Posted on 03/29/2007 6:41:40 AM PDT by areafiftyone
They held out things for him to sign: Political fliers. Books. A baseball. Yankees hats. NYPD hats. FDNY hats. A girl's crayon drawing of an American flag on looseleaf paper. One woman even held out her checkbook.
They told him they loved him and wanted to vote for him and couldn't wait to see him in the White House.
They snapped him with their digital cameras and camera phones, shoving their children into the frame.
Moving through the aisles of the store on West Charleston Boulevard, Giuliani alternated a mock-serious survey of store shelves with posing for pictures, his rabbity, dimpled smile frozen in place.
From the $10 Value DVD rack, Giuliani selected "Remember the Titans," then waded in for more photo ops.
He stocked up on deodorant and Zone nutrition bars, batteries and lotion.
He picked up a book by Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, whose last name, properly pronounced "vee-ZELL," he pronounced "WISE-ull."
A young woman stopped Giuliani to tell him she'd just moved to Las Vegas from New York, where she was on the 73rd floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
"My brother was there too," 27-year-old Jill Moran told Giuliani. "We both got out."
Moran articulated the reason everyone remembers Giuliani, the reason everyone seems to love him.
"He changed our lives," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "He's the reason we went back to the city. He's the reason we went back to work."
Giuliani makes it clear he's hoping to parlay his post-9/11 leadership into the presidency.
Asked in an interview what Nevada voters want, he said, "I think they're looking for the same thing people in New York are looking for, or Texas, or South Carolina, or Iowa or New Hampshire. They're looking for a leader. They're looking for somebody who can give the country direction, focus, at a time in which we're at war."
Those aren't necessarily qualities the current leadership lacks, Giuliani said.
"I think President Bush as president has really remained very, very focused on dealing with these terrorists and kept us on offense. But I think that's something that will be continually even more important as this moves along. Iraq is only one part of this whole terrorist war against us, and I think we've got to understand that we have to be on offense, and I think the American people are going to want a strong leader who can handle terrorism, and I think I probably have the most experience doing that."
That experience isn't limited to the legendary few months after 9/11, when Giuliani was credited with holding New York together in the wake of historic trauma, but comes from his long service as a federal prosecutor, Giuliani said.
"I handled all kinds of criminal cases, including terrorism," he said. "I investigated (former Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat before anybody knew who he really was. I dealt with Nazi war criminals and had them sent back to be held to account for the crimes, acts against humanity. I've got a very, very long history of dealing with severe criminality and terrorism."
Giuliani was in Las Vegas just before the November election, stumping for Gov. Jim Gibbons. On Wednesday, Giuliani said he loves to play golf here, and that Las Vegas reminds him of New York City, from the tourists on the Strip to the 24-hour rhythm.
Giuliani said he was aware of the safety concerns with the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and "somebody would have to take a good look at that."
When pressed, he did not rule out the repository, however.
"One of the things you've got to be real careful about with nuclear power is you've got to make sure it's really, really safe," he said. "Frankly, some of the problems that have occurred with Yucca Mountain are matters of grave concern, so you'd have to take a good look at that."
Those concerns should not kill the nuclear power industry, he said.
"We're going to have to find a way to expand nuclear power, because it's one of the ways in which we can give ourselves (energy) independence and also not have it impact on the environment, on pollution, global warming, the things that concern people," he said.
In polls, both nationally and in Nevada, Giuliani has a strong and steady lead among Republican voters in these very early days, long before the 2008 election. And yet the conventional wisdom in political circles is that he can't win the Republican nomination.
Is it just a stereotype to assume that Republican stalwarts won't support a thrice-married Italian-American with a brusque New York accent?
Or are the pundits right when they say all that adulation will fade when people get to know the Giuliani who is no right-winger when it comes to abortion, gun control, immigration and homosexuality?
Asked how he planned to get through the primary, Giuliani shrugged.
"Right now we're ahead," he said, laughing. "So we'll see if it stays that way."
Snark!
Whoops, sorry. Meant to post to the other guy. I think he got banned.
That's ok, I got a great laugh out of it!
This account has been banned or suspended.
Yeah, this guy.
You look hot and you own weapons, two reasons I wanted to set the record straight.
HAHAHAHAHA! Those are borrowed guns. But they were damn fun! Will be (finally) getting my first gun this summer- probably a .40, maybe a 9mm.
I don't consider Thompson "weak" - and I don't really have any problems with him - I'm just looking at it analytically, state by state. those western states, where the Bush margin of victory was small, add to that how Hispanics voted in 2006 - its going to be tough.
Some things happen that are just good. Wouldn't you agree?
I'll vote for FRED if he's the candidate and he's a good man. But PLEASE someone tell me, what did he do while in the senate? What's his legacy?
The only memory I have is that he caved in to John Glenn the minority leader on his Government Finance Committee during the Clinton Chinagate hearings. Glenn won out.
So PLEASE tell me some reason why we should vote for Fred T.
Thompson has starred in several movies where he portraygs the President of the United States, which will give him a good feel for the real thing.
Rudy has never portrayed the President to my knowledge.
Hi there,
Don't forget - what goes around - comes around(s).
Happy, Happy, you are no longer banned.
I think that is a free thing!
Is that supposed to be some type of threat? I am not worried. Are you? You should be.
Sunny boy better watch his step, because it is an established fact of nature that lightning CAN strike twice in the same spot!
The day hasn't dawned that either one of us has to worry about some puerile whining from some troll that doesn't have the 'nads to even MAKE threats!
Hey, April Fools Day is coming, maybe that's why he was reinstated. LOL
You know, it is not a very conservative thing to get oneself banned and then come back and ping others to blame for ones own bad behavior.
I thought conservatives took personal resposibility for their own actions. Pinging people to let them know you are back, and kind of threatening them is a very liberal type of behavior.
Sounds like we have been invaded by the DU.
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