‘He looks like a guy who would have been a great hunter’

June 7, 2007

Most of the time, I’m absolutely convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, that it’s literally impossible for Rudy Giuliani to get the Republican nomination. It simply defies comprehension. He supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control. He claims to be an expert on national security matters, but knows nothing about the issue. His foreign policy answers are child-like. He’s inexplicably endorsed Bush’s Iraq policy. He’s a notorious adulterer who marched in a parade with his mistress and told his second wife he was seeking a divorce by way of a press conference.

By any reasonable measure, this guy has about as much chance at getting the GOP nomination as I do. But then, there’s the media. Digby noted this gem from Hardball the other day.

FINEMAN: He doesn’t — he looks like a guy who, if he had had the opportunity to grow up as a hunter, would have been a great one.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

FINEMAN: He just gives off the aura of a guy who wouldn’t be afraid to use a gun, you know? That’s just — and that’s the record that he had in New York.

Just mull that over for a moment. Two well-paid media professionals, from major news outlets (Newsweek and NBC) told a national television audience that Giuliani “looks like” someone who could have been a “great” hunter.

I mean, really. I’ve heard teenaged girls with crushes on boy bands offer more substantive critiques.

But it’s exactly this kind of media adulation that a) can’t be bought; b) Giuliani hasn’t earned; and c) will keep Giuliani at or near the front of the pack for the rest of the year.

Hilzoy noted this National Review item from Rich Lowry.

Have been talking to some smart people today about Giuliani. Two of them said independently that the appeal of Giuliani is he’d be “a tough SOB — for you,” and that he’d be “a d—head — for you.” Another said…that a Giuliani supporter he knows considers the nasty divorce a kind of asset because it speaks to his toughness.

Got that? His biggest weaknesses are really strengths because his fans prefer to think about him that way.

Without this kind of media, Giuliani would have no shot whatsoever. With it, well, I shudder to think how far he can go.

I agree with Fineman and Matthews: Rudy would be a GREAT hunter, just like Dick Cheney. Shooting farm raised quail and friends, maybe even fish in a barrel.

  • Shorter Fineman:

    I got nuthin’.

    And speaking of nuthin’ when I hear well-paid boobs like this Dire Straits’ Money for Nuthin’ gets stuck in my head.

    But maybe Gypsy Rudy Lee and Willard Mittens Romney can have a hunt-off to prove who is the mighter hunter. Dick “Duck!” Cheney would be the ref.

  • Oh Roodee why didn’t you volunteer for duty in the Vietnam war unlike the poor folks who were drafted if you were so tough?

  • I expect that when Fred Thompson officially gets into the race, the hormonally adolescent media will fling themselves at him, and Rudy will be left trying to figure out why he’s no longer their darling.

    I’m actually more worried about Thompson than I am about Rudy – Thompson is putting together a very Rovian staff: Tim Griffin, Larry Lindsay, Victoria Toensing (which means Joe diGenova can’t be far behind), to name a few (but if Tim Griffin ends up in the middle of a “caging” investigation, this could be bad news for Thompson).

    As depressing as it is to contemplate the candidates, the media’s performance so far is abysmal, and I don’t expect it to improve. This kind of cocktail-party, back-room, superficial chit chat that seems to pass for journalism is nearly as much of a threat to the electoral process as the vote-stealers.

  • Okay, give…

    At what point can an MSM outlet be considered no longer MS?

    And just for the record, we shouldn’t get our news from blogs….WHY? Stick with Paris Hilton footage, boys… You’re getting your signals crossed.

  • Is any of this news? Didn’t Bush get in because the media told us we’d like to have a beer with him and that Gore was boring? “Rudy: He’d be your kind of man if he was your kind of man.” Works for me.

  • This is what happens when you have 24 Hr news cycles, and only enough news to make about 2 hrs worth. You get airheads who can prattle away like baseball announcers spewing every stupid thing that comes into their heads.

    We should grab every one of the bobbleheads and tattoo on their foreheads “Infotainment is not journalism”.

  • The funny thing is that I think Fineman is wrong. I think he gives the aura, like GWB, of being a scared man who feigns toughness.

    The guy was so brave about himself he had the world’s worst combover for like 20 years. Case closed.

