Rudy’s Doin’ It!
Battle Stations! Shocked Cacophony Among New York Democrats That Rudy They Know May Actually Become Republican Candidate; ‘Romney Is Entitled to Three Wives,’ Says Charlie Rangel
It’s the middle of October and Rudy Giuliani is still leading the race for the Republican nomination. His old enemies in New York can’t understand it.
“It’s totally unbelievable,” said Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation and a longtime adversary of Mr. Giuliani. “I refuse to believe that this could possibly happen to our country. I have too much confidence in our country to believe that this could really happen.”
All presidential candidates have some element of hometown opposition—constituents angry about a factory closing, politicians spiteful about losing a bill or an election. But no candidate engenders as much local animus as Mr. Giuliani, whose terms as mayor were characterized by a series of spectacular running battles with various, mostly liberal constituencies.
For the first months of his candidacy for president, prominent progressives in New York mocked the notion that a pro-choice, immigration-friendly serial husband with a history of opposition to guns would have a shot at the Republican nomination.
But now, with Mr. Giuliani up nearly 10 percentage points in national polls and unexpectedly competitive in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, a mixture of nervousness and disbelief is running through the ranks of his old antagonists.
“People say, ‘Still?’” said Mark Green, a former New York City public advocate and persistent foil to Mr. Giuliani. “If the other 49 [states] knew what we knew, he wouldn’t be in the ballpark, much less winning the game.”
Norman Siegel, who served as the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union during Mr. Giuliani’s tenure as mayor, said, “I’ve been saying to people in New York, especially the liberal community that I’m proud to be part of, that unless the truth is revealed about the real Rudy, he could win, and not just the Republican nomination, but the presidency as well. Most people in New York look at me, and they say ‘no way.’ They say it can’t happen. The political leadership in New York is underestimating him. They are really in political denial. I say to people, ‘You better wake up.’”
Mr. Siegel, for one, intends to do whatever he can to forestall a Giuliani victory.
He has been encouraging the family members of Sept. 11 victims to air their grievances about Mr. Giuliani in town-hall–style settings in primary states, such as New Hampshire, where Mr. Siegel is currently trying to get Dartmouth College to give him access to an auditorium. (“There is a possibility that some of the family members might get on the road,” he said.)
Mr. Siegel says that he has also reached out to firefighter groups in South Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida in search of Giuliani critics, and he has advised his liberal brethren in New York not to endorse another candidate so as not to compromise the credibility of their anti-Giuliani testimony.
“New Yorkers who really don’t want Rudy Giuliani to be president of our country need to be talking about it, need to be writing about it, and not just in Manhattan, but to get around America,” said Mr. Siegel.
Other Giuliani nemeses have been contributing to the effort in different ways.
“I’ve not only written a book called Giuliani: Nasty Man, I’m on television programs, answering questions,” said former Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who has often endorsed Republicans not named Giuliani. “I have access to getting my voice heard.”
Referring to Mr. Giuliani’s performance on and after Sept. 11, he added, “We can’t equate his eight years of outrageous behavior with his several weeks of superb behavior.”
Mr. Giuliani’s detractors lament that his strong showing is a freakish anomaly caused by the overall weakness of the Republican field. Next Page >
Mark Green and the other NYC Liberals are too blind to understand how much better Rudy made New York City. Democrats ruled NYC for 100 years leading it down a path of despair and decay. Rudy took NY from a Dem run cesspool and made it a decent place to live again. No he is not perfect. But any honest New Yorker cannot deny what he did .
NY Libs voted for Hillary. A carpet bagging, nasty little New Yorker wanna-be hey seed. Of course they hate Rudy. He's a REAL New Yorker who actually did something while in office!
Charlie Rangel, Mark Green, and Norman Siegel...now there's three fellows I'd really like to have running the show if there was another 9/11. The crybabies in NYC that weren't able to cash in on the tragedy of 9/11 and the greedy survivors always wanting more and never being satisfied...we, in the rest of the US, understand your pain and have deeply discounted it. Rudy has momentum and the chutzpah to carry it off. Get used to it. Rudy is the only one that can beat Hillary and the Republicans know this. He can look at Hillary square in the eyes and ask the hard, prosecutor-type questions that he used to ask the mob before putting them away. What is she going to ask about? His infidelity? That would be worth the price of admission to hear! NYC greedy politics good-bye and good-riddance!
Anytime flaming liberals are nervous, then it must be good for America. Charles Rangle? Please. What is this horses as* done for NYS? And, not to mention what has Hillary done? Wait, she promosed 200,000 new jobs for Upstate. Ask the people of Rochester and Buffalo how that lie worked out.
