That's an excellent point. I lived under Rudy too, and you said something that rang a bell with me. He was great at fighting crime - but he actually didn't do many things that were new: even Koch had tried the same things, but Koch was not tough enough to get them past the courts and the liberal criminal-chic classes in the press and elsewhere. Rudy was.
But he is a very self-righteous person, and someone like that, convinced that he is in the right on every issue, could be very, very dangerous if he is a supporter of liberal social issues (which Rudy is). He's pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-gun, and I could easily see him using really strong-arm tactics to enforce his opinions in these areas.
Aside from that, getting back to the topic of the thread, I think JR has been more than polite to the Giuliani supporters, who are actually the only ones I have seen doing any flaming. For some reason, they seem to believe that any opposition to Giuliani merits nothing but the harshest response; perhaps he attracts followers with the same absolutist mindset.
For a long time, we tried to debate the Rudy supporters. People posted honest, issue related material, but were called these rotten names, ganged up on, and given the “You want to elect Hillary” mantra. The Rudeniks never tried to answer the challenges to Rudy’s record or his dreadful personal life. They just gave us the same repeated sarcasms about how the right doesn’t matter, that we’d better join with them as they took over the party, and finally, that everybody agreed with them because Rudy led in the polls. It was the same stuff stated a different way from nearly all of them.
Then people started getting angry, and posting pictures of Rudy in drag, as an attempt to fight back. They were accused of spamming. As time progressed any lengthy post opposing Giuliani, no matter how original, was called “spam” by these people. I got called a nazi, a stalin, a fuhrer..great stuff. It was like arguing with a bunch of left wing radicals. I’ve never seen the kiddies at DU act up like this, and I confess I’ve never visited the Daily Kos.
Finally, two things happened. Threads segregated into entirely pro or anti-Rudy, or else we all mixed it up in outright verbal warfare. Jim’s big thread was a battle cry for many of us, because we saw that our leader was willing to get it on with these people, who had been absolutely vicious for many months. I don’t miss a one of them.
For the remaining Rudy supporters, we, or least, I remain willing to have a discussion with you. But please knock off the tantrums, the cliches, the ad hominems, and the name calling favored by the left. The rant used by this typical Rudy loving jerk to start this thread is a great example, with his “brownshirt” accusation.
And stop the projection, guys. Most of us have been very tolerant and civil with you. I know Mr. Robinson put up with it for months and months.