Anderson@Large

A GOP Blast from the Past

Alan Keyes, a not so golden oldie, is back. And he’s running for president – again.

When Keyes ran in 1996, he was arrested for trying to crash a Republican debate in Atlanta.

By contrast, Keyes may be welcomed with open arms to the presidential forum at Morgan State University, moderated by Tavis Smiley. Tavis won't have to squeeze Keyes in since there will be four empty podiums on the stage.

Meanwhile, the Republican frontrunners send their, um, regrets (and here).

GOP Debates

The Republican presidential candidates duked it out in New Hampshire last night. Like Fred Thompson, the newly packaged GOP savior, I skipped the debate.

But I don’t plan to miss the GOP debate later this month. In fact, I’ll be credentialed to live-blog the event which will be held at Morgan State University.

Given Republicans’ estrangement from black voters, it’ll be interesting to see who shows up. Hell, Rudy Giuliani might buck his own history of dissing black folks and make an appearance.

In the meantime, check out the latest video of the less than "perfect candidate" Giuliani debating, well, Giuliani.

Giuliani's Home Alone

Presidential wannabe Rudy Giuliani does bear a slight resemblance to Marlene Dietrich whose tag line was, "I want to be alone."

In New Hampshire yesterday, Giuliani told a voter to "leave my family alone." He wants to be judged by his public performance – not the "complexities" of his family.

Fair enough but there’s a symmetry between Giuliani’s public performance and his personal life – neither one can withstand much scrutiny.

Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett’s recent exposé of Giuliani’s "five big lies about 9/11" is particularly damaging given that the terrorist attacks are the raison d'être of his candidacy.

Likewise, Giuliani’s commitment to "end illegal immigration" flies in in the face of his public performance as mayor of New York City, a de facto sanctuary city.

Perhaps Giuliani should shift the focus back to his family. Never mind. There’s a "terror alert" about his "princess bride" in the current issue of Vanity Fair.

Well, they say politics makes strange bedfellows.

We Owe Them

I’m a policy wonk but it’s rare that a congressional hearing directly affects me.

Not so with hearings on whether the Environmental Protection Agency downplayed the air quality risks at Ground Zero.

My dear friend Kevin McCrary and I spent countless hours within a few yards of “The Pile.”  Like thousands of volunteers, we wanted to do our part to assist firefighters, recovery and cleanup workers who worked 24/7 in the pulverized gray dust.

As far as I know, Kevin and I are fine. But that’s not the case with thousands of workers and volunteers.

The New York Daily News reports:

We now know the collapse of the twin towers and the fires which burned for months at Ground Zero triggered the worst toxic release our nation has seen: thousands of tons of asbestos, lead, chromium, benzene, PCBs, dioxins, highly-caustic cement dust and hundreds of other dangerous substances.

Nearly six years later, thousands of first responders, recovery workers, residents and downtown workers are sick. Some have died. They are sick and dying in part because Whitman's agency and the Giuliani administration concealed the full extent of the toxic soup in lower Manhattan.

Today, former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman will be hauled before Congress to testify on EPA’s response to 9/11.

The oversight hearing is being convened by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement:

At long-last, the American people will finally have their first opportunity to hear directly from former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and other former government officials -- on the record. Too many questions remain about the federal government’s response to post 9/11 air-quality, why certain decisions were made, and who was ultimately responsible for them. For the thousands that have since become sick, and the several who have died, we owe it to them to determine the absolute truth about what happened.

Whitman is already talking. She "blames former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his staff for not adequately protecting police officers, firefighters and other workers at Ground Zero."

Whitman reportedly said Giuliani “didn't want this image of a city falling apart.”

Well, things fall apart. For many firefighters, it’s the day after 9/11.

Nancy Carbone, executive director of Friends of Firefighters, is acutely aware the need for support is ongoing and is expected to grow.

To ensure firefighters have a community-based safe haven for counseling and therapeutic services, Nancy wants to lease the former firehouse for Engine 204, which was closed four years ago despite community protests.

For info on how you can help Nancy and her team assist the heroes of 9/11, click here.

Giuliani Slipping Into Darkness

As Republican presidential candidates gather for yet another debate, Rudy Giuliani’s slip is starting to show.

In New York, Giuliani “is at the lowest favorability rating he’s had in two years of Siena polls.”  His statewide favorable rating was 53 percent, down from 63 percent in January.  In New York City, 52 percent of voters can’t stand him.

Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for Siena College Research Institute, said:

He has a better chance of being elected president or governor than re-elected mayor.

New Yorkers are organizing truth squads to hasten Giuliani’s inevitable fall.  They include firefighters and family members of  Sept. 11 victims.

Black folks are also Swiftboating the cross-dressing Giuliani.  James C. McIntosh M.D. has written “The Unauthorized Psychoanalysis of Rudy Giuliani.”

