Money and political power. We know the foodstuffs of Giuliani. Hell, his opinions are bought. For the right price, he's an effective leader.

What do you mean? He has plenty of foreign policy experience.

Try to imagine how this would play if Giuliani were a Democrat.

Giuliani is yet another Republican warmonger who was of the age to serve in Vietnam, yet somehow decided not to enter the military.

Feh! I remember when Giuliani was famous as The Most Hated Mayor in America. His scheme to "clean up New York" consisted of beating on dark people and moving drug dealers to richer pastures in the hinterlands - where the local cops were overwhelmed by the inevitable spike in crime.

God help us all, if he becomes The Decider.

Homicide victims in NYC back in the high-crime years were disproportionately black. Blacks were the prime beneficiaries of Giuliani's crime crackdown. But do go on believing that he was motivated by an interest in "beating on dark people".

That belief is almost as ignorant as positing that he was "moving drug dealers" out to the suburbs. What, was this a tagging-and-relocation program, like on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom? Giuliani was mayor of NYC. If criminals decide to get out of Dodge on his watch and ply their trade elsewhere, it's to his credit.

I realize the Republican base is profoundly, comically stupid, but I ask myself, will they really go for a serial-marrying, pro-choice non-WASP who doesn't seem to hate teh Gay?

Then I realize the Republican base is also profoundly, comically terrified of Scary Brown People, and who better to protect them and their pee-drenched dungarees than Mayor 9/11? His lack of any relevant foreign policy experience would seem superfluous, mere fine print.

apo, not that foreign policy credentials really mater to voters, but Giuliani certainly has loads more than GWB had, and some intellectual firepower and curiosity to boot.

And as mayor of NYC, he certainly must have experience in seeing NYC and the US playing a vital role in the world, and a vision that is colored by multiethnic experience. For Republicans, no doubt his main appeal is as a "can do" kinda guy, in the face of terror attacks. Not that I'm touting his candidacy.

I believe there is some credence to the fact that violent crime rates were declining everywhere in the country at that time when the economy was booming. Homicide rates were also dropping in NYC towards the end of Dinkins' term, a trend which continued at a similar rate through Giuliani's two terms. Giuliani's crime crackdown seemed more about graffiti artists, squeegee men, and small time drug dealers than murderers.

8: Giuliani has "loads more" foreign policy credentials than GWB did?

Evidence, please.

They both came in with zero fp experience, and I'd expect a President Giuliani to be just as wise and successful.

Not that it really matter, though. When it comes down to GOP primary lever-pulling time, the abortion question will wreck Giuliani's hopes.

This isn't going to help him in the primaries either.

Giuliani has exactly as much foreign policy experience as Bill Clinton did before he became President.

And Carter and Reagan. Since gubernatorial politics is the easiest route to Pennsylvania Avenue, this is generally going to be the case. So it comes down to who any given president chooses to advise him. Bush chose a bunch of wild-eyed, bomb-happy radicals, and now we stand knee-deep in shit as a result. As mayor, Giuliani's appointment wisdom is neatly summed up by Bernard Kerik.

My complaint, though, isn't that Giuliani lacks foreign policy experience, it's that the media treats him as if he does. Best I can figure, solely because 9/11 happened mostly in NYC. However, disaster response ≠ foreign policy.

Unless you count it as part of his 9-11 response, you're forgetting that he also told that Saudi prince he could take his $10 million check and shove it up his ass. So he's also good at international diplomacy.

(Seriously, though, I thought that was awesome.)

Context, please... George W. Bush... Rudy Giuliani... George W. Bush... Rudy Giuliani...

A little soul-searching in the ranks of the Republican party should be welcomed all across the political spectrum.

Republicans have souls? Cite, please.

A little deeper perspective, please. Does anyone remember a small little war that a Dem president foisted on us, not so long afer Eisenhower warned of military-industrial complex? Are the extended American empire and defense establishment that produces so much trouble and lucre exclusively partisan Republican ventures?

The real problem is the continued expansion of government and resulting opportunities for corruption. Can we really expect the Dems to be much better, once they have exclusive run of the candy store?

Can we really expect the Dems to be much better, once they have exclusive run of the candy store?

At this present moment in time? Yes.

Does anyone remember a small little war that a Dem president foisted on us, not so long afer Eisenhower warned of military-industrial complex?

The Democratic Party of 1964 bears precious little resemblance to the Democratic Party of 2007.

opportunities for corruption

Well, going by the past couple of decades, Democrats are mere pikers in the corruption game compared to Republicans. I mean, the best we can put up (William Jefferson of LA) isn't remotely in the same league with the GOP titleholder, Duke Cunningham. Beware letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, yo.

Does anyone remember a small little war that a Dem president foisted on us, not so long afer Eisenhower warned of military-industrial complex?

Not to mention that big war that Roosevelt dragged us into. And can anyone really trust the Dems to care about civil rights given their past support for slavery?

RG: lied about Brooklyn Museum, Mary Mother of Jesus made of elephant dung hoopla. Also, I would like a leader that as the mind/balls/heart to deal effectively with the root of the problem. News flash, crime exists because poverty exists. RG's "crackdown" was a masquerade for his true agenda, which was to move out all low-income people, and turn NYC into a corporate suburb. Now, thanks to RG, you don't have to go to Missouri to kick it with right wing fascists, because NYC has become a beacon in their boon time, and is now crawling with them.
What I demand in a leader: top notch education (for all, hello), healthcare and public services, laws created to keep religious zealots out of my private life. Stop fanning the fires in the middle east.

This is possible.

We could be a happy and healthy nation.

I think it's funny how unsavory politicians and corporations use the people's morality against their own interests. I know that the corporations are not looking out for us, or trying to be "fair" with us, so why are we cutting them breaks?
I mean, how big can your yacht be?

This man I was speaking to said to me, "I was trained as a engineer, but they only make up to 150.000 a year (after taxes, that’s 10.000 a month), now I make that in a week."
This guy and people like him are so blinded by the big money they earn, that they will do totally unethical things to increase their earning potential.

It is time to wake up American people.

Dems need to decide that what they want IS the right thing, and that there is NO question. I mean, Martin Luther King wasn't like: "Okay, maybe segregation is wrong, but the other side has a point too..."

If you have no $$$$ for education, and you are not a person of incredible strength, what do you do? You can’t live on minimum wage?

Also, when did it become a bad thing to be a hard working person? In the 1950s a store clerk (my neighbor’s father) had three children, send them to a private school, owned his own house (jointly with his in-laws) and owned his own car. In our time a store clerk is told “If you wanted to be treated like a human being, you shouldn’t’ have been a store clerk.” THERE IS NO SHAME IN WORKING A J.O.B. PEOPLE! Let’s stop acting like it’s okay to pay people crap, and then get all high and mighty when crime rates soar.