Giuliani Exploits 9/11, Claims Attacks Inspired Him To Run For President
Giuliani Exploits 9/11, Claims Attacks Inspired Him To Run For President
In a new interview with ABC News, Rudy Giuliani states that he decided to run for president after 9/11, “while leading [New York City] through the crisis”:
Toward the end of his 7½ year tenure as mayor, New York City was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. At some point while leading the city through the crisis, he decided he wanted to be president.
During the crisis, he realized just how much his term as mayor had prepared him for catastrophe. “I remember having this sense that I can do this. You know, I’m not going to do it perfectly. I’m going to make a certain number of mistakes. But maybe in some ways, it’s fortunate I’ve been mayor for 7½ years.”
Giuliani has constructed a grand narrative about how 9/11 not only changed the country, but also his outlook on the world and his political ambitions. He even invoked 9/11 to explain why he rudely answered his cell phone while giving a speech to the National Rifle Association.
But Giuliani was considering running for president long before 9/11. According to a Nov. 20, 1998 New York Daily News article, Giuliani was thinking about running for president in 2000:
Mayor Giuliani yesterday pledged he won’t wait until “the final hour” as former Gov. Mario Cuomo did to decide if he’ll launch a White House run.
Offering the first tiny clue to his timetable, the mayor said he will decide “sometime next year” if he’ll vie for President or senator or bow out of the political fray altogether. [...]
Asked when he’d make up his mind, Giuliani said, “Sometime next year we’ll focus on what happens to me in the future, whether I decide to be a candidate and for what.“
Yet earlier this year in September, Giuliani told CNN that the reason he quit the Iraq Study Group in 2006 was because he was thinking of running for president:
I knew, that ultimately, I could very well be running for President of the United States. I wasn’t sure at the time. And had I stayed on that group, their report was put out just around the time I announced for President, and I would have totally politicized it. It was a mistake to join in the first place.
So did Rudy decide to run for president in 2001? Or was it 1999? Or post-2006? Whatever the date, it’s clear that 9/11 is more of a convenient symbol than a truly transformative experience in this case. TPM has more on Giuliani’s exploitation of 9/11.
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Just another reich wing nut job running for dictatorship….
November 15th, 2007 at 2:55 pmRudy is scary. He can’t wait to be crowned king.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:55 pmLispy McMobbed-up was inspired by Al Qaeda!
-GSD
November 15th, 2007 at 2:57 pmRudy does have a point. In the midst of the 9/11 response, he must have realized, “If this putz can be President, anyone can do the job, even me. I bet the President can score a lot of babes!”
November 15th, 2007 at 2:57 pmYou think he’s bad with the date he decided to run for President – ask him for his various wedding dates.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pm4:
Ha!
November 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pmI bet the President can score a lot of babes!â€
Comment by gummitch — November 15, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
OK, now that just confuses everything. It suggests that Rudy was deciding to run in the middle of Clinton’s presidency! (Yes, Clinton did it, too!)
/snark off
November 15th, 2007 at 3:01 pm“Giuliani Exploits 9/11″
THIS IS NEWS???
November 15th, 2007 at 3:01 pmnoun, verb, 9/11
November 15th, 2007 at 3:01 pmSe he decided he wanted to be president while he was telling everybody they should ignore the NY mayoral election and appoint him mayor for life? I’m confused…
November 15th, 2007 at 3:02 pmI wonder if Giuliani has a “9″ tatooed on the right side of his “chest” and “11″ on the left side. Of course, it might be better on his butt cheeks.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:03 pmIf you like Bush lies, Bush torture, Bush tyranny and Bush treason, you’ll love Giuliani lies, Giuliani torture, Giuliani tyranny and Giuliani treason…
November 15th, 2007 at 3:03 pm“I remember having this sense that I can do this.” — Rudy Giuliani
In other words, “Wow! These attacks are a godsend. I bet I can exploit this all the way to the White House!”
The reason that Rudy leans so heavily on 9/11 is because without it, he’s just another ex-mayor the rest of the world has never heard of.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pmWhat did he know? When did he know it?
Who the hell cares.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:05 pm“Want presidency, 911″.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:07 pm“Make money, 911″
“Look macho, 911″
“Get laid, 911″
“Love grammar, 911″
This is one sick, slimy f**k! For of those of us who lived in Manhattan when this egotistical, Fascist Republican asshole was Mayor, please America take our word and be warned, “this is one dangerous dude!!”
