Giuliani takes cell phone call during speech to NRA

Watch Rudy Giuliani take a cell phone call during a speech to the NRA.

Comments

[Cass]

I thought it was going to an invitation from his Baptist minister to go pheasant hunting. Not very polite, in any case.

[Bruce]

Nice stunt. While rude, it may immunize the audience against the truth of Giuliani's public cruelty to his (ex-)wife and children. After all, they all saw him kiss his wife's ass, right?

No way in hell that his wife did not know not to call him, or that he did not know how to turn off his cell phone, or have the sense to leave it off. Stunt.

[janet]

That's truly nauseating. "See, see, assembled members of the NRA, I love my (third) wife!"

I wonder if anybody was taken in by an obvious stunt? I'd be willing to be that was a staffer on the phone, not his wife. And apparently they've done this before TPM has some video.

Between the obviously staged nature of the call, and the rudeness of interrupting his speech for it, I hope this blows up in his face.

[Dock Miles]

"Hello? Hello, Dimitri? Listen, I can't hear too well, do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? Oh, that's much better. Yes. Fine, I can hear you now, Dimitri. Clear and plain and coming through fine. I'm coming through fine too, eh? Good, then. Well then as you say we're both coming through fine. Good. Well it's good that you're fine and I'm fine. I agree with you. It's great to be fine. Now then Dimitri. You know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb. The bomb, Dimitri. The hydrogen bomb. Well now what happened is, one of our base commanders, he had a sort of, well he went a little funny in the head. You know. Just a little... funny. And uh, he went and did a silly thing. Well, I'll tell you what he did, he ordered his planes... to attack your country."

[The Phantom]

It's rude and disrespectful is what it is.

Still the best candidate for President by a hundred miles, though. Doesn't change that.

[squidink]

omg, phantom... you don't really mean that, do you? what about giuliani has persuaded you to believe he's the best candidate by a hundred miles?

[The Phantom]

He ran my city well.

He hired a great Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton --and yes I know about the falling out, which still bothers me.

Bratton drove hard the policing ideas that came from
Jack Maple, who had told his men "treat every victim like it was your own mother". It was that passion, along with Maple's science that enabled Bratton and Giuliani to implement what they promised--radical and permanent reductions in violent crime in New York City.

There is an effort by some to rewrite history, and to say that the historic crime drop was nothing special, that it happened everywhere, that it was caused by social and demographic trends. Which is all bullshit--I lived through it, I heard it when the promise was made, and saw what happened when the promise was kept.

Which is why most of downtown Philadelphia, Detroit, Newark, Cleveland is empty and scary at night in 2007--I get this first hand, I travel a lot--while in New York City, I have to fight for a seat on the subway at 1am. Thats a fact.

The reduction in crime, even more than the leadership to a wounded city after 9/11, is Giuliani's legacy.

Compare this accomplishment to anything ever done by Evita Clinton or Katrina profiteer John Edwards.

Giuliani, pain in the balls though he can be, has accomplished great things, and run a vast organization well, driving needed change in a Civil Service Deadbeat culture that was incredibly resistant to it.

If Giuliani gets the Republican nomination, he wins the Presidency. And he's gonna get the nomination. Bet on it.

[Squidink]

Fair enough. Not sure I'd bet money on the nomination though. Gun owners are pretty spooked by him, and I would think he'd have to gain their trust to get that far. Maybe not.

[The Phantom]

Its funny. The gun nuts --I ain't an NRA guy -- gave him a civil reception. He'll never be their Number One choice--but showing them the respect of showing up may get them to dislike him less, and to not campaign against him.

After two terms of Bush, there is a thirst for someone with a history of competence, of running things very well.

And Giuliani confounds every category. He's not really conservative or liberal as the terms are interpreted by so many people.

He's a liberal conservative or a conservative liberal, something new under the sun.

The get-a-life moveon.org and extreme conservative types will have a really hard time getting a glove on him.

[Chris O.]

Oh my god, what a faker.

[mudkitty]

Guliani did nothing to prevent 9/11, and placed the EMC in the World Trade Center, against all advice, and after the bombing in '93. For Phantom to write that Gulliani is the best candidate simply defies reason and logic.

[swampcracker]

Giuliani's membership on Iraq Study Group panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: Either attend the meetings or quit.

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered $11.4 million in 14 months.

That's the kind of story that ends a campaign, especially one like Rudy's claim of standing up to terrorism and hanging tough in Iraq.

Thus, plus the 3 state campaign managers who were forced to resign for criminal misconduct. And let us not forget his aborted mafia-tied recommendation to head Homeland Security. Can you imagine what his hypothetical presidential cabinet might look like? (Think bar scene from Star Wars.)

