Giuliani will miss firefighters event
Posted on 03/14/2007 6:51:57 PM PDT by George W. Bush
Giuliani will miss firefighters event
John McCain will be there, as will Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and half a dozen other presidential candidates. But when firefighters hold a candidates' forum today in Washington, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the contender most closely identified with their profession, will not attend.
In the past several days, a private tussle over Giuliani's participation — he was out, then in, then out again — has turned into a public spat with the International Association of Fire Fighters. That, in turn, has highlighted an uncomfortable paradox of Giuliani's campaign.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, when he was mayor of New York City, he has been linked in the public mind to firefighters and police officers, whom he regularly hails as heroes as he campaigns around the country.
Yet the firefighters and police officers who know Giuliani best, those in New York City, have mixed views of him, ranging from admiration to outright hostility.
That has filtered through to leaders of their national associations accusing Giuliani of trying to cut short the effort to find victims' remains in the trade center wreckage.
They also contend that his administration mishandled the development of a radio system that could have saved lives on 9/11, and that he blundered in putting the city's emergency command center in the trade center.
The Giuliani campaign says that the criticism stems from the hostility from union leaders with whom he had tough negotiations, and it promotes the notion that the former mayor has a special bond with emergency workers. He was cheered by firefighters and police officers at recent events in South Carolina and New Hampshire.
"This is a natural constituency for him," said Anthony Carbonetti, a senior Giuliani adviser. The critiques, he said, come from "a select group of union officials, and the union and the firefighters are two different groups of people."
He said rank-and-file workers know, for example, that Giuliani got firefighters heavy-duty suits, known as bunker gear, that has saved lives.
But attacks by emergency workers — quietly encouraged by some rival campaigns — strike at the heart of the candidacy of Giuliani, who presents himself as a leader who tamed crime and led a wounded city through the aftermath of the terror attacks.
The criticism is all the more jarring because most public figures in both parties — whether out of conviction or calculation — have been unwilling to say anything negative about Giuliani's handling of 9/11.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, said: "Everybody likes a Churchillian kind of leader who jumps up when the ashes are still falling and takes over. But two or three good days don't expunge an eight-year record."
Duncan Hunter was the only Republican that made a real connection with the audience according to union president Schaitberger.
Rudy Giuliani will be flying in tonight for a $2300/plate fundraiser. A 'group of firefighters' are invited to attend free.
Fine for Rudy... I don't mind a tussle with a union.
LOL
Good one...
Thank u very much.
They also contend that his administration mishandled the development of a radio system that could have saved lives on 9/11 and that he blundered in putting the city's emergency command center in the trade center.
"America's Mayor"
Geez.....the Jihaddis had already hit the WTC once!.....and there was plenty of grumbling about the 9-11 communications immediately after 9-11 that seemed to go away pretty quick in early 2002.
ping
But without a comprehensive assessment of risks and vulnerabilities, the American people have no assurance that homeland security resources are being deployed for maximum benefit. We elect our leaders to make these tough decisions. They owe us their best analysis and judgment as to where we deploy scarce resources to secure our homeland.
• Provide reliable radio spectrum for emergency responders.
The commission's report documented the unreliability of communications systems available to first responders. The radio frequencies dedicated to New York public-safety agencies were overloaded by the hundreds of police and fire personnel converging on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and were too weak to penetrate the many floors of the towers above. Those failures led to the unnecessary loss of many lives.
snipped from
Sept. 11's unfinished business
By Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton
http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2005-09-11_op-ed.pdf
Sure...that's them. ;)
Nope... but I'm not so blinded by 'Rudy' hatred that I disagree with everything that he does.
So far I don't see a candidate that meets all my requirements or (in my view) has what it takes to win the general election.
I haven't come close to declaring whom I think meets most of my top requirements.
Sonofagun, RINO idols have feet of clay.
ping
I'll never forget the firefighter protest. There were people there in tears in front of cameras demanding that they be allowed to find their brothers.
It was a waste of time for Republicans to be there anyway. Shitberger already knows who he will back, My bet is Hillary Clinton. He has a track record for picking losers
The IAFF is a left-leaning organization that supported John Francois Kerry in 2004.
Guess some of them have forgotten that when Hillie was booed at that 9-11 event, one of her flacks referred to the first responders doing the booing as drunks.
"So far I don't see a candidate that meets all my requirements or (in my view) has what it takes to win the general election."
What do you think about Thompson?
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