Tag: Rudy Giuliani (page 9)

Rudy Giuliani spent today in Oklahoma City, trying to perfect his image as terrorist victim soother.

Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani told the crowd at the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that the response to the 1995 attack serves as an example to others recovering from violence.

The people of Oklahoma City "became a model of compassion and strength, both, a model that helped us several years later get through Sept. 11 and a model that will help the people of Virginia Tech get through the terrible agonies that they are going through right now," said Giuliani, who was New York's mayor during the 2001 terrorist attacks.

A much better glimpse into Giuliani is provided by Watertiger over at Firedoglake.

Just so no one is in doubt that Rudy Giuliani either will change any position for a vote or is a dictator at heart who will trample our rights, here's his statement on today's Supreme Court decision upholding the the federal partial birth abortion ban,

“The Supreme Court reached the correct conclusion in upholding the congressional ban on partial birth abortion,” Giuliani said in a statement on the 5–4 decision. “I agree with it.”

In 2000, during his aborted run for the Senate, he promised differently:

...he said he would not vote to restrict a woman’s right to undergo the procedure. Now, with social conservatives believed to be a major factor in the GOP primary, Giuliani joined the other top-tier Republicans in applauding the court’s ruling.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago he wanted to leave it to the states?

More below, including John Edwards and Barack Obama's criticism of the decision.

Is Rudy Giuliani running from his gun control message of years past, or his new message saying he's a Second Amendment supporter?

Rudy Giuliani is in Denver, but he canceled plans for a $1,000. a person fundraiser due to the Virginia Tech shootings. The parking valets were already in place when the cancellation notice was received -- just 30 minutes before the start of the event.

On this day of national tragedy, when we lost some of our finest to this senseless act, we stand together as a country to mourn those who lost their lives," Giuliani’s statement read. "My thoughts and prayers continue to be with the survivors and the many friends, colleagues and family members of those who perished. May God bless them all."

Is that really the reason?

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Via DavidNYC at Daily Kos: How out of touch is Rudy Giuliani? He doesn't even know the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.

"A gallon of milk is probably about a $1.50, a loaf of bread about a $1.25, $1.30," he said.

A check of the Web site for D'Agostino supermarket on Manhattan's Upper East Side showed a gallon of milk priced at $4.19 and a loaf of white bread at $2.99 to $3.39. In Montgomery, Ala., a gallon of milk goes for about $3.39 and bread is about $2.

On Don Imus, Rudy says he'll still go on his program.

"I would appear on his program again, sure. I take him at his word," Giuliani said.

On the confederate flag,

Asked about the flying of the Confederate flag in some Southern states, Giuliani said, "That's a good "That's a good thing to be left on a state-by-state basis."

That's kind of like his revised abortion stance, it should be left up to the states. Will he take the same position on medical marijuana, and if elected, tell the Department of Justice not to raid co-ops or bust medical users in states that have legalized medical pot? I bet not. States' rights for some but not for all, right Rudy?

Newsweek reports on the apparent looming indictment against Bernie Kerik, using non-public, law enforcement records of his phone calls, showing that around the time he withdrew his nomination as Homeland Security chief, he spoke several times with his one-time girlfriend, former prison guard Jeanette Pinero, and with New Jersey businessman Frank DiTommaso.

Kerik was in the midst of a civil lawsuit by another prison guard who alleged Bernie passed him over for promotion because of the guard's disputes with Pinero. That suit was later recently tossed by the judge. Some details about the connection between Kerik and diTommaso are here.

Who would leak the phone records, which I assume are matters before the grand jury and secret under Rule 6(e)? I doubt it's Bernie's side. It's possible grand jury witnesses were shown the records during their testimony ....but I doubt they would have received a copy to take home and then turn over to Newsweek.

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Rudy Giuliani apparently was feeling the heat of the southern sun today. In South Carolina, home to many abortion opponents, he backed off yesterday's comments to CNN about his support for publicly funded abortions. Yesterday, he said:

"I would have to re-examine all of those issues and exactly what was at stake then -- that was a long time ago," he said. "When I was mayor, adoptions went up, abortions went down. But ultimately, it's a constitutional right, and therefore if it's a constitutional right ... you have to make sure that people are protected."

Pressed if he would support public funding for abortions, Giuliani said, "If it would deprive someone of a constitutional right, yes, if that's the status of the law, then I would, yes."

Rudy today: It should be a state's right issue, with individual states making the call.

