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.
Not to mention the nearly 60% of FReepers who oppose Rudy`s candidacy TODAY. The word on Rudy`s liberal politics is just beginning to be revealed. Watch and wait.
Frankly viewing the illegal alien issue, as a fiscal issue, for the government expenditure and revenue income statements, really misses the point. That aspect of the issue is rounding error, IMO.
Agreed. Further, the pols immorality is probably financed by the taxpayer. I'm sick of the trash that keeps offering themselves as "leaders."
You did read the threads here this week about the agreement, obtained under Freedom of information, that illegals who worked 18 quarters will be eligible for SS, vs us working 40 quarters?
Ya, but it is not implemented yet. If it is, that of course will have an impact. How large a one, is also the subject of debate. I don't think anybody knows, in fact even knows remotely. That one is just a fiscal loose cannon, which could slide either way.
I believe in the long run republicans will support Rudy over McCain .McCain and Hillary are the same.
That is largely why he will never get my vote.
He and Newt would not survive the MSM double standard--not to mention the Religious Right influence in the base (of which I am a part).
The GOP had better look elsewhere--MS, CO or SC...
Do you favor legalized gay marriage or legalized civil unions for gays? Just curious.
"Guiliani would be a great wartime president, but he is not a conservative."
So what?
LOLOLOL! Oh man, that's going to kill him right there. What a perv!
No, just here in FReeperville.
So we only have McCain? Like it or not we need the independent vote to win.The independent voter will not support a true conservative.Rudy is totally electable.The public will forgive him if he's upfront from the start.Unless you want President Hillary or President McCain,who totally screwed his party,I will vote for Rudy .I will never vote for McCain.
That sounds very gay curious... No thanks... Turning this into a pervert forum? No thanks...
I have a California poll up my sleeve. Stay tuned, assuming I get an answer.
Whatever Rudy's guilt in this might be, Donna Hanover sounds like a nightmare. The "first wife" (second wife, in this case) isn't always blameless by a long shot. Or even necessarily a good person.
1. The Knight initiative passed with 60%...
2. I don't live in California anymore...
"I will never vote for McCain."
I would.
On foreign policy matters, McCain generally knows what he is doing, though he is soft on detainees. Foreign policy for the chief executive should count for a lot in anycase, and given we are in a struggle for survival, it makes the decision easy.
McCain has not been loyal to the party when he has been in the Senate, doing liberal things not out of political exigency. Giuliani and Romney at least can say they did what they had to do to get elected in liberal states. McCain, however, has the name recognition, is from Arizona, and doesn't have any excuses.
I understand why people don't trust McCain to deliver on issues, but on the other hand, I don't trust the Democrats to keep America safe with strongly worded letters. We need to do what we need to do to win the White House, and do our best to take back the House and Senate to stop the social and economic nonsense. In Illinois I'm looking forward to taking down Dick Turban, especially if Bill Brady is our nominee.
What link?
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