November 15th, 2007 at 3:08 pmToo lazy to track it down, but I know I’ve read that when Rudy was in his teens, a friend caught him posing before a full-length mirror and declaming “Rudolph W. Giuliani, first Italian-American president of the United States!”
November 15th, 2007 at 3:10 pmRudy is a very weird person, so hilarious the Republicans are backing a cross-dressing freak for president. I bet we find out he stamps his feet in public restroom toilet stalls for sex, like Larry Craig, or hires male hookers
November 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pmsuch as Jeff Gannon.
9iu11ani exploiting 9/11 for political purposes?
SAY IT AIN’T SO!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:11 pmRudy, Rudy, Rudy.
I think You’ve got Senator Craig beat by miles on the bathroom tapdance thing. You won’t win the Presidency (thank God), but you will have convinced most americans that you sure suck.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:12 pmI wonder when JulieAnnie decided Bernie Kerik would be a great friend to have. 9/11?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:16 pmI can’t wait until the picture of Rudy in drag start surfacing again. They are hilarious. I wonder if as President he will show up to official state dinners in drag and tiara.
Personally, I think he has a thing going with Bernie Kerik.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:17 pmGet this guy back to his proctologist…I could swear they left some of those radioactive seeds up his bum. There is no other way to explain his rapidly advancing hair loss — and his rapidly advancing psychosis.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:18 pmCan someone remind just what exactly Rudy DID to “lead the city through the crisis”?
Did he decide to locate the city’s emergency services headquarters in a building that was NOT a known terrorist target this time?
Did he decree that henceforth all city emergency personnel should be able to talk to each other on their radios?
Help me out here, people.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:19 pmRudy’s love for himself inspired him to run for president. Don’t let that phony 9/11 stuff fool you.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:20 pm“At some point while leading the city through the crisis, he decided he wanted to be president.”
This was probably not long after he realized that the Twin Towers may not have been the best location for his emergency response headquarters.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pmHe’s a real, 911, FAMILY VALUES REPUKIAN, 911. If the, 911, “Liberal” Media (ha) would, 911, bother to, 911, report about, 911, even part of the, 911, dirt on Trudy, 911, he would have to, 911, dropout, 911, of the race all together, 911.
Oh and did I mention 911?
Buck Fush
November 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pmSthank Gawd George Busch ish preshident!
-Rudy Mussolini
November 15th, 2007 at 3:22 pmWas this before or after he tried to cancel the mayoral elections and extend his term without the consent of the governed? Do we want a president who might decide that an “emergency” requires the suspension of democracy?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:23 pmGawd, get outta the way – I’m gonna HURL!!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:26 pm“Do we want a president who might decide that an “emergency†requires the suspension of democracy?”
Just about half of all Americans do*, yes, else they wouldn’t have voted for W a second time.
*Out of people who vote and accounting for the stolen election of Ohio…
November 15th, 2007 at 3:28 pmDo we want a president who might decide that an “emergency†requires the suspension of democracy?
Comment by gulfwargrunt — November 15, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
We’ve already got one.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:28 pmGuiliani is Hillary’s fall guy
heres the proof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwZ3ydI3HxE
November 15th, 2007 at 3:30 pmRudy “A noun, a verb, 9-11″ Guiliani….
’nuff said.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:34 pmGiuliani and Kerik seem to be secret Brokeback Mountain lovers, but GOPers do not seem to care unless the affair gets publicly proven.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:34 pmBut Rudy told Bernie that he had to run for president to be able to protect all his friends and himself from the law?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:40 pmGiuliani: Johnny On The 911 Spot! Now I wonder how coincidental that was?? Could it be part of a vast reichwing conspiracy to accomplish a major coup – like 911 as well as it’s spawn becoming the next president?? How nifty!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pmSince when has a former Mayor of a city jumped to the Presidency? How is he even remotely qualified to be President? Why do GOPers ignore his wearing women’s bras and panties?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:42 pmRudy’s one scary “nutjob” if you ask me!
