Greenfield: '9/11' May Be The Only Answer Giuliani Needs

The Cable News Network ^ | POSTED: 8:28 p.m. EST, March 1, 2007 | Jeff Greenfield

[meg88]

Rudy Giuliani is going before a big meeting of conservatives this weekend with a remarkable lead in the GOP race; according to a Washington Post poll, he's ahead of Sen. John McCain 44-21.

That raises a question: How could a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control ex-mayor from New York be doing so well with Republicans?

The short answer is "September 11," but for reasons that go beyond the obvious, which is the sense that Giuliani rallied a stricken city, spoke in bold language about defeating the new enemy and actually was at risk in those moments.

But 9/11 did something else -- it elevated Giuliani far above the level of big-city mayor.

He was the official who "stood up to al Qaeda" and became a major American figure in the global battle against the enemy who'd so savagely attacked the United States. That made him much more than a big city mayor.

Moreover, the attacks radically changed the picture of New York -- the biggest Democratic city in the nation, and one not usually admired by core Republicans.

Two things have changed about New York. First, 9/11 made New York much more "American."

That's where the enemy attacked; that's where the president and the mayor stood with firefighters and American flag to promise payback.

The second factor -- and this is an argument Giuliani hasn't made much, but I'm guessing he will -- is that New York was where a Republican mayor, using conservative ideas on crime, taxes and welfare, turned around the city that was ground zero of modern liberalism.

For whatever reason, New York is much safer, cleaner, healthier city than it was a decade and a half ago, and Giuliani is likely to say, "I don't just talk about ideas like senators. I made them work."

[Fierce Allegiance]

Uh hello? CLINTON?

I'd say Carter was worse than Clinton. Both are pretty damn bad, though.

[Antique Gal]

To the first statment,if we are being blown up in malls and on buses and the subway,that is not the country I want my Grand children to grow up in!

[kellynch]

Yeah, pretty much.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[trisham]

I don't care who you support,answer my question.

*************

Whoa.

[The Blitherer]

He isn't a "social conservative" (read: advocate of using government to coerce people into living according to tenets of religions they don't believe in)

I take issue with that. Social Conservatives are trying to PREVENT the government from coercing people into living according to tenets of the religion of secularism, which most of us do not believe in.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Try to remember how Rudy won elections in heavily Democratic NYC, even without the boost that 9/11 gave him.

Liberals like liberals.

[tumblindice]

Before joining CNN, Greenfield was ABC News' political and media analyst for 14 years. Greenfield appeared regularly on Nightline and served as an essayist on World News Sunday. During political seasons, his reports from the convention floors and his election-night analyses were a regular feature of ABC's campaign coverage. In addition to his campaign reporting, Greenfield has covered media stories ranging from the growth of cable television to the transition to digital television. From the Iran-Contra hearings to the Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation battles, he has reported on virtually every major domestic political story during his career.

Good to see Jeff's found a (cough) conservative worthy of his attention--who is not being skewered by congressional attack dogs or threatened with indictment.
(On the subject of "major domestic political stories", maybe someone should have told him about that whole nasty eight year Clinton thing?)

[Candor7]

Rudy is too much of a media darling for me. I want to see a level playing field as much as possible for the Republican candidates. Media image creation doesn't men much to me.

It actually hurts a republican candidate to be the darling of the MSM, because the MSM has been a continuing source of drive by hit pieces, anti-Bush propaganda, and outright sedition.

The more the MSM lauds a candidate, the more suspicious and investigatory I become.

But of course, the MSM doesn't know this!

Rudy on 9/11 don't mean nothin'

I know the real guys who did the work on 9/11: firemen and police officers, who I have spoken with personally.

Just because a pol can ride a wave of crisis does not a president make.

All that shows is that Rudy knows quickly which side his political bread is buttered , in opportunistic circumstances.

My investigations reveal Rudy is a liberal.

I have never supported a liberal in the Republican party and do not intend to now, there are too many candidates more closely aligned with my personal values and policy matters.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Rudy substantially cut overall taxes in NYC.

[rod1]

Good grief Jeff Greenfield is still working...for CNN?
Wait that explains in part why their ratings are still sinking even after Rick Kaplan left.

[TET1968]

Worse than Jimmy Carter?
Grant's beginning to look good compared to these jerks.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Rudy wished to take 9-11 relief monies and place them at one of his companies so he could hoover 2 mil in administrative funds.

Of course, it's safe to say he would have done a much better job administering those funds, putting a lot more in the pockets of the people who really deserve them than is the case now.

[Reagan Man]

The Real Rudy Record

From the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research:

"Even with the tax cuts of the last several years, New York remains by far the most heavily taxed big city in the country."

