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Flashback: McCain Adviser Said That Rudy Totally Botched City's Defenses

The McCain campaign has enlisted Rudy Giuliani as the leading communicator of the message that Barack Obama can't be trusted to defend us against terrorism.

But even one of McCain's own foreign policy advisers said that Rudy scandalously screwed up the task of preparing his own city for disasters and terror attacks.

Former Navy secretary John Lehman is a leading McCain adviser and surrogate, but here's what Lehman had to say to the 9/11 Commission about Rudy's performance in defending New York as Mayor:

It was Lehman who, during a Sept. 11 Commission hearing in NY City, took the Giuliani administration to task for the failure to have effective radio communications in place on Sept. 11, leading to chaos.

''I think the command and control and communications of this city's public service is a scandal,'' Lehman said at the time. In his most memorable quip, he said the city's disaster-response plans were ''not worthy of the Boy Scouts, let alone this great city.''

If even the McCain campaign's national security expert says that Rudy failed to defend his constituents adequately, why is the McCain campaign enlisting Rudy as a voice of authority on the question of who is best qualified to defend America?


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Holy cow! Did you eat your Wheaties this morning, or what???

Nice work, Greg.

I don't know whatever it was that Greg ate for this morning or lunch, but he's certainly on fire!

Good research work Greg. You've certainly stepped it up in the last few done. Well Done. I hope, someone from the Obama camp picks this up. May be someone with accessibility can send this as an email to the top Obama strata. This will certainly make great talking points.

Good work.

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Obama campaign: "Even McCain's own advisor cricized the job Rudy Giuliani did, so we really don't see why we should listen to anything Mr. Giuiliani has to say about national security..."

Or words to that effect....

Thanks, need to hear it more from surrogates on MSM.

Ouch. I think I just heard the sizzle of a frying pan in the McCain campaign and the crackle of a fire.

It's like Kevin Bacon, but only with two degrees of separation between damning quotes.

A second Florida poll (ARG) has Obama up by 5 points.

Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado have slipped from the McCain's grasp. This is not even going to be a squeaker.

Kihdly ignore the "the."

I kinda liked it. It reminded me of The Google.

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Graciously ignored the "kihdly".

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I think mcbush is just about ready to have a meltdown. It's about time.

By the way greg, I bet there are some choice comments from mcbush during the campaign about mr. 9/11 and his lack of national security creds. Too funny.

+1 to those voices above on the work you have done in the last few days, Greg. Much appreciated. And, indeed, well done.

Excellent work


a great find

It was Lehman who, during a Sept. 11 Commission hearing in NY City, took the Giuliani administration to task for the failure to have effective radio communications in place on Sept. 11, leading to chaos.

As amply documented at http://rudy-urbanlegend.com (no spam, just a devastating fact-based critique, IMHO).

Rudy profiteering (both financially and politically) off 9/11 is just as outrageous and offensive as if Michael Brown tried to do the same off Katrina.

Greg:
I'm hoping you can follow up on this news story reported by the Associated Press, which seems to treat the Michelle "Whitey" rumor as fact:

The report was that "the Obama campaign is trying to react quickly to reports againist Michelle Obama. She was quoted as saying that she had never been proud of America in her adult life. She has been trying to improve her image with appearance today on "The View".

"She is reported to have made remarks about WHITEY in a speech at a church in Chicago."

I was shocked that there was no reference that this is just a claim, they reported it as if they had evidence that she truly said this in a speech, not what some right wingnuts had alledged. They say it enough times and now the AP is reporting it as TRUE.

Can you check to see if the AP has clarified their radio report?

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Well, he did. McCain is right on this one!

A stopped clock is right twice a day. Briefly, of course...

Greg, based on the proverbial role that you've been on lately - I want to reward you with a starring role alongside me in a buddy cop movie that I've written. You can be the crazy white guy and I can be the older black guy who always says "I'm getting too old for this shit!" Wait, scratch that. You can be the grizzled police detective and I can be the wise cracking convict that you join forces with to catch the bad guys. Wait, scratch that too. I'll come up with something..

"roll"

I wonder who McCain will reject and denounce, Lehman or Giuliani?

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McCain will loudly proclaim that he has no control over what Rudy says, and Rudy doesn't speak for him in any case. Then someone will, of course, have to tell him who Lehman is.

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Then someone will, of course, have to tell him who Lehman is.

ROTFLMAO!

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By November, we won't even need to stick a fork in McCain. He'll be overcooked on his own.

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Oo oo oo Greg's onfire!

:)

Greg is on FIRE!!

I hope you're forwarding these nuggets to the Obama campaign!

So, let's see....Rudy, who decided to put the Emergency Command Center at 7 World Trade Center, across the street from the 1993 site of the first WTC attack is qualified to be the national security attack dog against Obama? Here's a great article from the New York times about this "smart" decision:

http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/giuliani-911-and-the-emergency-command-center-continued/

[S]peaking separately to reporters after their testimony, Giuliani and Hauer were consistent in their accounts of how the command center came to be removed from 1 Police Plaza in 1996 and put in leased space at 7 WTC.

Both said Hauer and other mayoral aides drove the decision, but Giuliani guided them and ultimately made the choice. He had directed Hauer to find a place close to City Hall. Underground facilities were ruled out because of flooding concerns and it was considered ideal that the CIA and Secret Service were already in 7 World Trade Center.

And the Bush administration with all the pre-9/11 intel didn't give Rudy a heads up on another impending attack on the same buildings?

These folks are just precious really.

Damn it! The paragraph beginning with "Both" should have also been in block quotes.

Wasn't there a report that part of the reason for locating the command center in 7 WTC was so it would be within walking distance of City Hall, for Rudy's shagging purposes before he divorced wife #2?

And a small correction: In the NYC hearing that Greg references, Lehman wasn't speaking TO the 9/11 commission, he was a member of it, most likely commenting on Rudy's self-aggrandizing testimony.

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