That's what happens when HILLARY is your girl!
Hello Fred. You are not from NYC, I am. So, have a nice big cup of STFU to start your day. So, Rudy actually did something while in office...like what? His stupid "broken glass" theory was not behind the fall in crime, no matter how many times he says so to people in the hick states. It actually had more to do with the economy. Aha, you say! It was Rudy who fixed the economy, so he still gets credit for the crime reduction. Ummm...no. Rudy had absolutely nothing to do with New York's economic resurgence, which was driven by a national real estate market, as well as surging profits in financial services. In fact, Rudy set the stage for NYC's demise, because under his watch NYC has started to lose out as a preeminent financial services center to London. If this trend continues, there goes most of NYC's tax base. Oh, and he is an awful, abrasive person who makes Hillary Clinton and Al Gore look charasmatic. I actually hope he is the nominee. He cannot win the presidency, and will be humiliated on the national stage.
“If the other 49 [states] knew what we knew, he wouldn’t be in the ballpark, much less winning the game.”
The same exact thing could be said in NY about Hillarious Clintonista. All my family still lives in NY State and they tell me.. She's done absolutely nothing for NY.
Is anybody out there editing the comments section? I mean seriously - some third-grade retard is leaving offensive comments about farting and skid marks. It really makes me sick (and a little gassy).
NYC, one of the most liberal cities in the world, elected Rudy twice. That tells me that Dems understand that it takes a Republican to protect them from themselves.
Actually whether they know it or not Mark Green and the others are helping Giuliani.
Actually whether they know it or not Mark Green and the others are helping Giuliani.
It would have been nice to hear what other New Yorkers (like me) are saying...I remember life before Rudy in NYC. I remember Rudy going toe to toe with the Mafia, instead of doing what the Democrats had done for generations before and just giving them their slice. I remember when Times Square was a hole, and anything that went there was proof that NYC was the wrong place to be. He changed the culture and climate of the city and made it a place we could be proud of.
The crime rate dropped dramatically under Rudy and guys like Charlie Rangel are hateful...they despise anyone who disagrees with them and cannot stand to see real debate.
Just the fact that he makes liberals screech and wring their hands, wins him my vote. And Charlie Rangel shows how little class he has, someone ought to wash his mouth out with soap. If you're at the local bar or among friends okay, but he is supposed to be a civic leader of one of the greatest cities in the world. Have a little class Charlie.
An old cliche goes, "Consider the Source." If Charles Rangel is your harshest critic then you are doing things correctly.
NYC had become a joke before, Mr. Giuliani took over and reigned in the liberal stupidity, (redundancy?)
If the non-producing classes, (progressives, liberals and socio-fascists) are afraid of him, then he will be great for our country.
As an active Republican in SC I have to say that opposition from the likes of Rangel and Green will INCREASE the support for Rudy here.
I have not yet decided who I am going to support but this article has given Rudy a boost. Anyone that can get so many stuckup Yankee liberals annoyed must have something going for him.
I heard a rebroadcast of Rudy on the radio this morning talking to a Jewish group. His support for Isreal was great. Not just because of his support, but that his arguments were so rational. This is a hard minded realist except for his being anti-gun.
If there was/is as much widespread animus toward Rudy as these- mostly- hyper-partisan individuals suggest, how in the world did Rudy ever get elected, and re-elected, mayor of America's largest city?
The comments in the piece are simply those of the sour-grapes losers of NYC politics in the 90's. Rudy is eminently qualified for the Presidency.
We do not have much of a choice here in the U.S. so far the top candidates that we have lack morals. That is what happens when God is removed. Welcome to the world that we created. Honestly, you have to pick the best of the worst and that would be Giuliani, because he does have more experience than the others.
Rudy made New York a place I want to go.
When I was growing up NYC was known for muggings, druggies, prostitutes, Time Square was boarded up and filled with scum and slime. Gee after 8 years of Rudy, the bums are off the streets, the steets, the squeegee guys are off the streets,crime is dramatically down, I actually will ride the subways, Time Sqyure is filled into th elate hours wall to wall tourists, I have to spend an entire day just to get through the lines to go to the top of the Empire State building. Rudy had such a positive impact the Republican Mayor Bloomberg ran on the platform, "I'll be just like Rudy" and won. I liked Koch, but he didn't accomplish nearly as much as Rudy, and Dinkins, he, in my opinion, was the Jimmy Carter of NYC mayors and incompetent that pandered to criminals .
We can only hope that Rudy goes all the way to the Whitehouse, he is the right man at the right time.