November 15th, 2007 at 3:42 pmRight?!! From Mayor to El Jefe in one fell swoop – one more piece of 911 fallout which this fascist dictatorship is capitalizing upon. Ain’t gonna happen, Rudy – sorry! Time to go back to your shaved legs and pumps (or was it pimps?) now.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pmSomeone needs to begin asking Rudy the tough questions concerning 911…..what he knew and when he knew it. That’s what’s relevant right now and “links” Rudy with 911. Not being in the right place at the right time but having your “bunker” pre-established two days before the towers fell?? Now that’s downright prophetic, isn’t it?
November 15th, 2007 at 3:45 pmRudy IS connected to 911 (whether he likes it or not) and it’s not ONLY for the reasons he’s parroting right now. When the truth is revealed as to his complicity both in Kerik’s corrupt world as well as the cover-up, Rudy will probably be found in Paraguay on Bush’s compound.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:46 pmI get the feeling that Rudy Giuliani is just going to be a GOPer shill to get Hillary Clinton into the presidency. Only way Hillary can be elected is the horror thought of Rudy becoming President.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:58 pmCaption contest:
What do 9/11 I do about 9/11 the load of crap I 9/11 just did in my pants 9/11?
November 15th, 2007 at 4:02 pm“Claims Attacks Inspired Him To Run For President”
Is that a good thing?
November 15th, 2007 at 4:13 pmSnap!
November 15th, 2007 at 4:22 pmRudy caught in a bald faced lie. I love it.
All I can say is pray for a campaign plane crash. Unless some major scandal happens (or is further revealed) this guy will be the GOP nominee. They think he’ll “keep them safe,” and they don’t care how he does it. I’m quite sure Nathan Hale is turning in his grave.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pmRudy who?
Is he the guy who tried to play for Notre Dame and they made it into a movie?
November 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pmGiuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911 Giuliani 911……
Comment by BARTLEBEE — November 15, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
This is why I prefer the term 9iu11ani. It’s compact, convenient, and completely unpronounceable.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:24 pmWaitress: are you ready to order?
Rudy: well, you know, ever since 9/11, I’ve decided that it’s really important to eat properly and stay prepared for anything. I’ll have a Cobb Salad.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:30 pmRudy Giuliani exemplifies Republican values: he exploits the tragedy of 9/11 to make his fortune – and then further exploits it into a grab for power.
The only difference between Rudy and Countess Elizabeth Bathory is that Countess Bathory bathed in actual blood.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:33 pmThis jackass’s campaign is headed for the dustbin. I pray he wins the nomination, but he won’t. His closet holds more skeletons than Imelda Marcos’ held shoes.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:43 pmRudy is the creepiest candidate in the race. He’s wierd looking, especially in poofy pink dresses. His natural face is a permanent scowl. He must have a small male endowment because he can’t hold onto a chick, and because he always tries to look/act so tough. I can’t imagine how true conservatives can back him, and independents have to be confused by his flip-flopping.
I pity Rudy. I can’t wait for the negative ads against him talking about the 9/11 radios or the air quality on the pile, or his poor judgement in building his command bunker inside WTC7, or his refusal to say who told him that a WTC tower was going to collapse but somehow 300 firefighters inside never knew…
Screw you, Rudy.
November 15th, 2007 at 5:10 pmAnd what wil his current wife be called? – the forth lady?
November 15th, 2007 at 5:13 pmToo bad he wasn’t in the World Trade Center when it happened.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:00 pmJust wait until the nation finds out who Guiliani really is. Unfortunately most of the nation still doesn’t know anything about him other than the fact that he is a supposed “hero of 911″. When they find out all he did to contribute to the deaths of firemen and policemen they will change their minds. When they find out about his moral and ethical lapses, they will change their mind. It boggles the imagination that the Republicans actually believe that Rudi is their best bet to win in 2008. I think he is the Republicans worst nightmare.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:26 pm#67: Ghouliani IS the republiscum best bet. They’ve got nothing better to offer. Finally, the republiscums have done something good for America — a candidate who can’t get elected, and doesn’t have the family money and connections to steal the election for him.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:40 pmLet’s call a spade a shovel – Rudy is a liar and piece of crap..period. Hopfully he will be the repub nominee…then the media (ALL) can really expose this – and other – douchebags for what they are. Hope Tweety gets caught in it too since he SUPPORTS Rudy…
November 15th, 2007 at 6:53 pm