Saturday, January 09, 2010

I Won’t Let This Slide.


Vice President Biden said during the campaign debates of ‘08 "there's only three things (Rudolf Giuliani) mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There's nothing else!"

Biden took some heat for saying that: he was pilloried for stating the obvious, as so often happens in America when something self-evident is palpably embarrassing. Pointing out that someone is full of shit is not a “cheap shot.” While it may be rude or impolite to point out someone’s lack of intelligence or hold their integrity suspect, -saying nothing is akin to lying.

I repeat: It’s not rude to point out that someone is full of shit.

On Good Morning America yesterday, Rudolf Giuliani (America’s Mayor to some) said:

"One of the right things Bush did was treat this as a war on terror… We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama."

There are two lies being told here by the former New York Mayor:

The first is that George W. Bush treated “this” as a “war on terror.” In actuality, he used “this” (meaning the 9/11 attacks that Giuliani somehow goes on to forget seconds later) as a power grab and a justification to wage war on anybody. Chiefly, George W. Bush’s administration used it as a way to excuse their attempts at short circuiting the Constitution.

The second lie will invariably be excused as “misspeak.” On one level -Yes, former Mayor Giuliani would not knowing say something so stupid as to imply that the 9/11 attacks did not happen under the Bush Administration, but it speaks to the new fantasy the Right has tried to foist on the public this year: The fantasy that the Obama administration is somehow the source of the last administration’s errors and abuses as they attempt to correct them with interference from Republicans at every turn.

My collaborator and the founder of this blog, MyCue23 told me of Giuliani’s TV appearance late last night and while I at first expressed anger at George Stephanopoulos for not immediately ridiculing Giuliani, (as happens with so much other Right wing disinformation on the morning talk show circuit) on further reflection I feel differently. This was one of those moments when a brazen liar had to be given free range to expose himself. Stephanopoulos did in essence what Jimmy Carter did in the 1976 debates with Gerald Ford: he let him just keep talking, he let him speak for himself.

For too long Americans have held the Right in a different regard and to a different standard in assessments of intellect, qualification and philosophical integrity.

I recently wrote in a response to a post on Mad Mike’s America:

"When the Right is represented by dimwits, they're considered folksy and down to Earth. When anyone challenging the Establishment so much as gets a single fact or figure wrong, they are part of a massive conspiracy to weaken or destroy the nation, and whatever crime or abuse they were pointing out is neutralized."

Not this time.

Rudolf Giuliani said the 9/11 attacks didn’t happen under George W. Bush, he spoke for a moment as if they never happened at all. Rudolf Giuliani has said something so stupid, so idiotically reprehensible it should follow him forever. It should ultimately appear on his eventual obituary after what will hopefully be a long life as an "also-ran."

-SJ

12 comments:

Sue said...

'It’s not rude to point out that someone is full of shit.'

OH I so agree! There has been alot of these ridiculous statements from the right this week. Mary Matalin is another rightie who said some stupid stuff. We need to keep doing this, calling them out on their hideous lies and distortions!

SJ said...

Right on Sue. Right on.
They always get a pass on this kind of shit, but Al Gore is said to have been claiming he personally invented the Internet, John Kerry is claimed to been insulting the troops when he was actually insulting George W. Bush.
I hope they just drwon Giuliani with his own shameless hawking of 9/11.
-SJ

Mike said...

For the life of me, I can't figure out how Giuliani still has even an ounce of respectability. Sure, he looked good for a brief while immediately after the 9-11 attacks. But then it was pointed out how, after the WTC had been the target of a terror attack in the '90s, Giuli went and put important city offices at the WTC. And then he went and backed a reprehensible lying greedy thug for Homeland Security Secretary -- a thug he had already elevated to high office in NYC. And on and on ... we just kept finding out more about Giuli and his crass cashing-in on 9-11, his overall dishonesty, etc.

Just how was this guy even a serious contender for the GOP prez nomination? I mean, seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?

Jack Jodell said...

Between Cheney, Palin, and Giuliani, it's hard to say who is the most despicable liar. And as far as who is the most ridiculous, self-centered, and attention-craving,it's a toss-up between Palin and Giuliani. But Giuliani is clearly the most mean-spirited and without scruples. I'd love to wipe that ever-present snide expression off his mug permanently!

SJ said...

@Stimpson,
agreed. WTF, WTFF.
He continues to tread water long enough and resurface but he really will be an eternal also-ran. There are far too many skeletons in his closet.
-SJ

@Jack,
it is a parade of the pathetic leading the incompetent isn't it?
Seriously, I say this in all sincerity, Republicans deserve more than what they are getting in the way of candidates. Giuliani needs to fade away.
-SJ

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

As long as there are deluded fools that think torture is the answer to our ills, Rudy will have an audience.

Manifesto Joe said...

In Red-State Murka, down here where I live, there are folks who actually wouldn't consider 9-11 to have been a domestic terrorist attack. It was in New York!

I hope you realize that I'm very, very much kidding here, engaging in dark humor. It helps some of us stay sane down in these parts.

Manifesto Joe said...

BTW: Has anybody ever had a Freudian slip and called him Adolf Giuliani?

SJ said...

@Manifesto Joe,
it happened on our local news radio programs here a couple of times in the 1990s.
-SJ

Commander Zaius said...

I don't know if the true meaning I want to convey will come out when I write this but what the Hell.

Even with Obama in the White House clearly winning a free and fair election, unlike the troubling clouds over the 2000 and to a lesser extent the 2004 elections I feel less and less American every time I hear Giuliani and one of his cohorts speak.

The depths to which these people have abandoned all honor to return to power is chilling.

I'm thinking of learning French.

Kentucky Rain said...

I despise Rudy G. I watched that interview and found myself screaming at George whose name is too long to correct this fool. When he did not he also became a fool. I am with Stimpson. How could a clown llike this be taken seriously? Well, there is that Palin woman...It seems America has a penchant for idiots in office...

SJ said...

@Beach,
learn French if you want, 'cause it's cool, but don't you dare leave any of us behind.
We need all the sane people we have in this country.
-SJ