May 17, 2007

• I really wonder if Giuliani can bear up to the ever-intensifying level of scrutiny he's going to get between now and next February. The "Hero of 9/11" label is okay as long as things stay superficial, but there are still several heavyweights threatening to join the Republican race and when they do the mudslinging is going to get ferocious. The traditional "thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican" is not going to hold up for this election cycle.
• Very interesting read, HW! Allow me to lower the tone just a little by remarking how much, in this week's debates, I was strick by Giuliani's resemblance to this guy.
• Former governor Mike Huckabee may be one big jogging douchebag of hypocrisy and gift-whoring himself, but I wholeheartedly agreed with him when he said this about Giuliani: "If Republicans in this election vote in such a way as to say a candidate’s personal life and personal conduct in office doesn’t matter," he declared, "then a lot of Christian evangelical leaders owe Bill Clinton a public apology." It's rich coming from him, but nevertheless as spot-on as it gets.
• Thanks, HW! It always amazed me how Guiliani pulled off this Lazarus-like comeback after 9/11, when he was dead in the water eighteen different ways on 9/10. I suspect that much of that old loathing will come back, from both the left and the right. Perhaps the right is willing to bite its tongue on things like family-values when he announced his intention to divorce his wife at a press conference, when he hadn't told her yet, but old standby issues like abortion will ultimately halt a national run. Not to mention that as impressive as he seemed on 9/11, running to the WTC was probably the most dangerous irresponsible thing he could have done. It was a great image, and I don't doubt his sincerity in wanting to go down and help, but the chief of response is best kept away from danger, so as not to jeopardize that response, either from disruptions to the chain of command or in sucking up resources to protect it on the ground... But what do I know?
• He's bound to say or do something that will piss a lot of people off in the near future, anyway.
• So... Giuliani sucks?
• Giant donkey c*ck, yes. We'll get started on the new meme right away, Pleg.
• Doesn't have the same ring, though. No assonance.
• Just the ass.
• The venerable Le Tigre made a suggestion I think works. (Also: was it not "good bars" instead of "strip bars"?)
• Ron Paul on CNN talking about the debate
• Audience Applauds As Giuliani, Tancredo Endorse Waterboarding Torture I would say every method they could think of, and I would support them in doing that because I have seen — [applause] — I have seen what can happen when you make a mistake about this and I don’t want to see another 3,000 people dead in New York or any place else.
• As a bit of an aside -- when the government or the police ask for more powers, or excuse their illegal behaviour along these lines, I keep asking myself: would this have stopped 9/11? And the answer is invariably no. The hijackers didn't do anything illegal (beyond overstaying visas) until the act of hijacking. Would torture of the hijackers revealed their plans? Would wiretaps? Perhaps, but these were guys with known terrorist links -- they could have been tapped under FISA, they could have been deported on the basis of those expired visas. Ordinary tools existed, be them law enforcement or metal detectors, which could have prevented this. And if they didn't use the ordinary tools, perhaps they don't need the extraordinary ones. But then again, maybe this terrorism fixation has nothing to do with security at all...
• Ron Paul: Internet Celeb?
• "Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action,"Ron Paul wrote. Paul continued that politically sensible blacks are outnumbered "as decent people." Citing reports that 85 percent of all black men in the District of Columbia are arrested, Paul wrote: "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal," Paul said. Paul also wrote that although "we are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."
• *bakes Cap'n R a pie for that comment*
• Good reference, Nick. Gracias. Fills in the story a bit, don't it?
• NYC was so lucky to have such a heroic figure as mayor when 9-11 happened. The US was so lucky to have such a heroic figure as president when 9-11 happened. Or maybe society just likes to assign heroism to whomever happens to be in charge when a tragedy/attack occurs.
• Joe Conason on Rudy's faulty memory.
• Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend
• Awwwws, daddy's little girl is an Obama supporter.
• Giuliani's dangerous bluster.
• Podhoretz was one of the idiots on the neocon cruise.
• Boy-Molesting Priest Also Giuliani Consultant
• And here's a lovely look at Podhoretz. A good read.
• Jon Stewart on Giuliani's "9/11 Tourette's."
