Kristen Breitweiser Shreds Giuliani's "Saint of 9/11" Image

[BurtWorm]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-breitweiser/giulianis-deadly-impact_b_18564.html


Anyone who wants to witness the results of NYC's abysmal emergency response to the attacks need only listen to the recently released 911 tapes that chillingly reveal a total lack of coordination and flow of vital life-saving information plaguing the city and its emergency response apparatus that day. (By the way, Mayor Bloomberg has yet to fix the 911 system--even five years later.)

Furthermore, Giuliani is also responsible for giving the FDNY inoperable Motorola radios. This, too, cost hundreds of lives when firemen did not hear the order to evacuate the towers prior to their collapse. (By the way, those radios are still not fixed--blame this on Bloomberg, too.)

How is a man who is responsible for such horrific and deadly judgments invited to give a victim's impact statement as to how 9/11 impacted him?

By these standards, should I expect Condoleezza Rice (Ms. "Nobody knew planes could be used as missiles"), George Tenet (Mr. "I failed to tell the FBI for 18 months that two known al Qaeda killers were living in San Diego and planning the 9/11 attacks"), and perhaps, George Bush (Mr. "I was reading a story about a pet goat while thousands of people perished and burned alive in the World Trade Center because I didn't want to alarm the school children.") to provide victim's impact statements, as well?

[xxqqqzme]

1. BOOM!

I hear Kristen loud and clear.

[NYC]

2. Good for her.

Re Giuliani and Billionaire Bloomberg.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. From Day 1 as a prosecutor, King Rudy...

has been a pompous windbag with little to actually show for all his massive PR campaigns. Like all expert bullshitters, the point is to look good at what you do, not be good at it.

I swear Donald Trump is his inspiration.

[bullimiami]

4. damn good. im so sick of hearing how good bush was on 9/11.

he failed utterly in every way except the exploitation for political gain.

i cant think of anything he could have done worse.

[MADem]

5. The reason Rudy looked "good" on that awful day

...is simply because HE SHOWED UP.

We had El Pretzelduce cowering in his aircraft, circling corn country, we had Deadeye Dick cowering in a bunker somewhere, and simply because Rudy happened to be in the Exercise Center, which got damaged and he had to get out the back way covered in debris, he looked, solely in contrast to the Chickenhawk and the Cowardly Lion, like a warrior with a knife in his teeth.

People were so desperate for leadership at that point they wanted to hear from someone, anyone, who could say that help was coming. Rudy's two strengths, and his ONLY true strengths, were that:

a. He showed up.

b. He speaks English in complete, clear, declarative sentences.

All of that other stuff (he is a blowhard, he is abrasive, he is rude, he is cavalier, he doesn't treat people with respect unless it serves HIS political purposes--and that includes his family) was overlooked by a desperate public looking for information from "24 Hour News" which was struck dumb on that day, save for Ashleigh Banfield.

He can't rest on those laurels, though. He SHOULD have shown up. He was the goddamn MAYOR. And the Dunce and Ticker Dick should have shown up, too, and not waited DAYS to address the nation. No matter how you spin it, the result was FAILURE all round.

[BurtWorm]

6. Exactly.

He filled the void. He was the substitute president while the illegitimate one in the job was skedaddling down the rabbit hole.

[DearAbby]

31. skedaddling down the rabbit hole.

I would have expected the Secret Service to grab "The President" and get him to safety...(that is their job) Not to have him sit on his azz with a deer in the headlights look for 7 minutes. The country was under attack. The fact that he sat there for another 7 minutes doing nothing is very telling

Everything that happened that day is still a puzzle that needs to be put together.

[ChristianLibrul]

7. America's Adulterer

Yes, Rudi showed up for work on and after 9-11. He did nothing above and beyond. He's no hero for earning his salary. But he is an adulterer, and the theofascists must be reminded of that fact daily.

