The Rudy campaign has just appointed its new campaign chair for New York City: Rudy Washington, an African American and former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration.

Washington, it should be noted, was hospitalized just weeks after the attack with a respiratory ailment and was in the public eye again last year after his claim for health benefits was appealed by the city (though it promptly reversed that decision).

It's also worth noting that Team Giuliani announced the campaign appointment of a 9/11 sufferer in the midst of a day of searing controversy over Rudy's comments about 9/11 rescue workers, which are being denounced far and wide as insensitive and worse. Of course, Washington was also one of Giuliani's most trusted aides back in the day.