Rudy Guiliani is going to run on the promise to torture people, while insisting that his opponent will not torture people. Here’s an example:
“I think putting people under some degree of pressure is done all the time…I did it to get information from the Mafia.”
Unfortunately, the Mafia never told him, while they were being tortured, that his police chief Bernie Kerik was doing business with them.
Guiliani, who gained his reputation by prosecuting mobsters, wound up hiring one to run the NYPD. And then he recommended him to the president who nominated Kerik to be the Secretary of Homeland Security.
So much for torture.
Why does everyone assume that Rudy did NOT know about Keriks mob connection? Because he denies it (if he has)? Because nobody wants to believe Giuliani was linked to the mob because it would tarnish his Shining Prosecutor Shield?
Isn’t the alternative that Rudy was too obtuse to figure it out and if so isn’t that almost as bad as actually knowing the facts?
In a situation this serious, even the whiff of smoke about an organized crime link to a presidential aspirant must be sufficient to disqualify him.
I don’t know if he knew. Does it really matter?
It matters to me. If Rudy knew of Kerik being crooked, then Rudy approved (because Rudy is associated with or a member of the Mafia). If Rudy didn’t know, then what the hey, Rudy’s a flat dumbass. All the mob ‘prosecutions’ he’s done, all the links and associations he must have been privy to… why WOULDN’T he do a deep background check on Kerik and take a look at why his house suddenly got renovated at no cost to him, by a mob linked contractor?
It matters because in a foreseeable twist of the election, a mafia connected guy could be the next President of the United States.
Why isn’t it important to you? Because he’s a Republican and you figure they’re all corrupt anyway? You see no difference in corruption between the two groups, GOP and the Mafia? Or you don’t care about possible organized crime associations in the White House?
I guess its all the same to some folks if trash reaches the highest level of American politics.
Oops, my reply is elsewhere in the thread.
It doesn’t matter to me whether Rudy approved OR Rudy was too thick to figure it out. Either one makes him unqualified to be an acceptable candidate for office.
Actually, Rudy is unqualified for office anyway, even without the Kerick thing on his record. Besides the Kerick thing his incredibly poor judgement shows up elsewhere in his record – the fact that he decided to put rescue response coordination in the WTC (one of the most likely targets for an attack that rescue response would need to respond to), or the whole idiocy over the new radios for the NYC fire fighters, or even just the way he handled his divorce with his second wife (letting your wife find out about the pending divorce via a tv broadcast is almost textbook poor judgement).
Giulianni is completely unfit to be president – the Kerick situation is just one more piece of evidence that Rudy shouldn’t be let near the office, not the final straw that should prevent him from being acceptable. His entire record is chock full of decisions made to the benefit of Rudy Giulianni – everyone else be damned. And that’s not what we need in a President (we’ve had that for 7 years, we don’t need another 4-8 of the same crap).
If Guiliani becomes our president I’ll be very unimpressed, but the mafia never dreamt of theft of a Bush scale.