Posted on 01/22/2008 6:05:07 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
Rudolph W. Giuliani likens himself to a boxer who never takes a punch without swinging back. As mayor, he made the vengeful roundhouse an instrument of government, clipping anyone who crossed him.
In August 1997, James Schillaci, a rough-hewn chauffeur from the Bronx, dialed Mayor Giuliani’s radio program on WABC-AM to complain about a red-light sting run by the police near the Bronx Zoo. ...That morning, police officers appeared on Mr. Schillaci’s doorstep. What are you going to do, Mr. Schillaci asked, arrest me? He was joking, but the officers were not.
They slapped on handcuffs and took him to court on a 13-year-old traffic warrant....A police spokeswoman later read Mr. Schillaci’s decades-old criminal rap sheet to a reporter for The Daily News, a move of questionable legality because the state restricts how such information is released. She said, falsely, that he had been convicted of sodomy.
Then Mr. Giuliani took up the cudgel.
“Mr. Schillaci was posing as an altruistic whistle-blower,” the mayor told reporters at the time. “Maybe he’s dishonest enough to lie about police officers.”
Mr. Schillaci suffered an emotional breakdown, was briefly hospitalized and later received a $290,000 legal settlement from the city. “It really damaged me,” said Mr. Schillaci, now 60, massaging his face with thick hands. “I thought I was doing something good for once, my civic duty and all. Then he steps on me.”
Mr. Giuliani was a pugilist in a city of political brawlers. But far more than his predecessors, historians and politicians say, his toughness edged toward ruthlessnessand became a defining aspect of his mayoralty. One result: New York City spent at least $7 million in settling civil rights lawsuits and paying retaliatory damages during the Giuliani years.
[There's lots more...]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Anybody here a bit envious of China’s anti-porn laws?
I am. We could use a touch of Rudy.
I’m feeling at this point like the Buzzard”I’m ready to go out and kill something”. At least with Rudy I know what I’m getting.
Although Rudy is not my pick, I’d still offer a loud applause to your comment. President Bush has played Mr. Nice Guy far too long and hesitated in too many areas trying to be “politically correct” (imho Iraq should have been turned into a parking lot a long time ago) so perhaps a Rudy who plays hardball to get the job done would be a welcome relief.
I'll take it.
“It’s going to take someone with ruthless, killer instincts to go up against the clintons in Nov. The truth is, though, there is no one more ruthless than the clintons, which is why they will destroy all their opponents.”
The members of the The Mafia Commission were a pretty ruthless bunch also. Rudy helped put them away.
Willard has got nothing on Anthony Salerno (Boss of the Genovese family) he died he died in 92 he was a guest of the federal government at the time.
You say "perhaps a Rudy who plays hardball to get the job done would be a welcome relief." But he's not playing hardball "to get the job done." He was punishing people who are trying to protect abused children who are wards of the court, interfering in the awarding of city contracts so his campaign contributors will get their payoff, destroying the careers of ordinary citizens who criticized any aspect of his administration.
Naturally as conservatives we hoot and high-five when the Left's bull is gored. But this stuff has much wider, deeper, and dirtier ramifications. It's an arrogant mailed-fist reflex that could maul you, me, or anybody if Rudy had the power of the Presidency.
I would fully expect conservative organizations that crossed him to face retaliation once Rudy had a firm grip on the Federal Government's multiplex mechanisms of revenge. FReeper Rudy fans might be shouting Hallelujah for 3 minutes, but ALL of us be guarding our words and watching our backs for the next 3 1/2 years.
If Giuliani is such a fighter, then why did he take steps to avoid the Vietnam Draft? Giuliani is just a self-serving crook.
Yep — which is why I said “perhaps *A* Rudy who plays hardball TO GET THE JOB DONE” would be a welcome relief. (I did NOT say “Rudy who played hardball for his own purposes...” Fred Thompson would have (will?) played hardball to get the job done. Playing hardball is definitely called for. Getting the job done is definitely called for. I never said Rudy’s actions were admirable and in fact made it clear I would not vote for him.
OK. —Sorry if I misconstrued you. Now I catch your distinction. Thanks for the correction.
E-mail/ping me if you want on/off the list! SPREAD THE WORD!!!
More examples of how Rudy abused authority and power in NYC. I fear for Freepers if this guy seizes power in Washington D.C.
Rudy must be stopped NOW - starting in Florida.
I think it's a toss-up between McCain and Rudy who has the larger ego, holds a grudge more, and is the most mentally ill. I don't want either one of them in charge of anything in gov't. that has any control over me.
This article almost makes me want to send Rudy a contribution.
Anybody but McCain.
I have no problem at all imaging President Giuliani using the FBI and the IRS in the same way he used local law enforcement during his mayoralty.
For example the assumption that "ant-terrorism" laws are not threat to the freedoms of average citizen's rests on the assumption that they will be reasonably enforced - at least Giuliani's minions had to dig up decade old traffic warrants to arrest his critics, under anti-terrorism laws they would not even need that, they could act entirely on the basis of any sort of nebulous association with "subversive" individuals they chose.
Dunno. Can we resuscitate Fred?
Good for Rudy!
If this were a charity whose goals you agreed with, would you be saying the same thing?
I am. We could use a touch of Rudy.
OK, what in the hell is going on here on FR?!? Rumors of Fred dropping out start to surface and all of the Rudy fascist freepers come out of the framework the next day?
Rudy did sucker punch Pataki in 1994 but George survived. I don’t want Rudy around next year to stick his knife in every conservative group that crosses him, so it’s a good thing that this turd is circling the bowl and is about to disappear.
Long enough to cash in
BTW: you can be "convicted" of sodomy? Who knew?
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