially supporting the idea of taking DNA from newborns for a central database.

I even pondered aloud to my partner, last night, that I would seriously consider voting for Hillary if Giuliani were the candidate. I'm not so sure of that statement, but that's damn near how much that guy scares me. She said "You KNOW it's serious if you say that about Hillary..."

So yeah.

Also, Huckabee was the Republican I was hoping would get a chance. Tis a shame. Not that he's perfect, but seriously, he's closer to moderate than a lot of these clowns.
posted by symbioid at 11:04 AM on August 17, 2007


At the core of all Americans is the belief that all human beings have certain inalienable rights that proceed from God but must be protected by the state.

I really couldn't keep myself from laughing at that.

"You're taking these rights, whether you like them or not. Oh, and create yourself a state to protect them."
posted by kiltedtaco at 11:57 AM on August 17, 2007


The New York Times reported today that, despite his claim that he was at Ground Zero "as often, if not more" than the cleanup workers, Mayor Giuliani was there for total of 29 hours from September 17 to December 16, 2001. "In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."

I think there's a huge opportunity for the Democratic candidate in the 2008 election to run on a hope for the future platform. We might get that from Barack Obama or John Edwards, but we aren't getting that from Hillary Clinton, at least not so far. The Republicans looks like they're sticking with the ooga-booga-booga-terror theme, and I think most Americans are immune to the fear-mongering by now. (Barring another attack, then all bets are off.) The Democrats should look at Reagan's 1980 campaign and Clinton's 1992 campaign. (And maybe dust off Ross Perot.)

Is it wrong that I love that there's a word that means "throw someone out a window"?
posted by kirkaracha at 12:23 PM on August 17, 2007


I think most a few Americans are immune to the fear-mongering by now.

I fixed that for you. I'm guessing about 30% of Americans are still scared shitless of Islamofascist boogiemen.
posted by chunking express at 12:41 PM on August 17, 2007


The Republicans looks like they're sticking with the ooga-booga-booga-terror theme, and I think most Americans are immune to the fear-mongering by now.

Michelle Obama at a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa yesterday:
"'Think! Listen!' she implored during an impassioned introduction of her husband today, 'The game of politics is to make you afraid, so that you don't think!'

Her introduction was a super-charged version of Barack Obama’s stump speech, which has increasingly vilified the bleak status quo of a rigid Washington establishment. But where he, highlights hope, his wife warned today of the consequences of fear. Jabbing a pointed finger in the air, she derided a political system in which 'every decision that we've made over the past 10 years wasn't FOR something, but was because people told us we had to fear something.'

She put a hard edge on her husband’s 'war that never should have been waged' applause line, too, exclaiming, 'We are in this war because for eight years; we were told to be afraid!'"*
Video: Mrs. Obama: Be not afraid.
posted by ericb at 12:50 PM on August 17, 2007


DU: delmoi: At least this year, unlike 2000 there will be a pretty huge gulf between the general election candidates in terms of apparent ideology.

Fixed that for you.

Yes, as opposed to 2000, where there was a difference between the candidates, but the apparent difference was played down by the Democrats to win the moderate vote.

Luckily, the self-proclaimed politics-savvy, self-righteous Left was able to see this obvious distinction and didn't insist that their pet issues, which have no resonance with most of the electorate ,got an inordinate amount of lip service from the Dems- ushering 8 years of peace and prosperity under President Gore.
posted by spaltavian at 12:57 PM on August 17, 2007


We are all members of the 9/11 generation.

No actually, we're the Kids in America. New York to East California, there's a new one comin' I warn ya!"
posted by jonp72 at 1:09 PM on August 17, 2007


Giuliani's foreign policy adviser Norman ‘bomb Iran’ Podhoretz was one of the twits on the Ship of Fools.
posted by homunculus at 1:46 PM on August 17, 2007


holy crap. podhoretz is one of the most insane neocon world war iii forever cheerleaders around! to think someone like that could be advising a credible presidential candidate on foreign affairs makes me shudder.
posted by saulgoodman at 2:21 PM on August 17, 2007


homonculus, that explains the revisionist Vietnam history, too. Insane.
posted by mediareport at 6:57 PM on August 17, 2007


Check out his competition: Mitt Romney: Against Stem Cell Research, For Stem Cell Profits (and of course, the "my sons serve the country by driving me to campaign events and being on my payroll")
posted by amberglow at 8:49 PM on August 17, 2007


I don't approve of you "people" calling it 9/11

I don't approve either. Why would the month go before the day? It was 11/9.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 3:15 AM on August 18, 2007


I like what Mrs. Obama had to say. Maybe she should run for President...
posted by Skygazer at 7:59 AM on August 18, 2007


to think someone like that could be advising a credible presidential candidate on foreign affairs makes me shudder.

Relax. He's advising Guiliani. If he advises someone credible, then you panic.

I'm telling you guys just like I've been telling you for literally years: The guy to be scared of is Fred Thompson. Just think 'Reagan with talent.'
posted by lodurr at 12:20 PM on August 20, 2007


TIME Magazine: Behind Giuliani's Tough Talk.
posted by ericb at 12:32 PM on August 23, 2007


Is that one of those finish this sentence things? Because if so, I offer:

Behind Giuliani's Tough Talk... is an empty suit.
posted by psmealey at 1:19 PM on August 23, 2007


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