« Reviews of the Health Plans | Home | Bernstein Book Directly Contradicts A Key Charge In Gerth And Van Natta's Book »
Do Leaders Of Other Localities Hit On 9/11 Have "National Security Stature," Too?
TPM Reader DK makes a pretty good point about the media's willingness to accord Rudy "national security stature" based on the fact that he was Mayor of New York on 9/11:
Hmmm -- since Giuliani's credentials on national security arise from "being there" on 9/11, couldn't one say that his experience is quite similar to Ron Carlee (County Manager of Arlington Co., VA on 9/11/2001) or Ernie Stull (Mayor of Shanksville, PA on that date). Maybe someone should speak to Carlee and Stull -- perhaps they have what it takes to be President too.
Heh. Of course, you could argue that many more were killed in New York than in those other locales -- placing a much greater leadership burden on Rudy -- but the point is nonetheless well taken.
One possible reason these other worthy local leaders haven't been accorded any of the "national security stature" Rudy has: Unlike him they didn't spend literally years traveling the country giving scores of lucrative speeches about 9/11 and about their own alleged heroism in the disaster's aftermath.
Advertisement
Just so I have this straight -- if my house burns down in a kitchen fire, I can later claim to be an expert in fire safety?
May 29, 2007 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
sure, why not?
May 29, 2007 11:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like to see a side-by-side comparison between Mayor Giuliani and his peers like Mayor Daley of Chicago, then-Mayor Lee Brown of Houston, and then-Mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles.
What were the tax rates? What were the tax increases/decreases? What were the crime rates before and after? What kind of relationships did the city have in each instance with 'national security'?
It seems like one of the only people to try and act in the case of the Katrina disaster was Mayor Daley of Chicago and if I recall Mayor Daley was incredibly frustrated by his his lack of power to do anything in the face of the federal response. So what exactly makes Giuliani any different?
Who did he save? Who did he lead? Why is he better or worse than any other large city mayor?
May 29, 2007 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton and Gilmore have certainly used the fact that they were in office in jurisdictions hit by 9-11 to enhance their "national security stature".
From the April 26 debate:
And from the South Carolina debate:
But Giuliani had true star status after 9-11, no doubt about it, whether he deserved it or not. And boy has he milked it.
May 29, 2007 11:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
May 30, 2007 8:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I heard Kinky Friedman on the radio today say that Rudy has leadership ability. It may be that he does have some of that psychopathic quality which attracts a following. My sense is that he is a bully and something of a sadist. But he has always had the media in his sway, going back to his days as US attorney, when he was master of the politically-exploitable headline-generating show proscecutions.
It will take a relentless pushback from bloggers world-wide to slow down the corporate media FIX in the electoral shadow-boxing. They've kowtowed to Rudy, puffed up cypher Romney, annointed Hillary---and dumped all over Edwards, Ron Paul, Kucinich, who don't follow the script. As if any of this matters, as long as black box voting and GOP voter suppression strategies continue. Has ANY Democratic candidate shown ANY awareness of those problems????
May 30, 2007 9:14 AM | Reply | Permalink