TAXES: Giuliani did cut the marginal city income tax rates, reducing taxes by some $2.0-billion from 1996-2001, but those cuts only offset the $1.8-billion increase in city income tax rates put in place by Mayor Dinkins a few years earlier. In the end, income taxes were actually cut by a modest $200-million. Freezing the 12.5% surcharge on high wage earners was good, but Giuliani didn't attempt to abolish that surcharge. Nor did Giuliani attempt to make serious permanent changes to the city income tax code. The primary reason Rudy and the City Council agreed to cut taxes, was to make NYCity more appealing to new businesses thinking about locating/relocating to the Big Apple. A smart move, however, when Rudy left office he left NYCity straddled with some of the highest income taxes, property taxes and utility rates in the entire nation.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING: From 1997 to 2001, spending under Giuliani went up 32%. More then double the rate of inflation. Rudy left NYCity with a projected, pre-9/11 deficit of $2.0 billion and an increased debt total of $42-billion. Second largest debt after the federal government. Giuliani also added 15,000 new teachers to the city employment rolls. Increasing the membership of two major liberal organizations, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

"The scope of government was not reduced at all. The mayor abandoned his most visible initiative in this sphere—the proposed sale of the city hospital system—after a struggle with the unions and defeats in the courts. He did cut costs in social services; even before the new federal welfare reforms took effect in 1997, the city had begun to significantly reduce caseloads. But money saved on social services has only helped to subsidize big increases in other categories. Today the array of social services sponsored and partially funded by the city—from day care to virtually guaranteed housing—is as wide as ever.

"In the final analysis, Mayor Giuliani sought to make the city deliver services more efficiently—not to make the city deliver fewer services. Gains in efficiency were offset, however, by a spike in the costs of outsourced contracts (see point 2 below). Thus, in two areas where inroads might have been made, the city instead failed to reduce spending."

"1. Personnel Increases. In 1995–96, the city entered into a series of collective bargaining agreements with its public-employee unions. In addition to granting pay increases that ended up roughly equaling inflation, the city promised not to lay off any workers for the life of the contracts. These agreements were expected to add $2.2 billion to the budget by fiscal 2001. But that estimate didn’t reckon with renewed growth in the number of city employees. After dipping in Giuliani’s first two years, the full-time headcount rose from 235,069, in June 1996 to over 253,000 by November 2000. Thanks largely to this growth in the workforce, the total increase in personnel service costs since 1995 has been $4 billion.

2. "Outsourced Services. The failure to shrink the scope of city government made it all the more imperative that Mayor Giuliani vastly increase its efficiency. In the attempt to increase productivity, the mayor farmed out some city services to private contractors. But as the number of outsourced contracts doubled under Giuliani, contractual expenses also nearly doubled—from $3 billion to $5.8 billion. While it may be argued that the city saved money by outsourcing these services, the net savings turned out to be marginal at best. In practice, outsourcing proved to be more of a bargaining chip in negotiations with unions than a serious means of pruning expenses."

Hard evidence that Rudy Giuliani was NO fiscal conservative. Another run-of-the-mill NYCity liberal.

[Roccus]

"Certainly his positions as NYC mayor on socialist redistribution schemes and guns are way to the left of what I find acceptable."

What is it about reducing the NYC welfare rolls by more than 1/3 (more than 300,000), virtually overnight, that you find unacceptable?

[dirtboy]

Unlike you, I do back up my posts:

http://www.gothamgazette.com/rebuilding_nyc/news/feb02.shtml

Giuliani Seeks To Take Over Twin Towers Fund - Feb 6, 2002

The city-run Twin Towers Fund has suspended payments to the families of dead firefighters, police officers and other uniformed heroes while a fledgling charity controlled by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani attempts to take over the funds assets about $100 million and growing.

Families of Police Victims Trying To Stop Rudy's Plans for Twin Towers Fund - Feb 15, 2002

The families of 14 of the 23 police officers killed at the World Trade Center threw a roadblock Thursday in front of Rudolph Giuliani’s plans for a staff of nearly a dozen people to administer his $100 million Twin Towers Fund. A lawyer representing the families, Edward Hayes, faxed Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly a letter Thursday voicing the group’s opinion that no bureaucracy of 11 staffers is needed to handle the funds. “My clients feel that these generous donations are for their benefit and there is no need for any bureaucracy to make decisions for them,” Hayes’ letter said. (Newsday)

[trisham]

Another run-of-the-mill NYCity liberal.

*************

Yes, but he can beat Hillary. And Obama. And, well, any Democrat. How do we know that? Because..he's popular. With liberals.

He's also the best candidate for the "War on Terror". Why? Well, because some bad guys flew airplanes into the World Trade Center while he was Mayor of NYC. That's why.

[dirtboy]

Of course, it's safe to say he would have done a much better job administering those funds, putting a lot more in the pockets of the people who really deserve them than is the case now.

Except that the move generated a large outcry from those affected. Especially with a couple mil in admin fees at stake.

[areafiftyone]

FROM YOUR LINK JEEZE I WONDER WHY YOU NEGLECTED TO PUT THIS PART IN?:

When city taxes were raised by record amounts under Mayor Dinkins in the early 1990s, New York lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. On the other hand, tax cuts enacted under Mayor Giuliani were responsible for nearly one out of every four new jobs created during the last seven years.