[Bluebear]

11. And Kerik's love shack was adjacent to ground zero.

'An apartment near the World Trade Center site that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik used to engage in an extramarital affair with publisher Judith Regan, was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping after 9-11! One bedroom faced the pit of ground zero. Regan would visit it while Kerik was police commissioner, meaning between Sept. 11 and Dec. 31, 2001. Kerik refused to answer any questions Tuesday regarding the apartment."

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?storyid=1524

[aquart]

12. We didn't have to overlook anything.

He wasn't abrasive that day or the ones that followed. He wasn't rude. He was healing.

Fault him for the crappy radios, fault him for a million things he did wrong since. Especially over the money.

But Rudy Giuliani was one of the victims that day. He was in shock like the rest of the victims only he didn't have a second of downtime to process it.

He showed up and a building fell on him and he and his people ducked quick and lived. But pretending they were beyond normal human reactions? Pretending that THEY were not affected? That Giuliani isn't human enough to be traumatized like the rest of us?

That's bigotry. And it's crap.

[annabanana]

15. why is that bigotry?

I know he lost people on that day and that he was traumatized along with everyone else... but he was not the great hero he's been portrayed.

[aquart]

40. We call them all heroes.

All our city workers who showed up to work, who came in on their day off, who worked endless shifts trying to find survivors. They stood ten feet tall.

Giuliani wasn't part of that? He wasn't in the thick of that? Dusting off that white horror of dead men and poisonous waste that was all they had to breathe? He wasn't there?

How much time off did he take? What fancy parties did he attend? What did he do that wasn't right to you?

If he was not a hero, what does it make the people taking his orders? What does it make of those of us who came out of our houses and stood on lines when he asked for blood, who went to the funerals of strangers when he asked that we attend...are we fools?

It is bigotry to say whatever he did was less because he was a Republican, or greedy, or a fool, or a criminal. It is bigotry to assume it wouldn't affect him as much as anyone else. Yes, that's bigotry. To make him less human because you don't like him? What would you call it?

[MADem]

16. No, but what he did was simply HIS JOB

He was the Mayor, with all the power and perks associated with that position. It's simply what he was SUPPOSED to do, not the actions of a saint.

Here's the thing--you can't have authority without responsibility. And when you have authority, it is your responsibility to do the job you are elected to do, and do it COMPETENTLY--if things go well, or if things screw up. Responsibility was shirked at the Federal level, which resulted in the disaster in the first place, and responsibility was shirked at the local level, which resulted in substantial communication failures and a greater loss of life.

I don't get your bigotry remark. I was going for his hubris and failure to prepare, myself.

[BurtWorm]

20. Bigotry against Republicans? Mayors? Guys with bad combovers?

:shrug:

[MADem]

21. He fixed the combover, finally, but damn, he does have a bony head!

And speaking of bigotry, when I think of "RUDY!" I always think of Michael Moore's "trade in your wallet" program he held in Harlem, encouraging the citizenry to trade in their black and brown wallets, that could be mistaken for guns, for day-glo orange models.

http://www.theawfultruth.com/wallet/

[aquart]

43. The firemen did what they were supposed to do. Not heroes?

The cops did what they were supposed to do? Not saints?

Guess not.

Nobody just did his job during 9/11. Nobody.

And I'm sorry you don't see that making Giuliani less because he is a Republican and not one of the "good" guys is pure bigotry. You have contempt for everything he did in those days because he isn't one of yours. That is nothing but bigotry.

In what way do you believe a Democratic mayor would have been better prepared? Think hard before you answer because this is New York, and Giuliani was elected mayor because the Democratic Party in our one party city did what any group with absolute power does and became outrageously corrupt. The voters didn't send us wandering in the wilderness because we were running the city well. So, tell me what we would have done so much better than Giuliani.

[Inland]

24. So he's a traumatized crap abrasive guy. Big deal.

If trauma makes you a great guy, then why are the 9/11 survivors thrown into the conservative shitbasket?

[aquart]

41. I have no idea what you are talking about.

Rudy Giuliani is a 9/11 survivor. He was there when the buildings fell.

You seem to be confusing the events of 9/11...those days of a silent city, those days of waiting for the siren of ambulances, those days of the Frozen Zone......with all that came later, when we were up and running again.