It's for the very reason that NY liberals can't understand why Rudy is on his way to the Republican nomination that he's on his way to the Republican nomination. They represent the very forces that Rudy went to battle against when he was mayor--corrupt unions, the "civil rights" industry, and rampant social welfare spenders. Of course they hate him. They'll really love him when he's in the White House!
Charlie Rangel, Mark Green, and Norman Siegel?
These 3 losers would prefer a marxist, socialist, commie pinko as long as it had a D next to their name. How do you think Herr Hillary got elected? And who doesn't just love the trout mouths cackle?
Are you people out of your minds??? I really hope that some of the people posting here are not actually Republican. Yes, the democrats are the enemy, but that doesn't mean that Rudy is our friend. I will never vote for that fascist. He is immoral, and has no respect for the sacredness of marriage. He also believes in legalized murder, and loves abortion. Lastly, and mark my words, he is coming for your guns. He has throughout his entire life supported taking away our 2nd ammendement rights. That appearance at the NRA was a big fat lie. This man cannot and will not become president. If he is nominated, you can say goodbye to 20 per cent or more of the real republicans, who will bolt the party and support a 3rd candidate. I don't care if THAT WOMAN is the nominee. Beliefs count for something, and I will not choose between two liberal New Yorkers who have pretty much the same positions on all major issues. Rudy - go to hell, and don't let the door hit you on your way out!!!!!!!!!
Liberals want to beat Giuliani and so you have Norm Siegel of the ACLU, Mark Green a multiple liberal loser, and Charlie Rangel a totally unobjective Democratic Congressman out there saying they will amp up their anti-Rudy message. Thanks guys now I know Rudy will win it all. Liberals do not get the fact that their way is not the way of mainstream America. They never talk about what they are for except in the most amorphous terms. They only talk about what is wrong with the oppositions policies and always seem to be for the status quo. As for Ed Koch, he was a great mayor but I can't help but feel he is jealous of the positive national recognition Giuliani gets as America's mayor. Thanks Libs, keep up the anti Rudy drumbeat. Now I know we will win.
You liberals are nuts. Keep right on listening to Rangel, Green, Siegel, and Hillary...among a few others and this is what you get.
"$64K SPENT PER PUPIL IN SOME NEW YORK PUBLIC SCHOOLS..."
"Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party"
Joseph Stalin
Rudy might be the only candidate that can beat Hillary, but that's why they want Hillary to be the Democratic nominee. That's why Bush predicted it, that's why other white house officials are calling it, because they all know she's the most vulnerable candidate that has a chance at the nomination. They know that even if she DOES win, she won't change anything. Why should we have to choose between Rudy and Hillary, two people who time after time bend to pressure from one special interest group or another? Everyone's saying Obama doesn't have the experience to do it. Bush has had tons of experience being in charge of people, and what's he done with it? He's run everything he's ever been in charge of into the ground. Experience doesn't mean anything unless you've got the judgment to make the right decisions. Obama has enough support from ordinary citizens (most of his contributions have been $250 or less, and he still has almost the same amount of money as Hillary, who's been maxing out most of her donors) to win, and to really change things. Republicans can't stop talking about the Clinton/Lewinsky thing. Why would they want to put Rudy in office with his track record? Who could vote for someone cocky enough to call himself one of the 5 best known Americans in the world when that's really not the case?
The left wing gets a anti-gun,pro choice, pro gay womanizer to run on the republican ticket and they're not happy. I guess you just can't be a happy person if you're left wing.
The arrogance of some New Yorkers, Rudy and liberal alike, never ceases to amaze the rest of us hicks. No, it's not a compliment. Rudy and Hillary are laughable, but we don't have TV out here so its the best entertainment we can get...if Rudy gets the nomination, as you hope, many straw hats will be eaten.
Two words that clearly make the point as to what sterling leadership you get when you let Rangel/Green types run a city: David Dinkins. Case closed.
As a non New Yorker, I have admired Guiliani throughout the years. As an outsider, his image is one of strength with an ability to lead. The comments made here confirm my opinion. My question is why is Mayor Koch so angry with Rudy? Is it just the politics of the office? As far as surviving relatives of those lost on 911, the rest of the country grieves but we don't understand why you think you deserve all the money thrown at you and you continue to seek more. Your loved ones were victims of our enemy. Those families of those fighting and dying to protect you from future loss, receive a pittance when they're injured and their families receive $50,000 when they die. I cried and your loss yet I'm appalled at your greed. Tho a conservative, I can swallow Rudy's liberal social issues if he can maintain his stand on our enemies and get our fiscal house back in order.
Indianapolis