Posted on 06/03/2007 9:29:12 AM PDT by wagglebee
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Saturday used news of a plot to blow up a John F. Kennedy International Airport jet fuel line as another example of why he should be elected president.
Giuliani told a crowd of 700 gathered at a Broward County Republican fundraiser that Democrats ignore the Islamic terrorist threat and that he is the Republican candidate best capable of handling it.
"I've had the most experience dealing with terrorism," Giuliani said, citing his experience as a federal prosecutor and later as mayor of New York City, where he served during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"There are some very good people on the Republican side that understand terrorism, I do not find too many on the Democratic side that do, but I think of the people that do, I understand it the best and can keep the country focused on being on offense," Giuliani said.
Early in his nearly 30-minute speech, Giuliani mentioned the arrests of men who authorities say were part of a Muslim terrorist cell. He later held a press conference to make a statement about the alleged plot.
"Today's arrests remind us that we're at war," Giuliani said. "It should remind us that the terrorists are at war with us, both overseas and here in the United States."
He said it should not be a political issue, but rather a reality the country has to live with.
"We need things like the Patriot Act, we need things like electronic surveillance. It has to be legal, but we need it. We need things like interrogation techniques to get information from people. Legal again, but it has to be aggressive," Giuliani said. "These are the things that keep us safe in a world in which there are more than a few people organized around Islamic terrorists who want to harm us and kill us."
Earlier, he told the crowd to watch Sunday night's Democratic presidential candidate debate and see if the words "Islamic terrorist" are mentioned. He said they weren't during the first debate.
"I want to see tomorrow night if you hear them utter those words, because if you do, I want you to put a little check mark next to my name and give me credit for it because I've been criticizing them for weeks for not mentioning the words 'Islamic terrorist,"' he said.
His expertise in this area is in the pr work the day of and several days after. Nothing he did in the run up did any good-and some of what he did or didn’t do hurt-and he was only mayor for 3 1/2 months after so the rebuilding wasn’t his either. He just put on a “good show” in the immediate aftermath.
The reality is that Rudy was mayor for seven and a half years during which it was known that the WTC was a target and that evacuation would be critical, yet nothing was done. Rudy’s actions in the aftermath of 9/11 were commendable, but many others would have had the same presence. Rudy is only a success when compared to utter failures like Ray Nagin.
Hearing Rudy bring up 9/11 is starting to sound a lot like Kerry saying he was in Vietnam.
His biggest claim to fame in “fighting terror” was that he happened to be mayor of New York at the time. Could have been anybody. Also — as I remember one news conference — he knew how many body bags were available for rescuers. Strike that. I think there was a discrepancy there.
Or that he considers national tragedy as a great photo op.
I’ve seen a lot of posts lately saying that Rudy simply responded on Sept. 11 and didn’t really do anything but hold news conferences and attend funerals.
I’m going to say up front that I am a Fredhead and really want him to get in. I don’t agree with Rudy on a host of issues and completely agree with every conservative here that he has little credibility on most of the plank issues.
But.....as someone who was in NYC on that day, who had family in Tower 3 and workmates in Tower 2 (one who was lost), the city was a fright zone in the days following the attack and he, coupled with Bush’s visit, were the glue that held one of most densely populated cities in the country together.
It’s easy to say six years later that he was simply holding pressers and hugging relatives of the deceased, but the fact is that the financial capital of the world shut down for a week, the city was completely on egde and no one knew what was going to come next.
He did a miraculous job of bringing the city back inside a week, coordinating the security (which was tight and expansive) and making sure everyone knew what was going on at all times.
There’s a lot to be said for that. I don’t propose that it’s enough to crown him leader, but I don’t think it should be viewed as something very ordinary.
Rudy would have shown up at the scene after the entire airport and surrounding neighborhoods were blown up, and all the gas lines had erupted, claiming that “Bernie Kerik is on top of the situation right now”. LOL!
When he was working for Reagan, Rudy was assigned to the Achille Lauro case, where PLF terrorists hijacked the cruise ship and murdered an elderly American tourist. I dont know if he handled other terrorist cases while he was a govt attorney.
I believe his firm, Giuliani Partners, has a specialty in helping clients protect themselves from terrorist threats.
In terms of who has comparable experience, it is hard to say. I think it is more useful to look at who has any level of experience to deal with the terrorist threat. The two that come to mind would be Duncan Hunter (former Chair of House Armed Services Committee) and of course McCain.
Apologies to anyone I should have named but missed.
Giuliani just happened to be in New York on 9/11. That’s about it.
Giuliani wants to abolish the 2nd amendment, so the people would no longer have the right to keep and bear arms. Just criminals, terrorists and the government would have guns. Thomas Jefferson said to beware of any government (or would be president, presumably) who does not trust the people to own their own weapons. Jefferson was right. Giuliani is wrong, and unsuited to be president.
OK, Rooty, we’ll make a note of that in case we ever have a need for a cross dressing, lisping, victim of terrorism. Now go back to NY and play dress-up with your queer friends.
So, in reality, he’s a janitor....oops....I meant “Sanitation Engineer”.
Just because it’s NYC he’s claiming he’s the best candidate to be President. The second I hit 35 I’ll be a better candidate than him.
LOL
I lived in Brooklyn at the time 9/11 happened, I was in my English class. Does that make me qualified to be President?
Completely agree with your assessment of the prospective qualifications of the next president given the current state of the world.
But, and I’m not trying to be a jerk, Rudy did more than show up and project strength. He was the contact man for the State and the Feds. He was the one who implemented the new security measures and he was the one who worked with the Bloomberg administration to make sure they had all the information needed. That cannot be simply dismissed as calming people down in a city the size and scope that NYC is.
As far as Reagan goes, he was the foremost authority on Communism and probably the only one who knew what it took to defeat it. The difference between him and Bush (domestic conservative principles aside), is that he had most of the Western world with him and he, unlike Carter and Ford before him, was the only one to harness that cooperation and drive it forward to eventually kill the USSR. Bush, with exception of the Brits, Aussies and some former Eastern Blocs, basically has gone this one alone (and I support him fully on it) and he’s paying dearly for it now.
I’m not sure anyone, Fred included, can truly defeat terrorism given the current state of affairs. What with the Chinese flexing military muscle, Russia going autocratic, Europe basically sitting out, Latin America going socialist and Iran and NK doing what ever they please to promote terrorism, it’ll be amazing if the next president (Fred I hope as well), can confront and kill terrorism the same way Reagan did Communism.
None of the Roody Rooters have ever been able to explain to me why Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was never nominated for president.
LOL...
Wish I had a photo of a fruitcake.
LOL...
Wish I had a photo of a fruitcake.
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