Edited by Betty Dopson, co-chair of the Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People, the book takes a hard look at a cold and calculating man who’s better suited for the nut house than the White House.

These citizen-generated voter education initiatives are telling the underreported stories of the Vietnam-era chickenhawk who's masquerading as a defender of the homeland.

Giuliani Whacked

The “Funding Father” of the conservative movement, Richard A. Viguerie, has put out a hit on Rudy Giuliani.

Pundits declared Giuliani the winner of the South Carolina GOP primary debate for reminding folks he “lived through the attack of September 11.”

And Giuliani has been milking 9/11 ever since.

Fact is, tens of thousands of New Yorkers, who worked or resided in Lower Manhattan, lived through 9/11; thousands, the writer included, volunteered at Ground Zero.

Viguerie is likewise unimpressed with Giuliani’s “heroism”:

If the Republican Party nominates Rudy Giuliani as its candidate for either president or vice president, I will personally work to defeat the GOP ticket in 2008.

Rudy Giuliani is wrong on all of the social issues, is wrong on the Second Amendment, and is pretty much a blank slate on all other issues of importance to conservatives. If the Republican Party nominates him, it is saying to the American people that it has lost all purpose except the raw political desire to hold power. It will be time to put the GOP out of its misery….

It’s Rudy or the GOP. We’re in a political version of “The Survivor,” and both cannot survive politically.

Whack.

Viguerie is not alone in his contempt for Giuliani.  Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family wrote:

Is Rudy Giuliani presidential timber? I think not. Can we really trust a chief executive who waffles and feigns support for policies that run contrary to his alleged beliefs? Of greater concern is how he would function in office. Will we learn after it is too late just what the former mayor really thinks? What we know about him already is troubling enough.

One more question: Shouldn't the American people be able to expect a certain decorum and dignity from the man who occupies the White House? On this measure, as well, Giuliani fails miserably. Much has been written in the blogosphere about his three public appearances in drag. In each instance, he tried to be funny by dressing like a woman. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan, who loved a good joke, doing something so ignoble in pursuit of a cheap guffaw? Not on your life.

Whack.  Whack.

Rudy’s Folly

Rudy Giuliani’s fulsome defense of abortion rights (and here) is vintage Giuliani: arrogant and self-righteous.

I’m pro-choice but as a former GOP activist, I know the Republican base is rabidly anti-abortion.

Giuliani’s message to Republican primary voters: Fuhgedaboutit.

Concern about abortion and other social issues is so 9/10. The only life you should be concerned about is your own. Vote for me and I will protect you from terrorists and violent criminals.

Never mind that Giuliani was mayor of New York on 9/11 (and here).

On "Fox News Sunday," Giuliani again took credit for the dramatic reduction in violent crime in New York City:

But the reality is I began with the city that was the crime capital of America. When I left, it was the safest large city in America.

I reduced homicides by 67 percent. I reduced overall crime by 57 percent. And you don't do that by not aggressively enforcing the laws.

The reality is the foundation for the massive reduction in crime was laid by Giuliani's predecessors, Ed Koch and David Dinkins (and here).

During the Dinkins' administration, 8,000 more cops were hired under the Safe Streets, Safe City program funded with an income-tax surcharge.

Also, President Clinton’s COPS Initiative provided funding for 100,000 new police officers, of which the NYPD received funding for 3,000 community police officers.

At a recent conference, “The Roots of Modern Brooklyn: A Look at the 1970s & 1980s,” speaker after speaker acknowledged the role of community organizers – “people power” – in reviving struggling neighborhoods and turning around the city’s fortunes.

In the mayoral elections of 1985, 1989 and 1993 voters had one overarching demand: More cops, more cops, more cops.

Koch, author of “Giuliani: Nasty Man,” plans to hit the road and set the record straight about "America’s mayor":

I thought he was a good mayor, but he wasn’t a great mayor because he didn’t like people. He wouldn’t meet with people he didn’t agree with . . . that’s pretty crazy.

He was imbued with the thought that if he was right, it was like a God-given right. That’s not what we need in a president. We need a strong president, but somebody who listens.

So, is it Giuliani time? Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan doesn’t think so.  Buchanan wrote:

A Rudy nomination would bring the culture war right down onto the floor of the Republican convention. For Rudy is not only pro-choice on abortion, he has supported affirmative action, favored amnesty for illegals, turned New York into a sanctuary city where the NYPD was forbidden to ask arrestees their immigration status, has championed gay rights, marched in gay pride parades -- once not all that far behind the big float of the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

He is thrice married, and he used to bring his main squeeze into Gracie Mansion while still married to the mother of his son. When she threw him out, he was taken in by a couple of gay friends.

And Rudy is now suiting up to lead the family values party into battle? Dr. Dobson, call your office.

Nurse.