Posted on 01/07/2007 11:46:24 AM PST by wagglebee
THERE is one woman who could cause Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, more problems than Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House: she is Donna Hanover, his second wife, writes Sarah Baxter.
Hanover, an actress and broadcaster, was enraged by Giuliani’s flagrant infidelity towards the end of their 18-year marriage and the divorce case was vicious. Giuliani’s advisers fear that she could be a loose cannon in the 2008 campaign.
Giuliani was acclaimed as the “mayor of America” for his heroic role during the attacks on September 11, 2001 and is revered for his leadership. At the time he was living in the spare room of an apartment belonging to gay friends after Hanover forced him out of Gracie Mansion, the official residence.
Hanover refused to confirm that she would vote for Giuliani as mayor of New York even when she was married to him. “What kind of wife is that?” Raoul Felder, Giuliani’s lawyer, fumed. “She’s essentially saying she’s not going to vote for him.”
Hanover once stood outside a shower at Gracie Mansion, expecting to confront Judith Nathan, Giuliani’s mistress, now his third wife. In the event, a startled golfing friend of Giuliani’s emerged.
Hanover was also accused of a lack of sympathy while the former mayor was battling prostate cancer, by banishing him to a spare bedroom and exercising noisily on a treadmill at 5am.
New Yorkers relished the details of Giuliani’s larger-than-life personal story. But conservative “values voters” could be different, as Giuliani’s own aides noted in a 140-page memo leaked last week by supporters of a rival candidate.
The campaign dossier suggested that Hanover could be one of several potentially “insurmountable” vulnerabilities that could cause him to drop out of the race. It was an embarrassing start to a campaign that is not yet officially under way.
Giuliani’s record in fighting crime and terrorism has placed him at the top of several polls for the 2008 Republican nomination, edging out Senator John McCain in popular support. But the party base may be turned off by his support for abortion, immigration, gun control and gay rights (although not gay marriage). It is their votes that he needs to secure the nomination.
“It would be one thing if Giuliani could say, ‘I’m a strong social conservative in my private life’, but he can’t even say that,” said Ramesh Ponnuru, a conservative commentator and author of The Party of Death, an attack on social liberalism. “It’s not just the fact of his multiple marriages, it is the way the Hanover marriage melted down. It was operatic.”
When Giuliani met Hanover on a blind date in the early 1980s, his first marriage to Regina, his second cousin, was already over. Hanover, who went on to appear in the television series Ally McBeal, was a glamorous soulmate who seemed to enjoy the spotlight as much as he did.
They had two children, Andrew, 21, and Caroline, 17, but in 1996 Hanover stopped calling herself by his last name and a year later Vanity Fair magazine said that he was having an “intimate relationship” with a senior member of his staff.
In 2000, without telling Hanover first, Giuliani announced at a press conference that he was separating from her. She retaliated by accusing him of being unfaithful with the employee, but he was already with Nathan.
Maggie Gallagher, a family values campaigner, was outraged by Giuliani’s “scummy” performance, accusing him of making Bill Clinton “look good as a husband and father”.
New Yorkers learnt during the divorce case that their cancer- afflicted mayor was temporarily impotent and Hanover demanded a huge settlement, including £760 a month to care for Goalie, the family’s golden retriever.
Felder struck back, accusing Hanover of being an “uncaring mother” who was “howling like a stuck pig”.
In the end Giuliani, who was beginning to earn big consultancy fees after September 11, agreed to a settlement of $6.8m to avoid the full horror of a court case.
Hanover has married Ed Oster, her university sweetheart, and written a book, My Boyfriend’s Back, about rekindling an old romance. Even if she stays mum, there is enough in the public domain to rattle conservatives. Yet however vicious the personal attacks on Giuliani, they are unlikely to dent his reputation for competence. He did, after all, handle the September 11 attacks while bunking with gay friends in the midst of an affair and a divorce battle.
A smear would be an exaggeration or untruth. The facts are the facts. If these facts hurt Giuliani, he deserves them as a result of his own actions.
Fine. Write "Bullwinkle" in and give up any scintilla of choice that you had. That's your choice.
Liz was trying to be funny.
As you can see, it didn't work.
I seriously doubt it.
Ummm, let's see, the man had prostate cancer, how much cheating do you think he was doing?
Very well said!
The problem is that presidents are generally current or former governors and the GOP really doesn't have any right now. The only remote possibilities were George Allen (who destroyed himself) and Jeb Bush (which WILL NOT happen).
The good news is that the 'Rats really don't have anyone either.
Then we have to educate them. Right now they are associating "conservative" with bribery and addiction to pork and illegal labor. That's why we lost, imo. If we can get a guy to take a stand on the spending, pork, and illegals, I think we'll do just fine.
Very insightful commentary and exceptionally well written (Post #111). [CLAP] [CLAP] [CLAP] [CLAP]
Right, maybe even Secretary of State. In that position he could use his 'toughness' to great effect.
>>>>>>What kind of husband cheats on his wife frequently over 18 years? Then notifies her of the divorce via a press conference? There are plenty of presidential candidates who don't treat women like trash
Bill Clinton. Except he never had the decency or the stones to actually LEAVE.
There is no choice if they are the same...
Clinton has been senator a full term, got re-elected and, let's face it, most people view her as having been the equivalent of a cabinet officer. Obama is not a serious candidate and is only a shield for Clinton during this beauty pageant phase. Edwards will win nothing, Dodd or Biden will do better.
I keep reading that here on FR, but I cannot find any reference to his position on national defense. He has never commanded an army. The guy is a gun confiscationist, anti 2nd Amendment. What makes anyone trust him with the U.S. Armed Services?
You never know -- Bullwinkle just might be able to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
The first Republican president, Abe Lincoln...
Are you familiar with the difference between dynamic and static scoring?
>>>>>>All he has to do is go on the Today Show, say he's truly sorry for youthful indiscretions, and claim "I didn't do anything different than Bill." except "I eradicated the mob while Bill ejaculated a glob'
ROFLMAO
The problem is that the State Department is so full of leftists that Rudy might become fickle on his only "strong" area (look at Powell, he was a moderate when he became Secretary and four years turned him into a liberal).
Good point!
Shooting blanks won't help win a war either...
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