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March 30, 2007
 Giuliani
Hitting The Wall
By Joe
Guzzardi
Time is running
out for Rudy Giuliani,
open borders enthusiast and recent darling of the
Republican Party Establishment (but
no hero to VDARE.COM).
Last week’s revelation
that Giuliani's current wife, Judith Nathan, is in her
third marriage—and not her second, as the couple previously
reported—is another
scandalous drip-drop in the
former New York mayor’s personal saga that will ultimately
doom him.
Can Giuliani, who was
aware of all three Nathan marriages, expect to convince the
country that he forgot about it? How do you forget about a
marriage—especially one that lasted five years?
It’s very had for leading
presidential candidates to have a personal life as disgraceful
as Giuliani’s and expect to survive. (Especially in the
still-square GOP—see David Pyne’s
Rise of the adulterers: GOP at risk of hostile takeover by the
left.)
The surprise is that
Giuliani’s shocking personal behavior has not fully captured
America’s attention given the country’s fascination with the
prurient.
Among
Giuliani’s indiscretions while mayor are:
Some might say, “Well,
that was then and this is now. Giuliani is
'America’s mayor' and given his courage
during 9/11, we’ll forgive him his moral trespasses.”
But you won’t find many
people who live in New York who feel that way.
Some of the words New
Yorkers used to describe Giuliani’s governing methods are “
vindictive,
petty, totalitarian, and controlling.”
And don’t forget that
prior to the 2001 election, Giuliani attempted a power grab by
trying to persuade the candidates to agree not to take office
during the city’s
post-9/11 time of crisis. His unsuccessful ploy exposed
Giuliani as imperialist as George W. Bush.
But to me the most
interesting aspect of Giuliani’s curriculum vitae is his total
failure to end
violence and
corruption in Mexico City—as he pledged to do in a
much-ballyhooed 2003 multimillion-dollar agreement with Mexico.
Four years ago, to fanfare
in Mexico and the U.S., Giuliani Partners signed a $4.3 million
contract with Mexico to consult on how to reduce the country’s
murder and
kidnapping rates.
“Rudy To The Rescue" read an Associated Press
headline [Oct. 10, 2002].
Two years later, the
Mexican government, disgusted by the lame efforts of Giuliani
Partners, did not hire the firm for follow-up work. Ultimately,
Giuliani Partners was paid less than the agreed-upon $4.3
million sum.
Although there is finger
pointing by both sides as to why the mission failed, it’s clear
that Giuliani Partners didn’t have a clue what it had committed
to when it promised to clean up Mexican corruption. For example,
the starting salary for
Mexican police officers is $6,000 annually; the police
department has few computers or FAX machines; its officers drive
broken down cars; Mexican citizens distrust local police.
Giuliani, indirectly
admitting failure, has not returned to Mexico since his initial
trip in 2003.
One of the Mexican
officials, Antonio Rendon, said:
-
"They were not prepared,
not at all. They weren't consultants. They were retired
policemen. And they were trying to organize another police
force, but not with a methodology or a clear idea. They were
not really looking forward, it was, 'where's the money?'"[
In
Mexico City, Few Cheers for Giuliani , By Daniela
Gerson New York Sun April 11, 2005 ]
The only thing Giuliani has
going for him: a few weeks of good photo ops
immediately following 9/11.
But when Republican voters
look at Giuliani’s complete package, it is hard to imagine that
they won’t turn to a more appealing candidate—
assuming
one can be found within the ranks of the GOP.
Joe Guzzardi [
e-mail
him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor.
In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has
been writing
a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive
to
VDARE.COM. |