"The Legislature of South Carolina should make its decision about that." He also said states should make the decision whether to use public money for abortions.

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As TalkLeft reported weeks ago, Bernie Kerik, Giuliani pal and NYC former police commissioner Bernie Kerik, best known for his short-lived nomination by Bush as Homeland Security chief, appears headed for indictment.

Today's update:

Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.

Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet. Giuliani, the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination according to most polls, later called the recommendation a mistake.

At least Kerik should have plenty of money for legal fees.

Records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Kerik had earned more than 6.2 million dollars in pretax profits through stock options he was granted by Taser International, a manufacturer of stun guns.

Rudy Giuliani says his wife Judith Nathan would be welcome to sit in on cabinet and policy meetings if he were elected President.

How typical of his absolute arrogance.

If Hillary gets elected, we'd have Bill Clinton either sitting in on meetings or being Ambassador to the world.

Hillary Clinton says many people want her to appoint her husband secretary of State if she wins. Such nepotism was outlawed after John Kennedy made his brother Bobby attorney general, she noted at the fundraiser.

Then she added, to huge cheers, "But I sure can make him ambassador to the world!" That is a role the former president already is playing, mostly through the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation.

How is this even a close call?

Rudy Giuliani once again re-invents himself to cater to the Republican conservative base. Now he's flip-flopping on gun rights.

As Mayor of New York:

He spoke in favor of a licensing system for gun owners that would require trigger locks and firearms training, and he lobbied Congress to outlaw most military-style assault weapons. He was the only Republican mayor to join a lawsuit by dozens of cities against the gun industry, and he complained that Southern states had lax gun laws that fed the illegal weapons trade in the Northeast.

In his current attempt at recarnation as a presidential contender, he's reversed course:

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The Next Hurrah is on the Rudy Giuliani - Alan Placa relationship.

Placa and Giuliani became friends when they were 13-14, when they began High School, and remained close friends through College. Post college Placa went to the Seminary, and Giuliani off to Law School. After he was ordained, Placa went off to Law School too. Eventually he became a Monsignor in the Diocese of Rockville Center, Long Island NY, and as we know Giuliani went to DC to Reagan's DOJ. When Giuliani needed an Annulment of his first marriage, Placa did the job.

But Monsignor Placa got into considerable trouble in the late 1990's and early 2000 era, when he not only was accused of abuse of two minors, who could not sue him or the diocese because the five year statute of limitations was long past, but when the whole huge story broke, first in Boston, and then across the country, Monsignor Placa comes up in several parts of it. While serving on Long Island, he had developed a legal strategy for dealing with abuse complaints that involved having an "intervention team" that met with family members and the abused, without revealing that Placa was indeed the Diocese Lawyer on such matters. Placa took great pride that in cases that if litigated might cost the Diocese Millions, he could frequently manipulate the situation, and get out for a few thousand. Of course the Monsignor was flying a false flag -- he was not a spiritual counsel, he was the Bishop's Lawyer. He traveled the country teaching Bishops the technique -- apparently 200 cases where he was successful outside his own diocese.

Where is the national media on this? Sara at Next Hurrah says, "To read all the bloody details, what you do is google the two names, Alan Placa and Rudy Giuliani, and you can read about it for hours, should you have a taste for Priestly Pedophilia and the investigations of recent years thereof.

The media continues to analyze the effect of Rudy Giuliani's troubled personal life on his chances of getting the Republican nomination for President.

The radical right will never go for him.

Republican strategists say Giuliani's troubled family relationships are likely to hinder his standing among conservatives who already have questions about his positions on social issues. They say the estrangement could raise a question in voters' minds: If Giuliani can't keep his family together, how will he keep the country together?

In fact, Giuliani's support for abortion and gay rights, his backing of gun control measures and his very New Yorkness already had given conservatives pause about his candidacy. He has also marched in gay pride parades, dressed up in drag and lived temporarily with a gay couple and their Shih Tzu.

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Rudy Giuliani takes more heat, this time from the bipartisan New York firefighters union which blasts his "egregious" treatment of them after 9/11.

In a letter to its members Friday, the International Association of Fire Fighters, excoriated Giuliani for his November 2001 decision to cut back the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for the remains of some 300 fallen comrades.

The 280,000-member union accused him of carelessly expediting the cleanup process with a "scoop-and-dump" operation after the recovery of millions of dollars in gold, silver and other assets from the Bank of Nova Scotia that had been buried.

"Scoop and Dump" Rudy, it kind of has a ring to it, doesn't it?