  • how do we rid ourselves of these rancid media clowns. here’s another tweety/fineman exchange from last week. why these middle aged men don’t die of embarrassment when they view the tape, is beyond me. i bet their kids have taken their mothers’ names…:

    FINEMAN: I mean, “commanding daddy” is not the phrase I would use because “daddy” implies some generosity of spirit.

    MATTHEWS: Yes.

    FINEMAN: What‘s appealing about Rudy Giuliani is not the generous side, what‘s appealing about him is the tough cop side.

    MATTHEWS: Right. You just wait until daddy gets home.

    FINEMAN: Yes, that part…

    MATTHEWS: That Daddy.

    FINEMAN: … of the daddy. It‘s the tough cop side, so…

    MATTHEWS: Yes. Yes.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18941406/

  • At what point can an MSM outlet be considered no longer MS? — Bill Jacobs, @6

    When it seems to suffer from PMS all month long, with no let-up in sight? Like… now?

  • “as much chance at getting the GOP nomination as I do.” – CB

    Now there’s an interesting idea. Almost worth pursuing. Get all the dull brained lemmings to nominate CB for GOP candidate. I’d donate to that campaign just for the entertainment value!

  • FINEMAN: I mean, “commanding daddy” is not the phrase I would use because “daddy” implies some generosity of spirit.

    Like “Sugar Daddy” I guess.

    Commanding Daddy sounds like the handle for a BDSM top.

  • Conservatism looks more and more “gay” with every analysis of Republican candidates.

    Maybe that’s what we all need to start doing: telling wingnuts that their ideology and their leaders are gay. “You’re just gay for Fred Thompson”, “Brownback looks gay”, “watching Fox News is gay” “bashing gays is soooo gay”….

    That oughta shut ’em up quick!

  • he’d be “a tough SOB — for you,” and that he’d be “a d—head — for you.”

    Wasn’t that what Bush promised? But then it turns out he’s also a stupid SOB and that he gets tough on whoever gets in his way, which will probably include “you” at some point.

    Ask Peggy Noonan how that worked out.

  • FINEMAN: He just gives off the aura of a guy who wouldn’t be afraid to use a gun, you know? That’s just — and that’s the record that he had in New York.

    OH REALLY? From the New Yorker magazine:

    After receiving several deferments as a student, Giuliani applied for an occupational deferment as a law clerk, but his application was rejected. Giuliani appealed their decision, and asked the federal judge he was clerking for to petition the draft board for him. Which the judge did. When his deferment expired in 1970, Giuliani became susceptible to the draft. He received a high number and was never called

    He had the chance to use a gun but was too chicken shit to do so.

  • I think you mean he USED to support gay rights. Lately he’s been backpedaling almost as fast as Romney. Think the Log Cabins will ever notice?

  • “The guy was so brave he had the world’s worst comb over for like 20 years. Case closed.”

    Like the name says:

  • I guess it’s entirely possible, though not definite, that the same media worship he now gets could continue into a general election. At the same time, his record is so awful, and the Democrats are surely not too timid to let him of all people get away with it, that even if he does get the nomination, I doubt he’d last long. I originally thought it’d be impossible for him to do so, but that’s because I was underestimating the appeal of the authoritarian, fascist asshole-loving section of the G.O.P. primary voters. Now, I think it’s possible, but I’m not sure it matters.

  • Shorter Fineman: Giuliani is more of an *sshole than any of your candidates.

    Matthews and the rest of the pro-Repub media give me the creeps. They keep using “daddy” in the NAMBLA sense of the word. You guys can sit on “daddy’s” lap all you want, but not me and I hope not a large portion of the voting public.

  • It’s not just the press, it’s the people.

    Conservatives don’t really care about abortion or gay rights; these “issues” are just convenient “reasons” to justify their hatred of other people–pegs to hang their hatred on.

    Rudy channels hatred like a lightning-rod channels lightning. With Rudy, conservatives don’t even *need* “reasons” to hate–they just need to touch Rudy, and they’ll feel that liberating, thrilling lightning course through them, too. With Rudy, “reasons” are irrelevant.

    Your problem is you think there’s anything rational about this. There isn’t.

    Unless he blows up spectacularly, Rudy is the favorite for the nomination, mark my words.

  • Sadly these comments point to exactly the reason Republicans do like Rudy. He touchs that obsession with macho (or seemingly macho), tough on crime, law and order, white males (add to that the 9/11 mystique). So while the comments were fawning, they were also touching on the reason for Rudy’s continue popularity with Republicans.

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