Letters to the Editor
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And let me just say
Having been to more than one funeral in my extended family having to do with 911, I think the whole thing was overblown a billion percent. In the big scheme of things it's just not that big a deal. Erect your monuments and move on. I get it, it was your generation's Lusitania. Which means you were probably going to war anyway. At this point exploiting 911 for it's glorious politcs is laughable.
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McCain, Giuliani - same problem
To become President, first Giulaini has to win nomination. Thanks to Bush/Cheney, most Republicans believe Iraq was involved in 9/11. Many believe other things such as the moral righteousness of removing habeas corpus and prohibitions against torture.
McCain jokes about bombing Iran. It shows he's a tough guy ready to do what many Republicans see as inevitable and good - attack Iran. Send "them" a "message". Giuliani has to show he is as macho (if not more) than war hero McCain. Giuliani has no political reason to moderate his views. So Salon readers won’t vote for him. Like he cares, he wasn’t getting our votes anyhow.
All the Republican candidates have the same group of deluded Republicans to win over. They will be compelled to place similarly deluded people into positions of power. There are plenty who would do the same job as Gonzales. Torture advocate John Yoo, for example. Our military cannot save us from this peril.
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Pre-9/11 Giuliani
Being from the NYC metro area, I have been inundated with Giuliani since he was mayor. The rest of the country sees the stoic leader maintaining calm and assuring the world that New York will be just fine. It was a great moment in American politics, to be sure.
But most people don't remember the Pre - 9/11 Giuliani. The Giuliani who practiced restraint of trade to rid Manhattan of less desirable businesses and ran roughshod over the City Council to get his way and imposed Draconian fines for the relatively minor infraction of honking your car horn in traffic in certain sections of the city. Local radio hosts used to play his speeches over a background of Darth Vader's theme from Star Wars and called him "Lord Rudy".
Really, before he became a GOP rock star, Giuliani was, and has always been pretty much a megalomaniacal prick. The polarization and the insular tendancies of the current administration are not unknown to Giuliani. He has been practicing polarizing politics and surrounding himself with Yes-men and hangers-on for years. When he didn't like the opinion of the City Council, he ignored them. He created new law from executive fiat and enforced it through the cronies he appointed in the police department.
Sound familiar?
When considering whom to vote for in 2008, think of Giuliani, then think of Roger Daltry's [or maybe it's Pete Townshend's] words - "Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss..."
I'd like to call Giuliani "Bush Lite", but there wouldn't be anything "lite" about his heavy-handed nature. I foresee a continuation of the policies, the secrecy and the excesses of power we have witnessed from the current administration, should the public be duped into voting for this wicked man.
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That picture....
Looks frighteningly like Emperor Palpatine. The analogy makes sense: Giuliani deceives the people in order to gain more power. He'd continue to perpetuate this war in order to fear-monger and gain more executive priveledge, eventually overturning democracy itself in the name of safety.
All we need is the lightning coming from his fingertips, and we're all set.
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Rudy the Exploiter
Thanks to Joe Conason (and also to Keith Olberman's recent Special Comment) for calling out Rudy Giuliani. No one, NO ONE, has exploited 9/11 more for personal and political gain than this megalomaniac. it is totally crazy, but apt, i guess, that 95% of the country knows giuliani for his so-called grace under pressure on 9/11, yet don't know that on 9/11 his approval ratings were in the dumps (don't know the actual number, but i remmeber it being in the low 30s or even lower). It's kind of shocking that this guy's leading the republican pack, but as some of the other respondants to Mr. Conason's article have noted, the more he opens his mouth, the more he shoves his foot in it. If the MSM actually took two weeks to seriously investigate Rudy, he'd be history. But for some reason they love him (note, two recent Daily New cover pieces (!) on Judy Nathan exes, who allegedly extoll her numerous virtues. what a joke!) and the MSM's love for him is why he's still going strong for the Repug nod.
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Giuliani, America's Dictator
I have despised Giuliani since he suggested he should remain in the office he had been termed out of due to 9/11 rather then allow the scheduled election that was set to replace him. When that didn't work out he met with the two men running for Mayor and asked to be allowed to stay in office beyond the end of his term! This man has the instincts of a Dictator. He could not wait to throw away the very Democracy that he claims to support when the opportunity appeared to present itself within the confines of his very twisted mind. I shudder to think what he would do if ever made it to the Oval office.
Don't be too quick to dismiss his ability to get elected. He already has a record that should make everyone, including loyal Bushies run from him and yet he is their frontrunner. No doubt, he is counting on the public and press’ famous amnesia to turn him into a moderate, reasonable Conservative once he wins the Republican nomination. Given the fact that nobody seems to recall Giuliani as the man who would be King of New York, he may yet prevail.
By the way what a great photo of him. His naked grasping at power is Comic Book obviose, and entirely fitting.
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Obviously
It doesn't matter, in that convoluted and awkward sentence, what that "obviously" modifies, the verb "I think" or "be," though the word order certainly makes it seem that it's modifying the latter. It's a glancing point at best, and it's plausible that he meant he would obviously be president.