I don't, personally, have that confusion.

[KurtNYC]

25. Bigotry?! Giuliani denied NYers a permit to protest against the KKK

when they came to town 10/23/1999. (We protested anyway of course)

[aquart]

42. Which happened during 9/11?

I'm sorry. Rudy was an embarrassment as a mayor until 9/11. He's a Republican stooge now. But none of that changes the fact that he did everything right for us during those days.

I'm sorry if it's unbearable to give credit where credit is due, but denigrating his performance during 9/11 doesn't make him small. Bigotry always makes the bigot look the worst.

[annabanana]

14. All of this will be neglected by today's BJ by the media

when he shows up at Moussai's trial... I wish the bobbleheads would go off script and include some information with their drivel.

[Inland]

22. 95% of life is just showing up,

said Woody Allen, and he was right.

[rniel]

29. Right all he had to do was show up to work

Millions of americans do that every day where's their rewards and medals of freedom?

[Bake]

33. I'm no fan of Rudy, but give him his due.

Yes, he did "just show up." He "did his job." But he did it under the most extraordinary circumstances imaginable. And that day, and the days that followed, when no one else was even showing up, leadership-wise, he did a good job.

Was he a lousy mayor? Maybe. Is he a HERO? No. The NYPD and NYFD and Port Authority cops, the ones who dug out the bodies, went into the buildings themselves -- they're the heroes.

But give Rudy his due on this one. It doesn't mean he's made of presidential timber. Are we here on DU so completely unable to see ANY good in the other side, ever, that we can't give him his due for what he did on 9/11? I'm not. And I despise Pukes as much as anybody.

Bake

[BurtWorm]

37. I will say this much: he did the comforter thing well

He may have fucked up in all the critical ways Breitweiser points out before, and he may have let the St. Rudy buzz go to his head afterward, but during the crisis, a comforter was needed. Someone needed to demonstrate that the system was still working, and he did provide that. This is precisely what Bush failed to provide at any time during the heat of the crisis or after. Rudy's messages were about how things were coming together and getting repaired. Bush was all about getting revenge.

[rniel]

38. Hey

Hey i'll admit it I am completely unable to see ANY good coming from republicans anymore. I've completely lost that ability.

[Solly Mack]

8. Finally

I never got the "Giuliani is a hero" thinking that emerged.

I realize he seemed like a beacon of hope to many on a day when the world went crazy....but, and forgive me, but that happens anytime a crisis erupts and people are looking for someone, anyone, to tell them "it's going to be OK"

it's all emotional and psychological - and while the need for reassurance on such a day is valid...the actual acts of the would be hero are often over-inflated. They become gigantic in proportions. Elevated far above their actual worth in deeds.

Not to undermine emotional comfort - it's important - But a lot of incompetence and bad judgment can get lost among confusion and hysteria. (I think we've seen that played out in the years that have followed that day)

No one wants to believe America didn't do her best that day to help people. No one wants to believe that emergency systems were sub-par in NY so as to hinder the response teams from doing their best.... and while NY city firemen and police did the best they could with what they had - those people are truly heros....they could have done better had the system in place for emergency response been better. That's Guiliani's fault...that's Pataki's fault. That's Bush's fault.

Government let people down on that day. Not just on the Katrina response...but on September 11, 2001 as well. In fact, the reaction/actions by the federal government on 9-11 should have been the tell-tale sign on what other disasters would look like.

By saying "no one could predict" or "no one could have foreseen" - government is just trying to excuse their own actions/inactions, screw-ups and culpability. If "no one could have foreseen" then how could anyone be responsible?

and they are hoping the confusion and chaos surrounding such events prevent people from seeing the truth.

[petgoat]

27. The 9/11 Commission didn't even address, let alone answer,

most of the widows' questions.


http://www.justicefor911.org/Appendix4_FSCQuestionRatings_111904.php

[Solly Mack]

32. Exactly. Excellent example of reality shaping

"Oh, but it was investigated"(see, here's the 9-11 commission report)

[petgoat]

34. Yeah, the freepers love to have a Big Fat Book they can

hit you on the head with. "It's all in here!" Of course the lack of an index means they
can't show you where "it" is, and the fact that the source documents are classified means
that it's unverifiable, but that doesn't stop them.

