Rudy Giuliani
Sam Craig
Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: Opinion
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In the mediocre Las Vegas buffet that is the spate of potential candidates for the presidency, Rudy Giuliani is the dried-up, baked trout that has been sitting under the heat lamp a little too long.
Giuliani is convinced that his seven years as New York City's mayor would make him a great president and he's willing to say or do anything---no matter how divisive---to get elected.
While he did take a commanding role during the Sept. 11 attacks and worked tirelessly during the recovery efforts. A fact he continually brings up at the republican debates. During a disaster, taking control of the situation and bringing in help from the federal government is exactly what a mayor is supposed to do. Simply doing one's job isn't reason enough to be the President of the United States of America.
Before the attacks raised his approval rating to nearly 80 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll a year before, he was pulling in ratings as low as 36 percent. The reason for that is very simple. He was essentially an authoritarian.
He built up the police force by more than 7,000 members in order to crackdown on relatively inconsequential crimes like graffiti artists, turnstile jumpers, and homeless people who slept on the streets. He turned New York City's police force into a baby-sitting service rather than focusing their efforts on major crimes.
He also forced out private, legal businesses in Times Square. Although the businesses---peep shows, video game arcades, and souvenir shops---may have been unseemly and an eyesore, they were legal, privately owned enterprises and had as much of a right to be there as the Disney stores, Applebees, and Virgin mega stores that have now taken their places.
For someone whose platform speaks so highly of independent businesses, he certainly seems to have a different idea of what the free market is compared to most economists.
And speaking of Giuliani's campaign platform, his "12 Commitments to the American People" section on his website, joinrudy2008.com, can't help but contradict it self.
Giuliani is convinced that his seven years as New York City's mayor would make him a great president and he's willing to say or do anything---no matter how divisive---to get elected.
While he did take a commanding role during the Sept. 11 attacks and worked tirelessly during the recovery efforts. A fact he continually brings up at the republican debates. During a disaster, taking control of the situation and bringing in help from the federal government is exactly what a mayor is supposed to do. Simply doing one's job isn't reason enough to be the President of the United States of America.
Before the attacks raised his approval rating to nearly 80 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll a year before, he was pulling in ratings as low as 36 percent. The reason for that is very simple. He was essentially an authoritarian.
He built up the police force by more than 7,000 members in order to crackdown on relatively inconsequential crimes like graffiti artists, turnstile jumpers, and homeless people who slept on the streets. He turned New York City's police force into a baby-sitting service rather than focusing their efforts on major crimes.
He also forced out private, legal businesses in Times Square. Although the businesses---peep shows, video game arcades, and souvenir shops---may have been unseemly and an eyesore, they were legal, privately owned enterprises and had as much of a right to be there as the Disney stores, Applebees, and Virgin mega stores that have now taken their places.
For someone whose platform speaks so highly of independent businesses, he certainly seems to have a different idea of what the free market is compared to most economists.
And speaking of Giuliani's campaign platform, his "12 Commitments to the American People" section on his website, joinrudy2008.com, can't help but contradict it self.