For now, only the Onion will challenge Rudy's "ownership" of 9/11

[Bicoastal]

Great article on there today:

"Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11"

here it is

So why don't any of the non-satirical news outlets stop periodically saying "Rudy was the hero of that tragic day" and start saying "Wait, what exactly did he do again?"

[acmavm]

1. So, if 911 belongs to Rudy is he gonna pay the medical and

funeral expenses for all the New Yorkers he lied to? Saying it was safe to go back?

Just wondering.

[aquart]

2. Let's see: He crawled out from under a building that fell on him...

And rallied a frightened city full of people who had no idea what to do next. When he told us to give blood, we poured out of our homes to stand on lines at the nearest hospital. When he asked us to go to funerals, we went there, too. He kept us focussed on helping and away from vengeance.

Kill him for sitting on the air quality truth, hammer him for what he did with the donated funds, or any of his other many sins, but don't you dare say to me that he wasn't the only functioning leader this nation had on that day.

And please remember how much George still hates him for that.

Giuliani was an embarrassment before 9/11, and possibly a criminal after 9/11. But on 9/11 he was covered in the dust of the dead and kept us from going crazy or doing something crazy. This city, with the help of the most valiant volunteers from everywhere, rescued itself in a calm and orderly manner. Led by a mayor who was himself a victim.

I'm sorry you don't like it, but it is juvenile to attempt to strip a man of his heroic moment because you don't like him. That's what they did to Kerry, wasn't it?

[Bicoastal]

4. Well, what's your response to the Onion article?

First off, my perspective is that he did everything a mayor should have done in such an emergency situation--no more, no less. No one is saying he reacted poorly...or as slowly as the President.

I wouldn't take any of that away from him, but this satire provides a glimpse of what Rudy's campaign strategy will undoubtedly look like--all 9/11, all the time.

I only moved here a little while ago, but I trust the Onion's viewpoint--their headquarters have been in New York since early 2001.

[Joe Chi Minh]

8. I'd really have liked to get Bud Crendall's take on it from The Onion,

you know....

*Obiter dictum of Bud Crendall: "I don't wan't my children to grow up in a world like that (peace, prosperity, etc under Clinton)!"

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. If anyone's sounding juvenile, it's you. Were you really so mushy-minded

that you looked upon a leader who actually showed a modicum of leadership as if it was the Second Coming? I'll bet there would have been a million adult New Yorkers, who would have acted similarly in his position!

[Bjorn Against]

11. So he is heroic because he told people to give blood?

Weren't there a lot of people who asked for blood donations? And do you honestly think that no one would have showed up at the funerals if he hadn't asked them to?

You do admit he was "sitting on the air quality truth" however, a fact which will result in many needless deaths. But that is OK with you I guess because if it wasn't for Rudy no one would have given any blood, because that was such an original idea. Give me a break.

[emulatorloo]

3. My favorite paragraph "If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President"

<snip>

If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.

<snip>

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Were you really so mushy-minded that you looked upon a leader who actually

showed a modicum of leadership as if it was the Second Coming? I'll bet there would have been a million adult New Yorkers, who would have acted similarly in his position!

[emulatorloo]

9. I think you are maybe replying to somebody else?

I loved the Onion piece and to me Guiliani is just another damn Republican. . .

:shrug:

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Yes, it was aquart I was replying to. I thought I'd deleted this and

responded to aquart with this post as well. You can't believe some of the stuff you read on here can you! As if New Yorkers would have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

That of course is what the neocons would love more than anything, - a population of cowed, scared children, who'd run to them as their surrogate mummy.

[HockeyMom]

5. Ordinary Citizens who lived and worked in the area

They are heroes, too. Nobody pays any attention to them. Those people who risked their own lives helping others out, and just plain, keeping on, keeping on with daily life in the face of extreme destruction.

Kudos to them. Without them, and the first responders, Rudy would be nowhere.

[fujiyama]

10. That's a hard hitting column

The media cannot bring itself to criticize Giuliani and the entire party's exploitation of the day for political purposes.

The '04 GOP convention was one of the most disgusting acts of taking advantage of a horrific, and tragic event for political purposes. I recall several, especially - Pataki, Giuliani, Cheney, and Bush with their smugness - and basic line which was "elect John Kerry and Die".

I especially love this line from the article:

"Though his campaign apparatus is not yet fully operational, Giuliani's "mobile campaign units"—refurbished fire trucks decorated with banners, balloons, and bloodstains, whose droning sirens continuously blare Giuliani's official campaign song—have already begun canvassing towns in Iowa and New Hampshire."

[Lex]

13. kick

:kick: