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Flashback: Rudy Said The Law Was A "Far Greater Weapon" Against Terror Than Violence
For two days running now, Rudy Giuliani has been bashing Barack Obama because the Illinois Senator suggested in an interview that the convictions and imprisonment of the 1993 World Trade Center attackers showed that we can fight terrorism within the constraints of the Constitution.
Rudy has been pointing to Obama's quotes as proof that he's weak on terrorism, etc., etc., etc.
But when the convictions happened, back in 1994, here's what Rudy himself had to say:
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani declared that the verdict "demonstrates that New Yorkers won't meet violence with violence, but with a far greater weapon -- the law."
Seemed worth putting out there right about now.
Late Update: Here's Rudy this morning on CNN, lambasting the way in which the 1993 attack was dealt with:
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THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! FOR MCCAIN!!!
June 18, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
yeah it will remind everyone of how the republicans are flip flopping on every issue and MSM isn't covering.
http://sensico.wordpress.com/
June 18, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah... The Internets and The Google.
Great job guys.
June 18, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is the second post in a row I have to give enormous credit to you Greg, great work.
June 18, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
What a Sept. 10th post.
Surely you know 1994 was prior to Sept. 11, 2001. This makes this statement moot, as everything changed on Sept. 11 rendering laws useless in the war on terror and violence our only hope.
Duh?!
June 18, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. And people also try to use that other pre-9/11 document... what was it called?... oh right, the Constitution. So 9/10
June 18, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. And people also try to use that other pre-9/11 document... what was it called?... oh right, the Constitution. So 9/10
June 18, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
You obviously don't understand that 9/11 changed everything. Everything people thought they believed about the rule of law and democracy and due process and all other such sentimental rot was proven conclusively wrong by 9/11. If you don't get that, you just have a 9/18 mindset. (9/18/1787, that is.)
June 18, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Steve!
I'd been looking for just the right phrase to describe such out-of-touch notions and democracy and decency and due process.
"Sentimental rot" about sums it up, I think!
Further, methinks that being awash in the notion that these things equal "sentimental rot" results in the removal of the prefix, ergo "mental rot," as is exhibited by Bush, McCain, et. al.
:-)
June 18, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
The first "and" in the second sentence should be "as."
I would use this as an opportunity to scream for preview and/or edit, but it is so much funnier when you have to explain it.
Sheesh!
June 18, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good get guys!!!! Thanks.
June 18, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice catch!
As usual, use the idiots' own words against them.
June 18, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously, is Giuliani all they've got? Obama says he would respond with a gun to knife attacks, but Giuliani is merely a disposable plastic spoon.
June 18, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
"disposable plastic spoon."
ROFLMAO!!!!
Greg - nice post. Good on you for finding this.
June 18, 2008 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's embarassing. Yesterday, Obama's campaign rolled out Richard Clarke, and McWorse responds with this clown. The Republicans were supposed to come out with a formidable attack machine. Now that we are ready for it, they send us a killer bunny.
June 18, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Killer bunny. Too funny.
June 18, 2008 11:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, Rudy doesn't even rate "spork" on the Chicago-way response scale.
June 18, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
What an insulting post. To disposable plastic spoons. At least they're useful. And if I scrawl "9/11" on them with a Sharpie, they have just as much content as Rudy.
June 18, 2008 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mamma said knock you out!
June 18, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
He was a transformational mayor. But I think putting Rudy out there is a real mixed bag for McCain. Rudy didn't prevent 9/11 or do much good afterward, period. People were in a daze for a while, admiring him and Bush in their fear and bewilderment, but Rudy lost his ass in the primaries -- a lot of people see him for the smirking, cynical, shameless opportunist he has become. And putting him out there reinforces the dreaded "McSame" message: same shitheads, different year.
June 18, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
So how many times did Rudy mention 9/11, anyway?
Was there an over/under on this number?
June 18, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
That would be a great way to just neutralize anything he said. Start of the rebuttal with "Before we respond to this scurrilous attack on our campaign we would like to note that Rudy mentioned the word '9/11' X times." The news orgs would have to include that in their analysis/response... to great effect.
June 18, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I love you Greg. Yeah, I said it.
June 18, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, you're going to have to get in line behind me. I already told Greggy yesterday I had developed a huge crush on him.
June 18, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, Rudy is a hypocrite. Is this something that we didn't know. It's wonderful that this clown is McSame's "go to guy" on this issue.
And, speaking of Rudy and 9-11, could you repost that video of all of his references to 9-11 during his campaign?
