Awesome. Here's a campaign commercial from 1993, when Rudy Giuliani was trying to soften his image. A little less Il Duce, a little more Il Papa, if you will.
And yes, enough New Yorkers were fooled for Rudy to win the election. Count among the dupes the commercial's narrator, Giuliani's second wife, Donna Hanover, who he started dating while he was still married to his second cousin/first wife. [He used the cousin thing to get an annulment.]
Anyway, for most of his first term, the great dad filed his family away and had an affair with a close aide, Christine Lategano. Then in his second term, he confided to Hanover that he was having an affair with Judith Nathan, and that he was seeking a separation. And by "admitted to Hanover," I mean "announced at a press conference." He and Nathan married in 2003. His son, featured in the commercial, doesn't speak to him.
So to review: thin-skinned, democracy-hating, corruption-loving, terror-exploiting fascist who's also a total dick. Maybe he should be running for vice president instead.
[I swear, I only meant to post this as an amusement, but I can't help it; he absolutely must be stopped.]
"Integrity. That's the first quality that comes to mind when I think of Rudy." [youtube via gawker]
Right there with you, brother.
I can't believe Il Duce is getting so much traction with conservatives, religious or otherwise!
Cintra Wilson (I think I love her) had a great takedown of G in Salon a while ago, and there was good one in Slate by Jacob Weisberg, too.
Consider these Giuliani primers for people who never lived in NYC during his reign and so do not know about his authoritarian tendencies (to say the least). Send them to people who think he would make a great president.
Not to mention, he is just as much a cronyist (not sure if that is a word, if not, I am trademarking it now) as GWB.
But... but... he was mayor of New York when the Towers were hit. Unfortunately, for much of the country, that'll be enough.
When the subject comes up people (well, co-workers) talk about what a "good guy" he is. When I tell them what he's really like, they actually say that they don't believe me. Maybe it's because I too call him a fascist (as well as a racist) that they don't take me seriously.
If this is how people react in Los Angeles (where I now live), then we are so screwed.
You are all a bunch of asses. You dont know Rudy and you dont know New york.
[dude, I have been in New York since the end of the Koch era. Rudy is the closest thing to a fascist this country has--who isn't already in the White House/Old Exec Office Bldg, that is. And I was here (in NYC) on 9/11 and after. He was stalwart, yes, but he was also responsible for a massive host of mistakes, bad decisions, and failed policies that exacerbated the death and loss of the attacks. Read Wayne Barrett's book, Grand Illusion. Read Barrett's bio of Giuliani, too, for that matter; it's a definitive account of his administrations attacks on civil liberties, the media, anyone or any organization he deemed an "enemy", and on the corruption that Rudy the Prosecutor would never have tolerated. -ed.]
I know the 'Y' is capitalized.
Dude, (JPM), my family has lived in NYC since 1864 (ever see That "Gangs of New York" movie? That was my Great-Grandad, getting off the boat from Ireland, right behind Leo DiCaprio) and I personally remember all the Mayors going back to Lindsay (1966-73) and while there may have been ineffectual Mayors or doofus Mayors in that office, no one was a crypto-fascist like Giuliani.