A "teachable moment" (4.00 / 1)

Giuliani is, in many respects, a fitting heir to the Bush legacy of hypocrisy, sleaze and mean-spiritedness wrapped up in the image of "strong protector."  As Paul R noted in response to a comment of mine, he's a "Walking One-Man Teachable Moment" with regard to communication strategy.  With Greenwald doing his media thing and the City Council investigating (and his opponents gunning for him as well), it seems likely that a good portion of the reality behind the Rudy myth will be revealed.  To the extent we can, it would be good to use it as an opportunity to expand the scope of the myth-busting beyond Giuliani to the right-wing in general.

9-11 is a supercharged emotional image for virtually all Americans.  If Giuliani can provide a pivot point for shifting the direction of its emotional power from falsehood to truth, it could be a very powerful "teaching moment" indeed.

Do you have any more details about what's going on with the city council in terms of investigating this?

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by: mitchipd @ Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 22:10:07 PM UTC

The New York City Councle (0.00 / 0)

is laughably weak. Though Speaker Quinn might decide to attack Rudy to score points for herself in the '09 Mayoral primary. She needs a HUGE turnout from Manhattan if she wants a chance and this might be the thing that raises her profile not just in the city, but nationally. With Weiner owning the anti-Congestion pricing vote, Comptroller Thompson having the minority vote and Marty Markowitz having the Brooklyn vote she needs to find her niche.

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by: pierredude @ Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 00:37:59 AM UTC

I'm not sure why we're so worried about Rudy (0.00 / 0)

I know he polls well but we're gonna tear him apart with this stuff if he gets the nomination.

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by: Jack @ Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 05:15:48 AM UTC

Our record (0.00 / 0)

Fortunately, Mitt Romney seems to be successful in buying the Republican nomination with his own money because Giuliani looks like a much tougher foe.  We really need to be getting the word out on Mitt because he's a blank slate to most of the American public and Republicans have done a great job in creating a phony story that some of the American public buys in those cases.

Democrats have not been successful in tearing up a republican since Barry Goldwater.  Meanwhile, McGovern, Dukakis, Mondale, and kerry were demonized despite a good deal less ammunition than, say, George W. Bush in either 2000 or 2004.

Goldwater wanted to be known as extreme and LBJ obliged.  Mitt and Rudy won't be so helpful.

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by: David Kowalski @ Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 18:16:07 PM UTC

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