Rudy-speak & fear-mongering

I was just catching up on Harpers weekly review for Jan 15th and saw these quotes from Rudy. I must have missed them after the Iowa caucus and NH primary!

Obama and Mike Huckabee were the surprise winners of the Iowa caucuses. “None of this worries me,” said Rudy Giuliani, who came in sixth place in the Republican caucus. “September 11, there were times I was worried.”³ John McCain and a tearful Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primaries.⁴ “You look at me, September 11, ” said Giuliani when asked if he would ever cry in public, “there were times in which it was impossible not to feel the emotion.” ⁵

This almost reads like something Jon Stewart would come up with to ridicule Rudy or something the satire magazine The Onion would make up! He really brings up 9-11 every single time, doesn't he!!


Earlier this month:

He wants your vote for him but you better know English!

It was just about 25 hours ago that Rudolph W. Giuliani addressed a group of Cuban-American supporters in Florida. His warm-up speakers addressed the crowd in Spanish. His wife, Judith, greeted the crowd in Spanish. And his campaign launched a new radio ad in Spanish, and passed out Spanish-language campaign fliers about his “12 Compromisos con el Pueblo Americano.’’

But on Friday evening, when Mr. Giuliani was asked at an Elks Lodge here about what he would do to end illegal immigration, he ended with a familiar applause line: “The final end result about becoming a citizen – you should be able to have to read English, write English, and speak English if you want to become a citizen,’’ he said.

Two days prior to that: a fearmongering ad from Giuliani camp ..

The spot has footage riots, bombings and general unrest in the Muslim world, as a voiceover narrates:

An enemy without borders. Hate without boundaries. A people perverted. A religion betrayed. A nuclear power in chaos. Madmen bent on creating it. Leaders assassinated. Democracy attacked. And Osama bin Laden still making threats. In a world where the next crisis is a moment away.

“America needs a leader who’s ready,” the narrator concludes.

A link from last month: Giuliani's New Immigration Spot

and an article I had seen a few months back: Giuliani and the fear card!

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I have not been following the campaign trail closely since the NH primaries. Too many other interests... I will just wait for Tsunami Tuesday to separate out the leaders a little bit. Right now the Republican side looks totally uncertain - no clear leader ...so much so the NY Post yesterday had one word for the entire slate of Republican candidates: Losers. Being a NY paper, they had some special words for their ex-mayor:

But there's only one GOP candidate that beats all the rest at being a loser: Rudy Giuliani. He has perfected the art of underperforming to the point that his campaign now insists it was all part of his game plan. He's been reduced to watching from the sidelines and praying for other people to lose - like McCain in Michigan so his momentum would be stalled - rather than getting in the game and winning himself.

And this gem of a nugget from the Republican frontrunner:*

"I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards..."

God save us all!

* Is Huck still the frontrunner or has that ride up waned after Iowa? I know Romney won in Michigan but that by no means Romney is in the drivers seat. Guiliani is flailing, McCain is making a solid comeback but is there even a frontrunner in this GOP Chaos?

Even the faithful are losing hope of a Republican win, it looks like - not showing up for primaries! :)

The Politico examines the funk the GOP is in. “While voter turnout soared to new records in Iowa and New Hampshire on the Democratic side, it was actually down for Republicans in the first three states in which the candidates aggressively campaigned when compared to the last competitive race, in 2000. All told, 1.2 million voted in the Republican races in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan. In 2000, the number was 1.6 million.”

If Hillary or Obama lose from here (one of them should win the Dem candidacy), it will really suck and to me would mean that majority of public is either stupid stupid stupid to vote a Republican in again or Diebold succeeded in rigging the important states again, as in 2000 and 2004!

Enough for now...but if you want more, there is a nice summary of coverage from various media outlets on Republican race here.