There is no way Rudely Ghouliani can mount a credible presidential race, and I dare the GOP to nominate him. An automatic win for the Democrats no matter who gets the nomination.

[The Phantom]

mudkitty

And how was the mayor of a city supposed to prevent 9/11? Does he have control over the nation's airports and airlines?

The EMC had lots of company in the WTC.

NY State Agencies
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
The US Secret Service
Various other US govt agencies

I don't remember any criticism of the location of EMC at the time. Noone who is honest will say that they "knew" what would happen, that the choice to take this particular office space was a bad move. Its all lies and bullshit.

My company moved into the WTC in 1999. Do I criticize them for this action, do I blame them for those who died? No--they rented space in an office building. What happened later was unknowable to them.

swampcracker

I'll join you in criticizing Giuliani for his leaving the Iraq Study Group. But he is still the best candidate out there, unless I'm missing something.

And I've got a fairly good record at predicting these things--I think he has very wide support in all regions of the country. Nothing's assured, but your last sentance reveals a very poor political aptitude. Tell me who you like in tomorrow's football games, and I'll go the other way.

[Dock Miles]

>Which is why most of downtown Philadelphia, Detroit, Newark, Cleveland is empty and scary at night in 2007--I get this first hand, I travel a lot--while in New York City, I have to fight for a seat on the subway at 1am. Thats a fact.

You know, Phantom, I get around a bit myself. I donno about Detroit, Newark and Cleveland (a couple of them have had severe economic declines that have little or nothing to do with political leadership), but I was in Philly three months ago after a 15 year absence and your observation is complete and utter bullshit. The place was a mess in the early '90s but has completely turned around. More assured and easy-flowing than several parts of NYC.

And the crime rate plummeted in my city almost exactly when it started going down in New York. Improved police practice was part of it. But Giuliani sure wasn't mayor here.

Funny thing is, the guy may be least popular in the place where he's actually, you know, governed.

And I've visited New York more than once a year since 1980. The subways were pretty damn crowded midnight or later no matter what year it was. Place kinda stays up late, you know.

I'll grant Giuliani this -- he got rid of the ugliest comb-over in human history.

[swampcracker]

Phantom: your last sentance [sic] reveals a very poor political aptitude

Then I suggest you read this sentence: I'll join you in criticizing Giuliani for his leaving the Iraq Study Group (Phantom)

Followed by this sentence: That's the kind of story that ends a campaign, especially one like Rudy's claim of standing up to terrorism and hanging tough in Iraq. (swampcracker)

[zuzu]

Katrina profiteer John Edwards.

Oh, I'd love to hear the rationale for that little label.

And, sorry, Phantom. If there was no criticism of Giuliani's decision to override his disaster-management specialists and veto the location they'd found in Brooklyn for the EMC, it had more to do with squelching of internal dissent rather than how wonderful a decision it was. And why did Giuliani override his experts? Because he wanted the EMC within walking distance from City Hall.

Frankly, it doesn't matter how many companies or agencies located their office space at the WTC. It was a stupid location for an Emergency Management Center, particularly given the fact that thousands of gallons of diesel fuel was stored at the EMC. Which is what made WTC 7 burn so thoroughly.

[The Phantom]

I'm been going to center city Philadelphia every couple of months over the past ten years, and have lots of family near there. You absolutely cannot compare the majority of Philadelphia --including the high rises downtown--with any part of Manhattan, Brooklyn, or even most of Queens. There are vast swaths of Market, Walnut and Broad Streets (major boulevards there ) that are empty or nearly so at 8pm. There are no longer any such empty major streets in Manhattan.

The company I work for has a major office in Philadelphia. Not a one of the senior people lives in "town". They say that they live in Philadelphia, but they really live in Wayne, King of Prussia, Bucks County.

In our NYC office, all the young kids want to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn, but also a lot of the senior people want to live there too. I know others who will make that move "when the kids grow up". I've asked them why, and to a man or woman, they say that they would never have done this before the city got cleaned up.

Philly's not dead. It's not Detroit, or Camden, or East St. Louis, or Oakland--really, really scary places. I like a lot of what I see in Philly, and how hard some are trying to bring it back. But
the numbers do not lie. It IS a dangerous place, one that most of the people in the region rarely visit.

Philly is an immense land mass. You went once, probably to one neighborhood. But as a living organism, you cannot possibly compare it, or the night or weekend life there, to that of New York, or SF, or Boston, or other cities that are actually healthy.

