LEWIS:
They don't have a choice! Rob Rumson's the only one doing the talking. People want leadership. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership, Mr. President. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
Rudy is all talk, and the Rudy supporters lap up the sand like it was fresh spring water.
The President's comeback was also appropriate:
People don't drink the sand, 'cause they're thirsty, Lewis. They drink it 'cause they don't know the difference.
The media force-fed us this "Rudy is a 9/11 hero" line again and again -- because they wanted to try to keep that label from attaching to President Bush. Rudy wasn't their first choice, but he was there, and he was pretty liberal, and he did really well, so they went with what they could.
Rudy did very little for all the credit he got. He turned down money to help his city because he didn't like who was giving it. He made speeches, lots of speeches, about how they would rebuild -- but 5 years later, they aren't rebuilding.
I bet when Rudy said "I do" to his first two wives, they believed him. Rudy supporters believe Rudy will do the opposite of what he believes in, just because they want him to.
Rudy governed in a fiscally conservative manner, for a mayor of a liberal city. He took a city that was spending twice as much money as it should have been, borrowed money to the hilt, and only "cut" the budget if you measure with a "local inflation" figure. Meaning that at the end of his term the city's budget was still ALMOST twice what it should be (unless you believe that Dinkins had already exercised such remarkable fiscal restraint that Rudy merely had to hold the line to be a fiscal conservative).
Rudy was good on tax cuts, or at least he appeared to be, having made up for the lost money by borrowing on their better credit -- a bill that came due with disastrous consequences when 9/11 destroyed the city's financial structure.
I have no doubt Kudlow loves him. Rudy is Kudlow's kind of republican, a fiscal conservative and not much else.
Rudy did very little for all the credit he got. He turned down money to help his city because he didn't like who was giving it.Oh, please. It was 10 million from a Saudi prince who was using the money to buy a soapbox on which to denounce the Jews. Your characterization is absurd.
He made speeches, lots of speeches, about how they would rebuild -- but 5 years later, they aren't rebuilding.Newsflash: Rudy isn't mayor anymore.