[autorank]

9. Recommended...read this please. Thank you burnt worm.

[Sleepless In NY]

10. Recommended and Thank You BW

rudy has exploited us all enough. Thank you Kristen.

[xchrom]

13. k & r

[Swamp Rat]

17. kick and recommended n/t

[Vinca]

18. Good for Kristen.

I've never understood the Giuliani worship. Anyone in that position would have acted the same way . . . except Shrub, of course, who wanted to finish "My Pet Goat" before responding.

[latebloomer]

19. hey, don't knock him!

It was such a suspenseful book-- he wanted to see how it ended!

[Inland]

23. These guys are out there getting ready for 2008

It's a good post to turn the spotlight on the truth about Rudy and McCain and these other supposed "moderates".

[petgoat]

26. Rudy ordered the WTC site scrubbed. "Fire Engineering"

magazine was screaming bloody murder. They wanted an investigation of the collapse,
and said they were getting "a half baked farce". FDNY rioted at the site, complaining
that the "scoop and dump" cleanup was desecrating the dead. The steel was shipped off
to India and China for recycling before investigators could properly examine it. Since
every piece of WTC steel was stamped with an ID number, it should have been easy to pull
out the pieces from the impact zone for study. As it is, NIST has not one piece of core
steel showing heating above 250 degrees C.

When a politically ambitious former federal prosecutor who certainly knows better orders
the destruction of evidence, you have to wonder what was the hurry.

[theobscure]

28. the man should be in prison for the evidence destruction alone..

... not to even mention the air quality misinformation.

[me b zola]

30. KnR

:kick:

[AzDar]

35. .."Heckuva job, Rudy"......... n/t

[young_at_heart]

36. We need more like her.....stand up and be counted!

She speaks the truth and her words should be spread everywhere.

[mitchum]

39. kick

[DemInDistress]

44. King Rudy the Tyrant "stole the credit" due his top advisor's

like Richie Sheerer..Jerry Hauer and some others. The best idea King Rudy had on 911 was when he was walking away from the WTC and his "HO!" Sunny Mindel said we cant go east,west or south King Rudy replied,"then let's go north" WOW !!Then the scumbag stole the spotlight. He allowed no one to be interviewed but himself. later as the days and weeks passed and firemen were buried KING RUDY THE TYRANT was nothing more than a
" GLORIFIED PALLBEARER" representing NYC.Shame on that feckless POS.
Some say KING RUDY was reborn on 911. I say, He's still the same fucking scumbag who was thrust into the spotlight and hogged it all.
Then as a reward for "removing crime scene evidence" he put forward his number 1 thief-- Bernie Kerik. Fortunately for us all a sharp Newsday reporter named dennis hellican (?) exposed that turd for what he was then the stories and shit hit the fan,bernie soon pulled his nomination.
KING RUDY while he was our scumbag Mayor supported the wholesale "stop and frisk" for no reason other than "you looked guilty" also,he supported cops who shot an unarmed man 41 times,and a man who got a broomstick stuck up his ass, well KING RUDY was slow to respond. Then he SCREWED me royally for reporting police abuse/misconduct. I videotaped NYPD rigging a traffic light. My reward," my 20-30yr.old rap sheet" (some ugly allegations) was given to the media. I sued and settled..
STILL, don't give any credit to this fraud. One more thing you don't know,his dad was "Howie the Hood" a two bit POS like KING RUDY who shot at the police,did time in SING SING prison and became a superb numbers racketeer.
SO don't hand me no "America's Mayor" bullshit.

[Missy Vixen]

45. Kristin Breitweiser and the Jersey Girls

are my heroes. THEY (and the other family and friends of those who died in the Towers and on the airliners the morning of September 11th,) should have made that victim's statement.

Rudy Giuliani attempts to prop up his fading hopes for GOP stardom with this? Unbelievable.

Julie