Rudy's Justification For Blowing Off Iraq Study Group Shown To Be Bogus
The Giuliani campaign today is pushing back on the big story today reporting that he was kicked off the Iraq Study Group because he blew off ISG meetings despite having time to make high-priced speeches.
The Rudy camp's claim? He was seen as a "potential Presidential candidate" and didn't want this fact to turn his work for the ISG into a "political football."
But a quick and dirty bit of research shows that the Rudy campaign's pushback here is entirely bogus. Details after the jump.
As you know, Newsday reported today that Giuliani was bumped from the ISG after blowing off its meetings. The paper further suggested that a key reason for missing them was that he was busy making money giving high-priced speeches.
The Rudy camp is disputing the story, sending the following response to the Politico's Jonathan Martin:
"Once again, the paper wrote a story with little regard to the facts. The facts are these -- as someone considered a potential presidential candidate, the Mayor didn’t want the group’s work to become a political football. That, coupled with time constraints, led to his decision."
Jonah Goldberg obtained a similar response from the Rudy camp and posted it over at The Corner.
The argument here is that Rudy backed out of his commitment to the ISG because he knew people were thinking of him as a potential Presidential candidate, something that (he allegedly thought) could potentially politicize his role on the panel. How selfless!
But even a cursory bit of research completely debunks the Rudy camp's pushback here.
Rudy's role with the ISG was announced in March of 2006. This was presumably done with Rudy's consent. That means that Rudy was willing to serve on the ISG in March of 2006, right? Right.
As it turns out, Rudy himself was openly telling reporters that he was a potential candidate for President many months earlier than this.
From the Associated Press in October of 2005:
Giuliani says he will consider 2008 presidential runCOPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday he will contemplate next year whether to run for president in 2008.
"I will be considering it next year," Giuliani said during a visit to Denmark.
So very clearly, Rudy himself was saying that he was a "potential Presidential candidate" five months before agreeing to join the ISG. He even openly stated that he'd be actively considering a run during the same year -- 2006 -- that the ISG would be doing its work. So why did Rudy join it in the first place?
His campaign is now saying that he backed out of his ISG commitment because the fact that he was seen as a potential candidate could politicize his work for the panel -- even though that didn't stop him from signing up in the first place.
This is just total bull, pure and simple. No polite way to describe it.
Meanwhile, the only remaining piece of his pushback -- that "time constraints" prevented his participation -- actually suggests confirmation of the story. So Rudy's got nothing left here.
Update: Jonah Goldberg agrees that "Giuliani's case for blowing off the ISG is pretty weak."
Comments (11)
destor23 wrote on June 19, 2007 4:53 PM:Well, see, it would have been a political football, though. For Giuliani.
Because if he had gone through with his work on the ISG, we would now actually know what his plans for Iraq are.
But he doesn't want us to know that because he doesn't have a plan.
thosethingswesay.blogspot.com
Greg Sargent wrote on June 19, 2007 4:59 PM:heh -- nice one. remember his quote saying, in effect, that iraq was "in the hands of other people"?
AJ MA wrote on June 19, 2007 5:18 PM:Good catch. He was determined to keep it that way, apparently. So did he dodge duty for profit or political expediency? And which is worse?
populist wrote on June 19, 2007 5:24 PM:Everything for Rudy is a political football. From Iraq, to social issues to 9-11.
But, he's no great leader and he's definitely no hero. He's just another politician grandstanding - and looking for power, profits and prestige - at the expense of others.
The real heroes of 9-11, the firefighters, have a much different opinion of Rudy than what's in the mainstream:
"Giuliani vs. the Firefighters" - click here
marcNYC wrote on June 19, 2007 5:25 PM:Get a load of this from the Rudy camp. It is breath taking for audacity, even when you consider the source is his campaign manager:
When the mayor does something, he does it 100 percent, and as you can see when he was mayor of New York, he grabbed it 100 percent," DuHaime said this morning on MSNBC. "He did not think he could dedicate the time necessary to that, and I'll leave it at that."
***************
"I don't think anybody can question the mayor's commitment to the Iraq war, or the mayor's commitment to the war on terror in general. This is somebody who for the last 30 years of his life has spent time working on and studying the Islamic terrorist threat to America," DuHaime said.
http://www.amny.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usrudy0620,0,1681301.story
In other words don't confuse his lack of commitment to understanding what happened on 9/11 with his total commitment to this insane war.
*ding!*
That is exactly what this is about. Iraq wasn't in the 12 Pillars of Rudyism from a week or so ago.
This is one thing that Josh got very, very wrong on the front page today. Rudy is most definitely not running on Iraq. He's running on using tough rhetoric about terrorism.
If he were forced to actually talk about Iraq, he'd have to get into specifics. That's not his strength. Posing is his strength.
kth wrote on June 19, 2007 5:35 PM:Mayor Giuliani, do you agree with the findings and recommendations of last year's Iraq Study Group?
If yes, then are you disappointed that the president has rejected them?
If no, then might the study group have produced a better report if you had been willing to participate?
Legalize wrote on June 19, 2007 5:50 PM:You see, being on a panel of educated, curious, and intellectually honest individuals simply isn't Rudy's bag in the first place, and associating himself with such a group would totally kill him with the wingnut base, which prefers to derive all of its foreign policy positions and arguments from the scent of the candidates, superstition, and Rush Limbaugh's diatribes.
Rudy wisely understood that being a part of a reasoned and non-hysterical panel would be political suicide, because the GOP base is looking for the stupidest fuck available.
Greg Sargent wrote on June 19, 2007 8:13 PM:yes, indeed. if Rudy were to show that he were seeking a solution in Iraq other than "bomb the darkies until they kiss our feet," he'd never be able to prevail in a GOP primary...
drv wrote on June 19, 2007 9:59 PM:It's easy to tell Rudy's whole explanation is a crock. If he didn't want it to become a political football then why didn't he just resign? He stayed on the committee, at least in name, while he was supposedly concerned about his participation. It took Jim Baker to fire him. So he was concerned enough to not do any work but not concerned enough to resign. Feh.
chriso wrote on June 20, 2007 3:59 PM:I'd like to back up a little bit to this outrageous statement from his campaign manager: "This is somebody who for the last 30 years of his life has spent time working on and studying the Islamic terrorist threat to America"
That must have been some top secret work. I'd like to see someone ask him to elaborate on that a little bit.