June 18, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good work Greg!
June 18, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just wait till the terrorists get to Florida, then we'll show 'em.
June 18, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Haven't you heard? The Republicans are planning to blockade Florida with oil rigs.
June 18, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rudy is such a has been and his response to Obama is like trying to ice a cake while it's the oven....Ain't gonna happen!
Rudy will not be revevant again except to charge for others for his support! Somebody should ask McFuddle how much is he paying Rudy!
June 18, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rudy is already headed to Florida, where he believes McCain can win, and from there, gain enough momentum to capture the White House.
It's a can't miss strategy.
June 18, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice! Florida is McCain's Giuliani Firewall.
June 18, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
So the same 15 former NYC snowbirds who voted for him in the FL primary can show up for free lemonade and listen to his blather instead of watching Oprah that afternoon.
June 18, 2008 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let us not forget Giuliani's huge political clout in Florida.
June 18, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
That video is hilarious. You know, it's been quite awhile since Rudy has been in the national spotlight. I'd forgotten the creepy widening of the eyes thing he does. Yech.
And I'd like to nominate this as one of the stupidest questions ever asked: "Is there something from Winston Churchill that you can take while you contemplate the fight of your political life"?
Winston Churchill? WTF?
Thanks for the memories...
June 18, 2008 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Rudy "brand" has become a damaged thing. It should have been off the shelf for a while and re-tooled, repositioned, at least. Just sticking it back out there isn't going to help sales, and may benefit the competitor.
June 18, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. But the Republican "brand" has been totally wrecked. So there's that already going in.
LOL!
June 18, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Touche!
June 18, 2008 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
:)
Doncha love it?!!!!
I've waited a damn long time for the perfidy and the anti-Americanism at the heart of the Conservative Movement to be revealed and it finally has been. Conservatives come back to power over my dead body.
And I don't think I have to worry about that. Everyone is sick of them except for the hopeless 35% of the population that is functionally insane.
June 18, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Functionally insane," there's a line for ya! LOL!
June 18, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been pondering how such quick access to nearly unlimited information is changing our politics, and making it much much harder for Republicans to compete (as they rely on misinformation to win elections). This is an excellent example of a catch that wouldn't have been possible a decade ago. I wrote a blog about it, which in invite people to read, it is nothing groundbreaking, but I think it is something we don't really stop and think about too often:
http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/06/what-internet-has-done-to-politics.html
Please leave your comments as well. I'm very interested to hear what others think about all this.
June 18, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Google and Youtube have profoundly changed the political campaign process. 15 years ago, no one outside of the audience that George Allen was speaking to would have ever heard "macaca".
And there are numerous other examples of this. Deception has become exceedingly difficult, thanks to the Tubez and the ease with which events can be recorded and then disseminated.
It's a new age in political campaigns. Obama seems to get this. McCain is decidely very last century with respect to this issue.
Nice post, btw, over there on tpip.
June 18, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent article Lux, and I agree it is spot on.
I can recall during the 1988 campaign when Dukakis let the Repubs paint the term "liberal" as evil and Dems as not patriotic.
In particular, I recall USA Today, CNN and other corporate media outlets repeating this for more than one news cycle:
"Snappiest line of the day was from Senator Dan Quayle who quipped: 'The governor of Massachusetts, he lost his top naval advisor last week,' Quayle declared. 'His rubber ducky drowned in the bathtub.'"
Knowing what a lightweight Quayle was/is, I was, and still am astounded that this was passed off as clever or meaningful.
Could you imagine Quayle as a subject during the internet age?
June 18, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rudy can take his self-righteous, pandering, disingenuous lisp and cram it sideways.
America's Mayor my ass.
June 18, 2008 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sigh - I miss the days when the little sociopath was running around the city trying to close down art exhibits he didn't like.
June 18, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
H"is public warnings about the threat were infrequent. To the extent that he mentioned terrorism in his aborted run for the Senate in 2000, for example, it was to call for more spending on intelligence. Even in the weeks after Sept. 11, he framed the attacks in the language of crime, describing the hijackers as "insane murderers" and calling for restoration of the "rule of law." "
Giuliani's desire to keep terrorism in perspective could be discerned even on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the days following, when he sought to marginalize the attackers and the threat they represented. Asked on the day of the attacks whether they constituted an "act of war," he said, "I don't know that I want to use those words. . . . I'm totally confident that American democracy and the American rule of law will prevail."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/23/AR2007092301432.html?hpid=topnews
June 18, 2008 3:24 PM | Reply | Permalink