Never mind the ferrets, here’s the real issues
By now, you’ve probably heard Rudy Giuliani’s bizarre on-air freak out about ferrets. If not, the audios is here. Pretty soon, America’s ex-husband will be looking back fondly at the days when his biggest political problem was the decision to berate a ferret owner on the radio. The New York Times has a major piece up about Giuliani’s mismanagement of post-911 recovery efforts. People, it’s bad:
The city ran a generally slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental concerns,†said David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a labor group.
City officials and a range of medical experts are now convinced that the dust and toxic materials in the air around the site were a menace. More than 2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory problems. Seventy percent of nearly 10,000 recovery workers screened at Mount Sinai Medical Center have trouble breathing.
And he sounds like just the guy to handle natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina:
Despite the presence of those federal experts, Mr. Giuliani assigned the ground zero cleanup to a largely unknown city agency, the Department of Design and Construction. Kenneth Holden, the department’s commissioner until January 2004, said in a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the city that he initially expected FEMA or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup operation. Mr. Giuliani never let them.
The Washington Post also has a big piece on how Giuliani turned his post-911 national fame into a somewhat shady (but profitable) consulting business.
I realize the pundits-that-be are only interested in the foibles of Democratic candidates, but I have to wonder if Russert, Matthews, Schieffer et al. will eventually have to start confronting the skeletons in Giuliani’s closet.
Related posts:
For more on those poisoned 9-11 recovery workers, don’t miss Micheal Moore’s newest film, SiCKO. This looks like it could be another gem.
I’d just like to remind everyone that Guiliani handled 9/11 horribly. Against all advice, he moved the emergency response headquarters to the world trade center, after it had already been attacked in those car bombings in ‘93( ‘94? I dunno, it was before my time).
Not only that, but he managed the actual day of 9/11 badly. He separated his command for firemen and police, issues bad orders, and was generally incompetent.
When I point this out to people, they say “yeah, but he stayed calm and reassured everyone.” Why does this country seem hell-bent on electing people based on the strength of their PR, even after they know the facts?
Peter King, my guy in congress/subject of my blog, is all about Giulani- he’s the campaign’s point man in Congress. This all makes me giddy, but of course, thousands of people are having serious health problems because of Giuliani’s strong-arm rule.
Peter King is awful. Remember when he compared Baghdad to Manhattan?
[...] the funerals for firefighters and policemen, the bad he did almost certainly outweighs the good. We spoke earlier of his mistreatment of rescue workers: The city ran a generally slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, [...]
[...] Rudy Guilani’s entire political life is based off lies. His handling of 9/11? If not a disaster, at least an incompetent [...]