RUDY GIULIANI FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? WE REALLY NEED TO DO MUCH BETTER!

Rudy Giuliani WAS preferable to his predecessor as Mayor of New York City, David Dinkins, notable as New York City's first African-American mayor and a very good dresser.

Giuliani lost to Dinkins the first time, but, after Dinkins' dangerously inept handling of the Crown Heights riot, not even the Democrats could stop Giuliani from winning the rematch .

And the sad fact appears to be that Rudy Giuliani, a baptized Catholic, set aside his Church's basic teachings on abortion, homosexuality and marriage to be politically viable in New York City.

The recent embarrassing withdrawal of President Bush's nomination of former New York Police Commissioner and Giuliani business partner Bernard Kerik to be Homeland Security Secretary, "for personal reasons," highlights the need for the Republicans to nominate a better person than Giuliani in 2008.

And that recommendation demonstrates that Giuliani lacks the judgment a President of the United States needs.

Kerik is like Giuliani, a man at his best during the War on Terror but a thrice married adulterer.

That may not be an impediment to electoral success in New York City, but it is hardly the path to the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

Giuliani's undeniable leadership in the War on Terror and cancer problem do not excuse his sins or substitute for repentance.

Giuliani's first marriage was to his cousin and childhood sweetheart, Regina Peruggi, to whom he was married from 1969 to 1982.

Giuliani had his first (childless) marriage annulled, supposedly because he discovered that they were second cousins instead of third cousins!

Giuliani married Hanover, an actress and television personality who became Donna Giuliani helped him get elected mayor and became the mother of his children, Andrew and Caroline.

Still not content, Giuliani became involved with an attractive press aide, prompting Donna Giuliani to resume the use of her maiden name.

Then Giuliani became involved with his latest wife, Judi Nathan, an increasingly public affair that prompted Ms. Hanover to appeal to the Cardinal to help preserve her marriage.

Ultimately, Giuliani moved out of the Mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion, and moved in with a gay male couple until his divorce from Ms. Hanover was final.

Then he promptly married Nathan, in Gracie Mansion, with his successor, Mayor Bloomberg, performing the civil ceremony.

Incidentally, Gracie Mansion was the one place that Ms. Hanover fought to keep Ms. Nathan from visiting while she and Giuliani were still married.

An appeals court ultimately upheld an order barring Ms. Nathan from Gracie Mansion in October 2001, when Hanover was still living there with Andrew and Caroline.

In the eyes of his Church, Giuliani is not married to Judi Nathan and, unless he can secure an annulment, on only God knows what grounds, he's still married to Ms. Hanover, who remarried.

Giuliani IS more fit than SOME to be President, but his priorities are misordered and surely the Grand Old Party can do much better!

Here is a book review I gave to a Christian organization:

Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani

If a leader demonstrates competency, genuine concern for others, and admirable character, people will say, “I like what that person is doing. I’m going to follow him.” J Richard Chase

Giuliani shows most of these traits. Before 911 the political left in this country despised him. To this day, there are some on the left that think that Giuliani’s cleaning up New York City was akin to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. What they miss is that Giuliani was working on deeply held conviction of principles of the Judeo/Christian ethic that has imbued this country with greatness.

Giuliani mainly credits his parents for his beliefs. He says, “For the first eighteen years of my life, I had two main vocations in mind-Medicine or the priesthood. Both satisfied a feeling that had been growing in me my whole life: that to be happy and fulfilled, I had to serve a greater cause-helping others.” These are Christian principles that have guided the greatest leaders in history, including Jesus himself.

Giuliani says, “Judaism contributed the notion that God and man enjoy a dialogue, and this leads on naturally to the idea that individuals are worth the Creator’s time, that they’re worthwhile. For Christians, humans were so valuable that God wanted to walk among us. Christianity spread because other people saw what it did to the lives of Christians. When nonbelievers threw early Christians to the lions, they were stunned by the peace with which the victims accepted their faith.”

