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July
2007
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New Poll Suggests Rudy Big Winner From McCain Exit0
The latest from Diageo/The Hotline shows Rudy with a mere 1-point lead over Fred Thompson (and only a 3-point lead over the perhaps-too-quickly-written-off John McCain). It’s very interesting, though, to look at what happens when McCain is left out of the Republican side:
Republicans
Giuliani 20 (-6)
F. Thompson 19 (+10)
McCain 17 (nc)
Romney 8 (nc)
Brownback 4 (+2)
Republicans […]
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2007
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2007
The “Bullshit” Era0
This weekend the Times took a look at former mayor Rudy Giuliani’s tenure at the helm of the city through the prism of race. While candidate Giuliani reached out to the African American community in 1989, he lost that race (the mayoral race!) to David Dinkins. By 1993, things were different—Giuliani was almost a different person. The paper relates this telling anecdote:
In September 1992, he spoke to a rally of police officers protesting Mr. Dinkins’s proposal for a civilian board to review police misconduct. It was a rowdy, often threatening, crowd. Hundreds of white off-duty officers drank heavily, and a few waved signs like “Dump the Washroom Attendant,” a reference to Mr. Dinkins. A block away from City Hall, Mr. Giuliani gave a fiery address, twice calling Mr. Dinkins’s proposal “bullshit.” The crowd cheered. Mr. Giuliani was jubilant.
Is Giuliani a racist? Who knows what lies within each human heart? We’re more of the opinion that he’s a panderer, but that’s neither here nor there: The Times said “bullshit!” It’s a rare (if growing) loosening of standards at the paper. Let’s look back through the archives and see how the incident was described in previous iterations.
In a 1999 column written from the mayor’s point of view, Clyde Haberman described it this way: “When I utter a barnyard epithet at a police rally where the black Mayor is caricatured with outsized lips and called a ‘washroom attendant,’ that’s free speech.”
In a piece a week-and-a-half after the incident, Catherine S. Manegold wrote, “At Murray Street, the crowd was less hostile but more inebriated. Beer cans and broken beer bottles littered the streets as Mr. Giuliani led the crowd in chants, using an obscenity to refer to Dinkins administration policies. Most officers in the crowd agreed with his sentiments, though they reacted less warmly when Mr. Giuliani said there was a need to fight corruption and problems within the police department.”
Three days after the event, in an article on David Dinkins’ reaction, the paper noted that “When Mr. Giuliani spoke to the protesters, he listed a number of Dinkins’s policies and after each one, used a profanity to dismiss them.”
N.B.: The article did use the word “nigger,” twice, both as quotes from Dinkins.
The initial report on the protest barely mentions it at all, unless you count this: “While the rowdier demonstrators refused to leave the City Hall area, most of the group crowded onto Murray Street between Church Street and Broadway, where they listened to sharply worded speeches from Mr. Caruso, Mr. Giuliani and, finally, Michael O’Keefe, the officer who was cleared by a grand jury recently in the shooting death of a Dominican man in Washington Heights.”
So what makes an event “bullshit”-worthy? Is it the passage of time, the coarsening of discourse, or does the word have to come from the lips of a prospective president? Because if it’s the latter, we are so looking forward to the Hillary coverage. We hear she swears like a motherfucker.
In a Volatile City, a Stern Line on Race and Politics [NYT]
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2007
More Polls0
Fox has Hillary up 16, Giuliani up 11; CBS News/NY Times has it Hillary +19, Giuliani +9, along with the no-longer-that-surprising stat that a whopping 63% think it is likely that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the United States.
In fact, I’d say that the odds on Hillary being the next president are […]
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2007
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2007
Polls, Polls, Polls!0
A bunch of new ones…
Zogby - Hillary by 12, Thompson by 1(!) over Giuliani…
Thompson also holds a one-point edge with Rasmussen…
…but Gallup has Rudy by 10 (and Hillary by 9)…
Translation: Hillary is still firmly in the driver’s seat, but the Republican nod is still up for grabs (and if you’re wondering, Romney placed no better […]
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2007
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2007
If An Abortion Rights Lobbyist Job Falls In The Vicinity Of Fred Thompson?0
…do any social conservatives hear it? The answer to that age-old philosophical riddle appears to be “not many”:
The sound of silence tells an interesting tale when it comes to Fred Thompson. A week after reports emerged suggesting that the former Tennessee senator once lobbied for an abortion rights group, few leaders of the GOP’s conservative […]
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2007
July
2007
What In The World Are We Going To Do About Iraq?0
I ask the question with a considerable amount of foreboding; as you all know, I supported the war, I support the surge, and I think we have to prepare to be in Iraq for a good long while - years, in fact. Nevertheless, the political will is crumbling by the day, and today’s Interim […]
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2007
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2007
Gallup: No News Is Good News?0
…if your last name is Giuliani or Clinton, as Rudy and Hillary have maintained their national leads:
• In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has a 10 percentage point lead nationally over former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., maintains his place in third.
• In […]
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2007
July
2007
In Brief: Mickey Kaus takes a break from his endless …0
Mickey Kaus takes a break from his endless agitation against the immigration bill to examine the case of L.A.’s reporter-fucking mayor. While Kaus suggests that this is only the tip of the iceberg, we offer Mayor Villaraigosa this bit of encouragement: Rudy Giuliani’s second wife was also a member of the media. You’re only one wife away from being a viable presidential candidate! [Kausfiles]
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2007
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2007
Republican Q2 Fundraising: Rudy On Top, But Barely0
From the Giuliani campaign:
The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee reported today it has outraised every other Republican campaign and has over $18 million cash on hand. The campaign raised over $17 million in the second quarter, for both the primary and general election, and ended the quarter with zero debt.
Romney was a close second, and […]
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2007
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2007
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy 34% Thompson 22% McCain 21% Romney 6% in Latest CBS National GOP Poll0
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2007
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2007
In Brief: In fact, the only people who didn’t know …0
In fact, the only people who didn’t know how the ‘Sopranos’ finale concluded in advance were you and Rudy Giuliani. [NYT]