Giuliani’s unlucky streak

July 10, 2007

Earlier this year, as his presidential campaign was just getting off the ground, Rudy Giuliani needed a far-right senator, preferably from the South, who could give his campaign a boost. Such a person could help bolster Giuliani’s conservative bona fides, prove that he could garner institutional support on McCain’s turf, and point to Giuliani’s potential appeal in the region where he’s weakest.

Just such a person stepped up: Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), the same family-values conservative/adulterer who once argued that an extra-marital affair is grounds for resignation. As of yesterday, Vitter was not only Giuliani’s top Senate backer, he was also the regional chairman of Giuliani’s campaign.

Now, is Giuliani responsible for Vitter’s immoral hypocrisy? Of course not. There’s no way one serial adulterer could know about another serial adulterer’s private affairs.

That said, I can’t help but notice that the former NYC mayor has had some remarkably bad luck picking his friends:

* Giuliani inexplicably backed Bernie Kerik, and made him the city’s police commissioner, after he’d been briefed on Kerik’s organized crime connections.

* Thomas Ravenel, the chairman of Giuliani’s presidential campaign in South Carolina, was indicted on cocaine distribution charges.

* Arthur Ravenel, the replacement chairman of Giuliani’s presidential campaign in South Carolina, has characterized the NAACP as the “National Association for Retarded People,” and has an unusual fondness for the Confederate battle flag.

* Alan Placa was accused by a grand jury report of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Giuliani then put Placa, his life-long friend, on the payroll of Giuliani Partners. (Adds Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks suspected priest abuse, “I think Rudy Giuliani has to account for his friendship with a credibly accused child molester.”)

I’ve never seen a presidential candidate have this much bad luck, in such a short period of time, in picking people to be associated with.

Aw! Give the guy a break! Any presidential candidate can have a bad decade or two when it comes to picking people.

  • So, according to Vitter, Guiliani should have resigned because of his extra-marital affair, no?

  • I’m voting for Guiliani just for the entertainment value of the hearings for his cabinet nominees!

  • Arthur Ravenel, the replacement chairman of Giuliani’s presidential campaign in South Carolina, has characterized the NAACP as the “National Association for Retarded People,” and has an unusual fondness for the Confederate battle flag.

    Memo to all black people: when the Republicans tell you how they feel about race and about their racial policies, they are being totally, 100% honest with you. No, seriously. They’re too scared of black people to lie. Like they were too scared of black people to turn fire hoses and dogs on them and beat them back in the day. The race riots scared them straight, and now everything is fixed. And Mark Fuhrman never said “nigger.”

  • Oops. That should be:

    Show me who your friends are, I’ll show you who you are.

  • Something about dogs, fleas, and lying.

    The real story about Vitter isn’t his affair, it’s his constant preaching about family values before he got caught.

    Hyporcisy, thy name is Republican.

  • You’re known by the choices you make. The Real Rudy is the guy everyone thought was a failure as Mayor before 9/11. He’s yourstandard-issue Republican: all image and no reality.

    Vitter is just another in a long line (Gingrich and his wives, Rudy and his wives, McCain and his wives, all the others and their affairs they were involved in at the same time they were leading public campaigns for morality, etc.) who prove that “Republican” is a synonym for “hypocrite.”

    Republicans, “all hat and no cattle”.

  • who prove that “Republican” is a synonym for “hypocrite.”

    …who prove that “Republican” is a synonym for “believes women are chattels.”

  • Vitter: “This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”

    Why is it I want to throw up any time I hear a Republican say anything?

  • Yeah, but think of the gullible fools who vote for them. P.T.Barnum’s eternal maxim coined over one hundred years ago is still so pertinent: there really is a sucker (gullible Republican fool voter) born every minute.

  • What’s really fun with Vitter’s statement is that he makes it appear that he is guilty of only one indiscretion. Including his run-in with the D.C. madam, he’s now counting two notches on his belt. Go visit Glenn Greenwald’s site for a nice synopsis of what he was doing when running for Governor. Also note that for someone who is supposed to be morally against gambling, that some of his money came from Jack Abramoff and his associated gambling interests.

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