Well, when Giuliani became mayor of New York after a distinguished career as a prosecutor, he was thrown to the lions. It is noteworthy that New York City votes almost 70% for Democrats in the federal election, but they invariably select Republicans to lead their City. I think this is because of the character issue. It takes strong character and principled leadership to fight evil that was the City of New York when Giuliani took office.

Under Giuliani’s leadership murders were reduced by two-thirds, overall crime fell by 57 percent. Police shootings fell from 212 to 73. Robbery was down 85k to 32 k, burglary 100k to 38k, auto theft down 111k to 35k. There even was a reduction of 93% in inmate on inmate crime. He saved business $600 million a year by curtailing organized crime. Economic development soared in even the worst areas of the City.

Most importantly from my perspective Giuliani took common sense steps to reform social policy. By making people accountable and responsible through Christian formed conservative principles, Giuliani reduce the welfare rolls by 60%. He place 10 times the former administration’s welfare recipients in jobs up from 9k per year to over 150k. He introduced reforms in reviewing eligibility and verification to guard against fraud and abuse.

And in a subject dear to my heart, he provided rental assistance for two years to homeless individuals and families while the recipient becomes self-sufficient. This is the heart of the program we have at SOC. It differs from the social ideas of the left that tend to keep the homeless homeless, programs that demean people rather than uplift them.

Of course, Giuliani could not put as much Christian teaching into his social programs as we do at SOC or any real Christian program, because of the ridiculous notion that the State must be protected from Christianity; rather than religion protected from the State. How did “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” get warped into removing the Ten Commandments from our public buildings? How did religious protection allow millions of unborn children to be murdered by the religion of socialistic secular humanism? Here is where Giuliani’s training as a lawyer impedes him from fully implementing what Christ would have him do. Each of us has our limitations in reaching Christ’s perfection.

Of course the diamond in Giuliani’s crown was his leadership after the cowardly attack of the ruthless terrorists that resulted in over 3000 innocents crushed into protoplasmic gel under the weight of tons of steel and concrete. It should have been no surprise to anyone that a man who governed a City that was thought ungovernable, was able to lead NY through the worst crisis in its history. But the former critics of almost everything he did, like the New York Times and the Democratic Party political hacks, were amazed that suddenly this “different man” appeared. To those of us who understand Christ, this was no surprise. In Jesus CEO, Laurie Beth Jones points out, “When Jesus took his garment off and used it as a towel to wash the staffers’ feet, they were shocked and protested that they should be washing his feet. He said, ‘I am doing this to set an example for you’.

Giuliani set an example for all of us. He had always worked hard, but now he grabbed 45 min catnaps as he handled incredible stress and pressure for weeks in the aftermath of 911. He attended innumerable funerals and made torturous decisions. He himself had barely escaped death in the emergency command post that was buried in the collapse of the towers. He reports, “ After September 11, the skies were closed and New York City was being defended by jet fighters and gunboats. I no longer expected a plane or missile attack, but was expecting individual bombings.” If we put ourselves in his shoes, we can only admire him. He said, “ The pain is just immense…. Every once in a while, I would stop and say a short prayer: “God, I hope I’m giving the right answers.” He was trying to do what was right. That is all any of us can ask of our leaders.

There are some very inspiring moments in Leadership. Giuliani is very candid about mistakes and moments of triumph or tragedy. However, I found the book to be too detailed, especially in his discussion of his fight with prostate cancer. His discussion of leadership was really a pretty standard view, which is ok. But there is really nothing new in what he says. What he did was unique. Giuliani is a tough man of action. He is not a very good writer. You see the lawyer in the book, a precision of language marked by a certain dryness. The book tends to meander sometimes and get difficult to read.

However, to get an insight of an exceptional leader and manager, a man who may become President of the United States; I would recommend this book to anyone. Here is a man with all the human foibles and weaknesses, a somewhat classical setting for a Greek tragedy, who rose above it and will be remembered forever in American history.

[In light of his recommendation of Kerik, I would have to conclude that he may have more foibles than I recognized from his book]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.