--The guy may be least popular in the place where he's actually, you know, governed.--
Beware of the echo chamber. He was elected mayor twice here. But of course, "everyone hates him in NYC". Oh no they don't.

Philadelphia crime rate
http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Philadelphia&state=PA

[The Phantom]

I'm been going to center city Philadelphia every couple of months over the past ten years, and have lots of family near there. You absolutely cannot compare the majority of Philadelphia --including the high rises downtown--with any part of Manhattan, Brooklyn, or even most of Queens. There are vast swaths of Market, Walnut and Broad Streets (major boulevards there ) that are empty or nearly so at 8pm. There are no longer any such empty major streets in Manhattan.

The company I work for has a major office in Philadelphia. Not a one of the senior people lives in "town". They say that they live in Philadelphia, but they really live in Wayne, King of Prussia, Bucks County.

In our NYC office, all the young kids want to live in Manhattan or Brooklyn, but also a lot of the senior people want to live there too. I know others who will make that move "when the kids grow up". I've asked them why, and to a man or woman, they say that they would never have done this before the city got cleaned up.

Philly's not dead. It's not Detroit, or Camden, or East St. Louis, or Oakland--really, really scary places. I like a lot of what I see in Philly, and how hard some are trying to bring it back. But
the numbers do not lie. It IS a dangerous place, one that most of the people in the region rarely visit.

Philly is an immense land mass. You went once, probably to one neighborhood. But as a living organism, you cannot possibly compare it, or the night or weekend life there, to that of New York, or SF, or Boston, or other cities that are actually healthy.

--The guy may be least popular in the place where he's actually, you know, governed.--
Beware of the echo chamber. He was elected mayor twice here. But of course, "everyone hates him in NYC". Oh no they don't.

Philadelphia crime rate
http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Philadelphia&state=PA

[Dock Miles]

>There are vast swaths of Market, Walnut and Broad Streets (major boulevards there ) that are empty or nearly so at 8pm.

Okay, now claim this is because of fear of crime. (There's lots of business districts in Manhattan where the streets are deserted because everybody's gone home from work and everything is closed.)

And OHMYGOD, your chart was so convincing.

>Philly is an immense land mass. You went once, probably to one neighborhood.

Damn! More of this miracle mind-reading that I can't do. Where the hell do I get in line to get some of this action??

>Not a one of the senior people lives in "town". They say that they live in Philadelphia, but they really live in Wayne, King of Prussia, Bucks County.

So they're rich bastards who live in the suburbs. So fucking what?

[The Phantom]

I don't know why some posts have appeared twice. Sorry about that.

The diesel fuel was there to aid in the "controlled demolition", didn't you know that?

If a disaster had been elsewhere in Manhattan, it would have appeared a stroke of genius for the command center to be in a place where it could be easily reached--not across a river in Brooklyn.

The criticism is complete fucking bullshit. After the WTC reopened after the bombing, it had the tightest security of any building I'd ever seen. Visitors used to complain that it was such a pain to get into; some tenants complained about the new restrictions on underground parking. It was widely seen to be "the safest building in America"--which is why my company and others moved there after 1993.

The nature of the threat to come in 2001 was unforeseen by me, by you and by Mr. Hauer. He wanted it in Brooklyn? Mazel tov. Good for him.

Oh, and as for John Edwards? The major investment in his portfolio is in a company that foreclosed and took the homes of Katrina victims. This, the chutzpah master who started his campaign in the Ninth Ward. Now, that was brazen.

[The Phantom]

None of the streets of Manhattan are dead at night the way huge sections of Philadelphia. I walk those streets six-seven days a week. The Phantom lurks late and speaks straight.

Listen, and learn. Gotta go.

[The Phantom]

--None of the streets of Manhattan are dead at night the way huge sections of Philadelphia are deserted

New York is safer than the average American city, Philadelphia is more dangerous. You picked the wrong issue, bro. Hope you liked seeing the Liberty Bell.

[Dock Miles]

Here's a piece that puts some of Philly's murder problem in perspective.

>New York is safer than the average American city, Philadelphia is more dangerous.

All I can say is that people should look at the charts, read the Inquirer piece, and decide for themselves.

[Dock Miles]

Here's a piece that puts some of Philly's murder problem in perspective.

>New York is safer than the average American city, Philadelphia is more dangerous.

All I can say is that people should look at the charts, read the Inquirer piece, and decide for themselves.

And, when you get down to it, isn't this whole thing as much an endorsement for a Bloomberg presidency?

[Dock Miles]

Finally, I love the way Phantom addresses so many specific challenges. Punting them. Ignoring them. Cowardly breezing past.