NYT's Frank Rich: Giuliani supported the Iraq war but was not a "cheerleader" for the war. Say what?

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200703060004

Newsweek, Frank Rich misled on Giuliani's support for Bush policy in Iraq

Rich's column

In his column, Rich acknowledged that Giuliani supported the Iraq war but said he was not a "cheerleader" for the war:

Mr. Giuliani is also a war supporter and even contributed a Brownie of his own to the fiasco, the now disgraced {former New York City Police Commissioner} Bernard Kerik, who helped botch the training of the Iraqi police. But, unlike Mr. McCain, Mr. Giuliani isn't dogged by questions about Iraq. To voters, his {Giuliani's} war history begins and ends with the war against the enemy that actually attacked America on 9/11. He wasn't a cheerleader for the subsequent detour into Iraq, wasn't in office once the war started, and actively avoids speaking about it in any detail.

However, Giuliani spoke out in favor of regime change in Iraq "earlier" rather than "later" in 2002. The Journal News of Westchester County, New York, reported on September 8, 2002, that Giuliani had said a week earlier, "Our goal has to be to unseat Saddam Hussein and to end his regime." On the October 12, 2002, edition of Fox News' Fox Wire, Giuliani told host Rita Cosby: "If you're going to end global terrorism, you have to remove Saddam Hussein from power, otherwise, we're just going to be facing a bigger problem two, three, four and five years from now. Confronting people like Saddam Hussein earlier is safer than confronting them later."

Moreover, Rich suggested that voters do not associate Giuliani with the war in Iraq and only "with the war against the enemy that actually attacked America on 9/11." The statement ignores that Giuliani has repeatedly tied 9-11 to the war in Iraq and invoked 9-11 to justify the invasion of Iraq.

[yurbud]

1. only Bush and Trent Lott could literally be called cheerleaders since they were cheerleaders in

college.

The rest were only metaphorical cheerleaders.

[Kagemusha]

2. Giuliani has benefited from not being as in-your-face about it as McCain or Lieb.

So Giuliani's shot up in the polls.

Unjustly perhaps. But it was McCain's choice to make himself a big, fat target on this issue. Giuliani is just the beneficiary.

[riderinthestorm]

3. I believe the media has annointed Giuliani as the Rethug candidate

so we're only going to get positive spin on him for as long as he is the chosen one.

[blm]

31. They will spin EVERYTHING for him and ignore all his personal deficits.

Especially on the NBC shows and even SNL.

[KoKo]

4. Frank Rich was on joining Imus in Making fun of Hillary this a.m.

about her speaking in "Southern Accent" in Selma that another DU'er posted was straight from Matt Drudge.

What's going on with Frank Rich?

[TwilightGardener]

5. I find this spin stunning.

Of course he is tied to the war. He supports the pres, the troop surge--everything! Now the media is trying to convince Americans fed up with the war that Rudy isn't REALLY connected to it--BULLSHIT!!! The only reason Repugs would even consider him as their nominee is that he promised to continue what Chimpy started. We must tie that anchor around his neck, NOW!

[rebel with a cause]

6. To stop Giuliani the following needs to be done.

The true story on his time as NYC mayor needs to come out. All was not as rosy as is painted. At least from what I have heard, it was not.

[TwilightGardener]

8. Every day, I get more sick to my stomach...

It's 2000 all over again--the complete repackaging of a turd to sell to an unwitting populace.

[rebel with a cause]

9. Yes, but the country is going to be eight years older

and hopefully a lot smarter.

Okay, I'm telling you and myself this to hold on to any hope I have remaining that my predictions from twelve years ago will not be fulfilled.

[TwilightGardener]

10. What were your predictions?

[rebel with a cause]

14. A bush like president leading the country to destruction.

I made more predictions following the 2000 election and a few day after 9/11 they were all complete. All together my predictions contain a full out civil war, the rebellion of the military and other good stuff. It is not a pretty picture and I hope that I am wrong, but many of the predictions have already came true. Stolen election, authoritative power taken, war in the Middle East, torture, lost of liberties, and certain types of health issues caused by corporation greed. I hid it all in a fictional story that I enriched to form a book. Say that I am crazy, and I won't argue the point.

[skipos]

32. More proof we don't want Dame Rudy to be the Repub nominee

MSM will do nothing to tarnish the mythical "hero of 9-11."