• and also on the terror that is Gov Huckabee: Stewart turned next to a clip of Governor Mike Huckabee gushing enthusiastically, "I'm pretty sure there will be duck-hunting in heaven and I can't wait!" "Are you saying our heaven is duck hell?" asked Stewart. "Is there any place a duck can go to not get shot? ... Governor, your mix of spiritualism and blood lust intrigues me." Great clip, thanks for the linky HW.
• I am still waiting for a national-level journalist to seriously challenge Huck so the rest of you can figure out for yourselves just what a nice, funny, thick-skinned, ethical guy he is. It's not hard to do. Just look at his history of spending state money to take his family on vacation, or the illegal gifts he accepted as governor, or his habit of letting murderers go after they claim to find Jesus, or his multiple flagrant violations of FOIA and general contempt for any press that doesn't give him a goddamn pass with yet another hey-look-at-all-the-weight-you-lost story.
• Giuliani was busy in the 1990s. Mayor of New York plus playing John Cage on Ally McBeal.
• Well, but that only took him four minutes and thirty-three seconds.
• People aren't thrilled that Rudy's peeps tried to change the electoral system in California.
• Giuliani: Not Sure Waterboarding is Torture
• Ladies and Gentlemen, among these candidates is Lincoln's successor. Best of luck. Try not to take the rest of us down with you.
• In any sane world, this would be the death knell for Rudy. Sadly, it may help him.
• Well, it took an Arkansas journalist to take my challenge above, as evidently the national liberal media's still giving Huck a pass, but at least that Arkie journalist got it published in Salon. [Full disclosure: my wife's boss] And does anyone else notice how Salon articles look fucked up if you link them directly and don't have the free day pass cookie?
• I always go straight to the Salon cookie first, then the article I want.
• News Corp And Fox News Have A Long, Chummy Relationship With Rudy Giuliani
• Matt Taibbi on Mike Huckabee, Our Favorite Right-Wing Nut Job
• The making of Rudy's moral code.
• "Science changes with every generation and with new discoveries, and God doesn't," he says. "So I'll stick with God if the two are in conflict." What an imbecile! Science does not change. As new data becomes available, the conclusions that science reaches may change. But the process of science - observation, hypothesis, testing - remains the same. And how can reaching new conclusions possibly be a bad thing? Would he rather be cupped and have his humours adjusted when he gets sick? If he believes that God made the natural world and set up how it works, how can God and science possibly be in conflict?
• Because he's stupid.
• Rudy's Ties to a Terror Sheikh: Giuliani's business contracts tie him to the man who let 9/11's mastermind escape the FBI
• Huckabee Claimed Jesus ‘On The Cross’ Supported The Death Penalty
• Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release
• Free Speech Activist Arrested Over 40 Times
• Huckabee wanted to isolate AIDS patients
• More recently, he also refused to spend a pittance of already-available money to help poor AIDS patients get access to drugs for treatment. I'm having a hell of a time finding a link right now, unfortunately.
• Is Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate shunning Mike Huckabee the preacher? Before entering politics, he was a pastor at two Baptist churches. Now his campaign tells Mother Jones it won't make his sermons available to the media and the public.
• Time to start a Huckabee thread.
• Rudy Giuliani Made Millions Lobbying For Data Mining Company
• He needed those millions of dollars to pay for his campaign, so we don't have to fear the terrorists, but just the government, OK? Lay off, haters.
• America...the last best hope for man on Earth...America needs Rudy Giuliani.
• That was wonderful.
• Giuliani facing free fall?
• Authoritarian Temptation
• Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Chase “The Muslims”…”Back Into Their Caves”
• Uh, the Platonic Cave, where they can be brought out into the sunshine of Democracy and the American Way, shurely? Oh. Right. Chased back into the cave. Some other kind of allegorical cave. One that works. That cave.
• Such as The Cave of Global Security, where all can huddle in the warm, protective bosom of the United States. A nice cave. Warm cave. Finanially lucrative cave.
• The best part of that link is the comment calling him 9iu1ian1.
• Rudy not worried about loss in Iowa. Guess what he compares it to?
• Umm . . 9/10?
• Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11
• I swear I read that a couple of months ago. Or maybe it's just so obvious.
• Don't cross Rudy.