Rudy Campaign Might Ask Surrogate To Resign Over Anti-Muslim Comments
So it looks as if genocide might not be part of the Rudy campaign platform, after all.
The New York Daily News has picked up our story about John Deady, the co-chair of New Hampshire Veterans for Rudy, who told us in an interview that he doesn't "subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. They're all Muslims."
The News also got a reaction from the Rudy campaign. It seems Deady might be asked to step down from his role:
The Giuliani campaign said it would ask Deady to resign "if these quotes are accurate." "They are inappropriate and not reflective of our campaign," said Wayne Semprini, Giuliani's New Hampshire chairman.
We'll see what happens.
Separately, in a bit of good news, a big news org actually got it right on Rudy's alleged political advantage on terrorism.
Late Update: Steve Benen has a good line about the Rudy surrogate's anti-Muslim remarks: "Note to political reporters: this is even more interesting than John Edwards’ hair." No it isn't, Steve. Sorry.
Comments (18)
Michael A wrote on December 29, 2007 10:11 AM:Yeah, right they are not reflective of Mr. 9/11's campaign. So let me see mr. 9/11 is tanking in the early states, hmmm, how do you get a bunch of red meat thrown into the mix for the neanderthal base. Have an idiot say these things that get free press for a couple of news cycles, then have him resign for a couple of more news cycles. Viola, mr. 9/11 gains in the polls. Disgusting.
John McKay wrote on December 29, 2007 2:42 PM:The Daily News story is rather brief. Any idea where it it appeared in the print edition? Was this buried on page 17?
Matt wrote on December 29, 2007 3:15 PM:Michael A: I see the logic of your hypothesis, but I'm not so sure. This wasn't just your average trial balloon or dog whistle carefully staged for media consumption. This guy had the taste of blood in his mouth. You don't say the things he said ("When I say get rid of them, I wasn't necessarily referring to genocide...") unless you really mean them and you don't care who knows. I'm not sure how the extended buzz about this helps Giuliani. Yeah, there's no such thing as bad publicity, but who is going to be impressed? The Islamophobes will be mad that Deady got fired, and the moderates will be mad that he was there in the first place.
So, I think the conclusion we have to reach is that Deady really, truly is representative of Giuliani's most ardent supporters in New Hampshire. And given that most candidates spend years working on their NH ground game before they even decide to run for real, it can't possibly be that Rudy didn't know about this.
EH wrote on December 29, 2007 3:51 PM:Tancredo's out of the race so someone has to fan the flames of nationalism.
Repeat after me, campaign workers are used to propagate controversial messages. There are people who specialize in dirty tricks, intolerance and getting hired by candidates. They lay out the bad stuff, cause the controversy that informs the political world how the populace feels about a topic, then get cut loose (possibly with a nice severance). You think this 80-something year old man wants to campaign with Rudy for the next 11 months? Please.
They're mercenaries, and it's no coincidence that this particular instance occurred immediately after the Bhutto assassination. The question they're asking is "Does the Bhutto assassination turn people against Muslims in general?" If it doesn't, he gets fired. Simple.
schwza wrote on December 29, 2007 4:18 PM:I think the headline and general tone of this piece is kind of ridiculous. Is it really a big deal that Rudy's camp said they *might* can Deady and not definitely can him? All they said was they wanted to make sure the quotes were accurate before they fired him. When I read the headline I was expecting that the Rudy camp was waffling about firing him in a much more significant way than just saying they wanted to see that he was quoted accurately.
The more interesting story here imo is the lukewarm condemnation of the statements by the Rudy spokesperson.
Richard L. Adlof wrote on December 29, 2007 4:23 PM:Let's see does mean we have five Guiliani assholes who have dumped a load and Clinton has had only three . . .
Hillary, your slightly less evil twin brother is in the lead!
millvan wrote on December 29, 2007 5:02 PM:JOE Scarborough, not Chuck Scarborough is the one who insisted immediately that the assination would give Rudi the edge. Greg Sargent does not have comments so I couldn't get the message to him.
CranialRectalLoopback wrote on December 29, 2007 5:15 PM:Has anyone ever asked exactly what about Rudi's actions on 9/11 recommend him as a "War on Terror" guy? He didn't prevent it, obviously. He failed to equip his fire and police men, obviously. He trashed his "command center", obviously. About the only thing he did was wander the streets helping people. You know, LIBERAL STUFF.
Deady is Canned. And Fox News actually linked to TPM!!! Whatta world whatta world.
R Johnston wrote on December 29, 2007 6:04 PM:When I saw the blurb linking to this post over at talkingpointsmemo.com, I thought at first that it said "Camp Rudy considers caning campaign surrogate . . ." which, sadly enough, didn't even strike me as a misreading.
Chuck wrote on December 29, 2007 6:24 PM:I hate to say it, But I agree with the Man 100%. They’re not civilized people, they’re terrorists who follow a Religion of War and not of peace.
I’ll go a step further and say, every time on them towel-heads blows up something in Iraq, We Christians need to Blow up one of their Mosques. Eye of an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth, I always say. This is a Christian Nation and it was founded on Christian Principles, Not on Islamic Principles.
The worst thing we ever did was get involved in Iraq and not carpet bomb the countries who hid and supported Osama.
Aron wrote on December 29, 2007 6:46 PM:From CBS News:
In response to questions about a New Hampshire veteran and campaign member who made derogatory comments about Muslims, saying they should be "sent back to their caves," the mayor said "he was wrong" and accepted his resignation. He also directed the press to look again at his comments made after 9/11, where he said no group of people should be blamed for the actions of few.
"The worst thing we ever did was get involved in Iraq and not carpet bomb the countries who hid and supported Osama."
So we should have carpet bombed the U.S.? CIA training, weapons, etc. certainly sounds like support. And if you think we didn't know who he and the rest foreign jihadi resistance in Afghanistan were back then, I've got a bridge to sell you.
paulie wrote on December 29, 2007 6:48 PM:way to go chuck. By the way, what makes us so civilized?is it the fact that we put up with your bile?
set_dec wrote on December 29, 2007 6:52 PM:Can someone remove Chuck's hate speech above please?
Lee wrote on December 29, 2007 6:56 PM:No, i think Chuck's hate speech should be left as it is as a reminder of why we should not let right wingers like him anywhere near the White House.
kaspian wrote on December 30, 2007 4:09 AM:This is great. At 5:54, we learned in BeeCee's post that Fox News has linked to TPM. And sure enough, just a half-hour later, at 6:24, a knuckle-dragging Fox News xenophobe with a sticking CAPS LOCK key shows up to spew anger, bigotry, death threats, "Christian nation" blathering, and the rest of the package of right-wing lunacy.
Is there like some factory out in Kansas that manufactures these guys, or what?
Your Uncle Bastard wrote on December 30, 2007 8:24 AM:Note to Chuck:
Stop drinking so much of the Kool-Aid, pal.
Or don't, because by spewing your ignorant, racist, xenophobic views, you actually demonstrate better than I ever could why none of your ilk are even relevant to any political discussion.
Tell me again how this is a "Christian Nation" when many of the founding fathers were Deists?
Tell me again how "carpet bombing" "on [sic] of them the towel-heads" is a solution to ANYTHING, and not just a demonstration of your backwater ideology?
But really, thanks for playing.
