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?















Holy cow! Did you eat your Wheaties this morning, or what???
Nice work, Greg.
June 18, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know whatever it was that Greg ate for this morning or lunch, but he's certainly on fire!
June 18, 2008 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
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.
June 18, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
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....
June 18, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, need to hear it more from surrogates on MSM.
June 18, 2008 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ouch. I think I just heard the sizzle of a frying pan in the McCain campaign and the crackle of a fire.
June 18, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's like Kevin Bacon, but only with two degrees of separation between damning quotes.
June 18, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
A second Florida poll (ARG) has Obama up by 5 points.
June 18, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Colorado have slipped from the McCain's grasp. This is not even going to be a squeaker.
June 18, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kihdly ignore the "the."
June 18, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I kinda liked it. It reminded me of The Google.
June 18, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Graciously ignored the "kihdly".
June 18, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
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.
June 18, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
+1 to those voices above on the work you have done in the last few days, Greg. Much appreciated. And, indeed, well done.
June 18, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent work
a great find
June 18, 2008 2:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
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.
June 18, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
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:
Can you check to see if the AP has clarified their radio report?
June 18, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, he did. McCain is right on this one!
June 18, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
A stopped clock is right twice a day. Briefly, of course...
June 18, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
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..
June 18, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
"roll"
June 18, 2008 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder who McCain will reject and denounce, Lehman or Giuliani?
June 18, 2008 2:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
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.
June 18, 2008 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then someone will, of course, have to tell him who Lehman is.
ROTFLMAO!
June 18, 2008 3:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
By November, we won't even need to stick a fork in McCain. He'll be overcooked on his own.
June 18, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oo oo oo Greg's onfire!
:)
June 18, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg is on FIRE!!
I hope you're forwarding these nuggets to the Obama campaign!
June 18, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
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/
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.
June 18, 2008 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn it! The paragraph beginning with "Both" should have also been in block quotes.
June 18, 2008 3:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
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.
June 18, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink