Rudy Giuliani Will Not Run For Governor
First of all, that’s not a news headline. That’s a prediction. Despite polling data out today showing the former New York City mayor closing the gap with Andrew Cuomo in a hypothetical 2010 matchup, despite the state Republican party’s desperate need for a savior, despite the fact that Rudy himself hasn’t ruled out a run—I predict it won’t happen. Here are some reasons why...
• He knows it would be very tough race to win. State Attorney General Cuomo seems to be cruising to the democratic nomination for governor, with incumbent David “16% Approval” Paterson basically toast at this point. In a traditionally blue state that’s gotten quite a bit bluer in recent months, the basic numbers wouldn’t be on Giuliani’s side. Republicans couldn’t even hold onto a House seat in an overwhelmingly GOP district earlier this year (in the special election to replace U.S Senate appointee Kirsten Gillibrand). Even with Giuliani’s enormous name recognition, turning that trend around within a year-and-a-half seems like a stretch. I don’t think Rudy would get in a race if there was a better than even chance he would lose.• But for the sake of our discussion, let’s say Giuliani would win if he ran for governor. What would he find when he got to Albany? For one, he’d find a legislature under tight democratic control, perhaps more so after the 2010 election. Maybe it’s me, but I have trouble picturing the man once known as “America’s Mayor,” who was Time magazine’s Man of the Year, squabbling with New York’s notoriously dysfunctional General Assembly over budget cuts to state parks. Budget cuts to just about everything, actually. The prospect of huge ongoing deficits could overwhelm any other kind of political agenda Rudy might wish for.
• 9/11. I know, I know, that’s supposed to be Guiliani’s strong point, his leadership in the hours and weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center. But let’s not forget, that image was already being tarnished by the time he made his weak run for President in 2008. While many remember him as hero, many others will want to talk about bad decisions he made, like locating the city’s emergency response facility in one of the destroyed World Trade Center buildings. His bizarre effort to extend his term after the attacks left a bad taste in the mouths of many New Yorkers. And by the time of the election, it will have been more than nine years since the 9/11 disaster. The Churchillian image Rudy nurtured—indeed, based his political future on—will have faded in the minds of many voters, whose attention has moved on to other issues and crises.
• But the personal issues will still be remembered; any opponent would make sure of that. The alleged affairs, the way he told the press he was separating from his then-wife (Donna Hanover) before bothering to tell her, the resulting estrangement from his children, the recommendation of his police commissioner, now-admitted felon Bernard Kerik, to become Secretary of Homeland Security. It became one of the truisms of the 2008 White House campaign: although much of America loved him, Rudy’s popularity dropped the closer you got to New York. That’s unlikely to change by next year. Add to that the awkward hard right turn he made on many issues in his effort to win the GOP presidential nomination, and voters might not know exactly what Guiliani stands for anymore.
• He makes millions through his security consulting company and his speaking fees. Would he trade that for a governor’s salary? He might, one could think, if he could use the office to launch another White House bid. But by 2016, he’ll be 72, and that ship will have already sailed.
It really all comes down to the most basic question you can ask about a person considering a run for any political office: Why would he want it? What would he gain for his life, his legacy, his party, his state? Apply the question to Rudy Giuliani running for governor, and the answers don’t add up to a likely candidacy. Rudy Giuliani will not be running for governor. He won’t run for the U.S. Senate, either. But I’ll take that up on some future post.
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Comments: 11
YES, I AGREE WITH SOME OF THESE STATEMENTS.
BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WE DON'T WANT
RUDY GIULIANI DOING NOTHING AT ALL. HIS TIME WAS UP WHEN HE STOPPED BEING MAYOR.
Jim, I lost all respect for you after reading this post. Your flippant comments about 9/11 in particular were beyond despicable.
I agree completly, it is all about Andrew Cuomo now he will most definitley be the next Governor of New York, he has the right type of personality for it.
Jim, do us all a favor and just report the news instead of plugging your lame blog and pretending to be an opinion editorial columnist.
It's obvious that you live in a manhattanite bubble by your pathetic comments. I mean, accusing Giuliani of taking a "hard right" turn during the presidential election? The same Giuliani who practically gave the GOP nominate to one of the most liberal republicans in recent memory? The same Giuliani who supported gun-control, gay rights and global warming initiatives? Where is that considered taking a "hard right" turn, in the far-left enclave of the upper west side, where you probably live?
The fact that the both of NY's legislative branches are "tightly controlled" by liberal democrats is precisely why we need a fiscally conservative republican governor like Rudy Giuliani. Or do you like the runaway spending, endless corruption and oppressive taxation that comes with one party liberal rule? (Actually, you probably do.)
And I agree with the other poster. Your attitude toward 9/11 -- "9/11, we know.." and calling it a "disaster", "issue" and "crisis" -- is pathetic.
9/11 was a murderous act of war. Instead of trying to ridicule Giuliani, we should commend him for being one of the few individuals who still has the courage to remind people what exactly took place that awful morning. It's those who want 9/11 to be nothing more than a minor footnote in American history that should "move on" -- to Bellevue.
Jim, I agree with your comments on this subject, but I believe that you left out one very important point: Giuliani is one butt-ugly bastard. Ever notice that creepy "smile" of his? My god! He's an ugly, slimy hypocrite, just like Spitzer. A disgusting, arrogant, degenerate adulterer. He's a lowlife. His friends are all mob-connected criminals. His personal life is a mess because he has the morals of an alley cat. There must be a reason why his ex-wives and children all hate him. In fact, there are MANY REASONS.
And pay no attention to those two morons who call themselves "Phool" and "Blob" -- they are just a couple of pea-brained idiots. Nowhere in your message did I see any "flippant" comments about 9/11.
Bob, you're a jerky-boy, aren't you? A-hole says:
"The fact that the both of NY's legislative branches are 'tightly controlled' by liberal democrats is precisely why we need a fiscally conservative republican governor like Rudy Giuliani. Or do you like the runaway spending, endless corruption and oppressive taxation that comes with one party liberal rule? (Actually, you probably do.)
Hey, Jerky-boy Boob: It's your pathetic, incompetent, criminal Republican Party which has placed New York State and the entire nation in its current financial catastrophe. Great idea, President Douche: Let bin-Laden excape into Pakistan and start an unnecessary war with Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Great going, Republican douche bags. Throw trillions of dollars down the toilet with your unnecessary little war while the nation's infrastructure and economy falls apart... Idiot, the endless taxation and runaway spending which we are now experiencing, and which we will probably experiencing for many years to come, are a result of Pres. Douche & the Republican Party's policies. In case you haven't realized it, Jerky-Boy, Pres. Douche has left this country with its biggest deficit in history.
Hey, Hillbilly Bob, here's an idea for you: why don't you run to the nearest dentist and have him pull your last few remaining teeth out? That way, you can better service your lovers Karl Rove, G.W. Douche, Dick Cheney, Donnie Rumsfeld, and Rush Limbaugh. (Blow, Bob, blow! Eat 'em up! Yum-yum!)
Yes, I realize that, in my haste, I wrote "excape," and left out the word "be" between "probably experiencing." Maybe I was typing too fast, or perhaps your stupidity is rubbing off on me. Either way, F.U., and keep on blowing like a good little brainwashed Republican lackey.
Boys, boys, settle down and no name calling! Jim, smart analysis of the upcoming gubernatorial primaries. I think you can bet on Rudy not entering a fight he is sure he can't win,especially after his presidential campaign disaster. And that's just hard cold facts. I'm guessing Judi would prefer he just keep making money.
You really shouldn't post under an alias in order to attack people who are critical of what you write, Jim. Either way though, let me pick apart your drivel as I do with so many deranged leftists here in NYC...
"It's your pathetic, incompetent, criminal Republican Party which has placed New York State and the entire nation in its current financial catastrophe."
Nice try, but Republican didn't create Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, nor did they give us the awful community reinvestment act, or use militant leftist organization like ACORN to force banks into giving loans to unqualified individuals. Republicans also didn't appoint Alan Greenspan, who has already admitted he played a large part in the financial crisis by lower interest rates to irresponsible levels and keeping them there for far too long. Who is it again that wanted to reform Fannie and Freddie back in 2003 against Democrat objections? That's right, it was the Republican party under George W. Bush. Nice try though.
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"Let bin-Laden excape into Pakistan and start an unnecessary war with Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11."
If Bin Laden "excaped" into Pakistan, why hasn't anyone identified him in person since late 2001? I mean, for a guy who supposedly made out like a bandit, he sure hasn't come up for air much.
I think like many rank amateur debaters, you don't have a clue about the difference between al Qaeda and the Taliban. Yes, the Taliban--a Pashtun fighting force--is in Pakistan, after Bush drove them and their allied arab army, al Qaeda, out of Afghanistan. But al Qaeda isn't the Taliban. Bush decimated the al Qaeda network precisely because he chose not to just go after a few arabs in a central asian country. Bush took the war to the heart of the arab world where terrorist apologists like you said we would never fight them. (LOL Imagine that? No militant arabs in the heart of arabia! "Wrong war!" "Wrong target!" "Nothing to do with 9/11!" Priceless!) Indeed, I wish any leftist dolts who are still cries over Saddam's demise could explain how the so-called "wrong war" had America fighting all the right terrorists?
Indeed, before the Iraq war, al Qaeda was toppling skyscrapers and controlling entire regions of the middle east and central asia. Today they barely control a shanty town in Waziristan and are lucky if they can post an online jihadi video. A far cry from their glory days under the Clinton Administration -- where their attacks were treated like criminal matters, or went completely unchallenged (like the USS Cole Bombing).
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"Throw trillions of dollars down the toilet with your unnecessary little war while the nation's infrastructure and economy falls apart..."
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cost about $600 billion over more than 6 years. The new Democrat administration spent 3 times that in less than a 100 days.
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"the endless taxation and runaway spending which we are now experiencing, and which we will probably experiencing for many years to come, are a result of Pres. Douche & the Republican Party's policies.... Pres. Douche has left this country with its biggest deficit in history."
Again, nice try, but the current administration's spending makes Bush's look like petty cash expenditures. And worst of all, it's worsened our national security.
Finally, I think it's hilarious how I talked about the need for some to 'move on' to Bellevue and I got a response as wacky as the last paragraph in your diatribe:
"Hey, Hillbilly Bob, here's an idea for you: why don't you run to the nearest dentist and have him pull your last few remaining teeth out? That way, you can better service your lovers Karl Rove, G.W. Douche, Dick Cheney, Donnie Rumsfeld, and Rush Limbaugh. (Blow, Bob, blow! Eat 'em up! Yum-yum!)"
Wow, what a loon. I think this youtube video sums your post up quite nicely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF3IpNU1Yu8
You fool, blaming poor Jim Watkins for what I've written. I think your brain must've "excaped" from your empty head a long time ago.
I'm not going to waste too much time responding to every single one of your fantasies. I'll just point out that the money which O'Bama is being forced to spend is all in an effort to undo Pres. Douche's damage. You know that. Everyone knows that. Even the Repulsive Party knows that -- that's why his own party abandoned him. That's why they didn't want to be seen with him during the last campaign. That's why old John McBrain -- the senile old fool who graduated last in his class -- lost by a landslide. That's why the enire nation rejected the Republican idiot party.
Senile old McBrain and Sarah Palin -- is that the best you hillbillies could come up with? Dumb and Dumberer. What a joke. How pathetic. Everyone laughs at you.
Nice job, President Douche, you drunken little college cheerleader. You may have gotten your daddy to pull some strings to let you avoid serving your country in Vietnam, coward, but your mommy and daddy couldn't help you this time, while you were destroying the entire country, could they? But cheer up -- at least you still have a few brainless idiots like Blowjob Bob, who'll support and defend you no matter what you do.
A-hole writes:
"If Bin Laden "excaped" into Pakistan, why hasn't anyone identified him in person since late 2001? I mean, for a guy who supposedly made out like a bandit, he sure hasn't come up for air much.
I think like many rank amateur debaters, you don't have a clue about the difference between al Qaeda and the Taliban. Yes, the Taliban--a Pashtun fighting force--is in Pakistan, after Bush drove them and their allied arab army, al Qaeda, out of Afghanistan. But al Qaeda isn't the Taliban. Bush decimated the al Qaeda network precisely because he chose not to just go after a few arabs in a central asian country. Bush took the war to the heart of the arab world where terrorist apologists like you said we would never fight them. (LOL Imagine that? No militant arabs in the heart of arabia! "Wrong war!" "Wrong target!" "Nothing to do with 9/11!" Priceless!) Indeed, I wish any leftist dolts who are still cries over Saddam's demise could explain how the so-called "wrong war" had America fighting all the right terrorists?
Indeed, before the Iraq war, al Qaeda was toppling skyscrapers and controlling entire regions of the middle east and central asia. Today they barely control a shanty town in Waziristan and are lucky if they can post an online jihadi video. A far cry from their glory days under the Clinton Administration -- where their attacks were treated like criminal matters, or went completely unchallenged (like the USS Cole Bombing)."
My bad. I stand corrected. Once again, you're absolutely right, Baba-Booey. Pres. Douche captured and/or killed bin Laden. That's why he hasn't been seen or heard from since late 2001. So I guess that the tall, ugly, smelly, camel-raping, goat-f***ing guy who releases those videotaped messages every six months or so merely LOOKS and SOUNDS like bin Laden, but is in fact an imposter. The REAL bin Laden has obviously been captured and/or killed by our hero, Pres. Douche. And I guess the dogs who bombed trains in Spain and London were imposters, also. Perhaps those bombings were carried out by the IRA and Basque terrorists -- certainly not al Qaeda, because, as we all know, al Qaeda isn't the Taliban (that "Pashtun fighting force," which no one ever claimed, by the way); al Qaeda would NEVER do such a thing as attack unarmed, innocent civilians on trains (it's just not their style; they're only known for "toppling skyscrapers" and "controlling entire regions of the middle east and central asia"); and al Qaeda was "decimated" by our hero Douche.
But enough of your idiocy. No one has "identified him in person" since late 2001 because he's hiding like a coward among his fellow fanatics in the tribal regions of east Afghanistan and west Pakistan, namely, the Taliban (that Pashtun fighting force) and al Qaeda members. Why would they turn him in? They agree with everything he stands for, and he's a multimillionaire, if not billionaire. The coward travels around wearing a dress, like Max Klinger, and avoids using cell phones to prevent his whereabouts from being detected. Don't you know ANYTHING? Quit getting your news from Fox and Rush Limbo. Find out some real facts and quit making such a fool of yourself.
Talk about "priceless": this retarded sentence truly is priceless:
"Indeed, I wish any leftist dolts who are still cries over Saddam's demise could explain how the so-called 'wrong war' had America fighting all the right terrorists?"
In the first place, I'm hardly a "leftist dolt who are still cries" over Saddam's demise. At least I'm not a leftist, anyway. But I DO regret Sodom's demise, however, because Sodom was Iran's biggest enemy. Saddam did more to keep Iran in check than Douche, Chainey, Rumpsfield, Wolfklops, Limbo, Karl Rover, or any other Republican dog has ever done. In fact, or "indeed," as you so dramatically like to say, your hero Douche has handed Iraq over to the Shiites and has made Iran stronger than ever. I hope all Republican traitors burn in hell (the very same Republican traitors who avoid serving in the military but are eager to send other people's children to fight and die in their unnecessary wars). Death to all Republicans. May Farrah Fawcett sit on their faces and give them all cancer, Praise Allah. Piss be on Muhammad.
I'll have you know, genius, that I supported Reagan back in '80. I hated that pussy president which we were cursed with, Mr. Peanut. And I still do. (May he and Mario Cuomo burn in Hell for all eternity, along with Douche.) Back then I thought that President Peanut was the worst disaster to ever happen to this country -- that is, until Pres. Douche came along...
I'd love to continue this, but it's getting late and I still have tons of porn to download.