[Jacobin]

7. He wore the short skirts but didn't have pom poms?

:shrug:

ok

[progressivebydesign]

12. funniest post. ever. n/t

[vireo]

11. More Giuliani war defense

Dodgeville -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Monday swept into the southwest corner of Wisconsin where Sen. John Kerry is preparing for Thursday's presidential debate in Coral Gables, Fla., and hammered at the Democratic nominee as inconsistent.

Giuliani, who rocketed to national prominence for his crisis management in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, strongly defended President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq.

"If you were going to realistically take on world terrorism, you had to take out Saddam Hussein," Giuliani said in an interview here before giving a speech to Lands' End employees.

<snip>

At a second stop just miles away from the House on the Rock Resort in Spring Green where Kerry is preparing for Thursday's debate with Bush, Giuliani said the president had made no major missteps in Iraq.

"Maybe they should have spent more time anticipating one thing or another, but there's no overall general policy the administration has pursued that was incorrect," he told reporters outside the Spring Valley Inn.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_20040928/ai_n10993384

[TwilightGardener]

13. Exactly. We must not let the media paint him

somehow as "anti-war". He is a scumbag war-mongering wannabe.

[underpants]

15. 00:07 Guiliani blames the troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLSQT1FSu8A

[rebel with a cause]

17. How "right" (speaking point) of him.

:puke:

[Cha]

24. I guess frankie forgot about that

one.

But, we won't!

[rebel with a cause]

16. Sounds like cheerleading to me.

for bush and the war, but mostly for himself. "Look at me. I'm a good republican. I support the cause. I want to be elected president in 2008."

[vireo]

19. An aside regarding this appearance

Did Giuliani promote this to the company as a "motivational" speech?

DODGEVILLE, Wis. -- Some Lands' End employees said Tuesday they were hoodwinked into attending a speech by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the company's Dodgeville plant.

Viewers said the company told them Giuliani's speech would be motivational in nature. Instead it was a political speach supporting President George W. Bush for reelection.

<snip>

Many viewers expressed outrage at what ensued.

One employee said he "decided to attend the meeting after being told it was a motivational speech focused on bettering ourselves. The whole speech focused on bashing Kerry, using the fear of terrorism to sway your vote, and using nonsense like not remembering baseball players' names as an excuse for not voting for Kerry."

http://www.channel3000.com/news/3768833/detail.html#

[Gabi Hayes]

22. THANK YOU! how many other times did he take SIX FIGURES

to give campaign stumpers, instead of motivational speeches

great catch!

[mdmc]

18. ditto with hrc

perhaps they can run together.
go team ny!

[shance]

20. Rich works for "both teams" it seems.

n/t

[AX10]

21. What gives with Frank Rich?

He is one of the good guys out there.

:shrug:

[karynnj]

27. Rich is clever and often funny - but he was bad on both Gore and Kerry

and still is!

[AX10]

28. Why?

[karynnj]

30. Excellent question

I really don't know the answer. I do know that both Gore and Kerry were and are honorable men of great character who had worked very seriously on important issues over their long careers. I find both of them fascinating in in-depth interviews because they have the depth to warrant it. Yet, Rich repeated every RW characterization of both.

I really don't understand that. It was almost as though he was more fascinated by the Bill Clinton "bad boy" elements (liking that more than the serious wonk Clinton which is another part of Clinton.) Given his position, I wish he were a bit more thoughtful on what America needed. Especially in 2004, he knew what we had in Bush - no matter how annoyed he was at Kerry's (like Gore's) lack of entertainment - he could have just knocked Bush.

[Cha]

23. frank rich has been wrong before.

I'm talking about the snarky Al Gore comments he's made. Sorry, no link.

"..reported on September 8, 2002, that Giuliani had said a week earlier, "Our goal has to be to unseat Saddam Hussein and to end his regime."

Sorry, frankieboy, that's CHEERLEADING!

[David Zephyr]

25. Exactly.

What a trap Republicans are in with regards to Iraq...their war.

[karynnj]

26. Not to mention that in October 2004

when John Kerry hit Bush/Rumsfeld for not securing the KNOWN ammo dumps for months after we invaded Iraq, leading to that ammo being used in IEDs thrown "at our kids", Guiliani defended the Bush administration by saying that it was the soldiers in the field that should have known to do this. (So much for supporting the troops - I guess you can also say that Guiliani called them inept.)

[AZBlue]

29. Well, he couldn't be a cheerleader for it - his wife got the pom poms in the divorce.

eom