Tyranny and Treachery in the time of a President Giuliani

Glenn Greenwald paints a bleak portrait of what a Giuliani Presidency would entail:

A President Giuliani would inherit an office bestowed with such dark powers as indefinite detention, interrogation methods widely considered to be torture, vast warrantless surveillance authority, and an impenetrable wall of secrecy secured by multiple executive and judicial instruments. Set all of that next to a submissive and impotent Congress and an equally supine media—to say nothing of the prospect of another terrorist attack to exacerbate every one of those factors—and it is hard to imagine a more toxic combination than Rudy Giuliani and the Oval Office.

Rudy Giuliani showed he instinctively believes in autocratic leadership during his tenure as mayor of New York. Imagine him as a newly minted President.

Our political landscape has now tilted so heavily in favor of unchecked presidential prerogatives that even a lame duck, wildly unpopular, and universally discredited George W. Bush is rarely denied what he wants. With this framework now bolted in place, a newly elected, shrewd, and inherently aggressive Giuliani, whose certainty about his own rightness is matched only by his contempt for those who disagree, could easily run roughshod over any attempts to constrain his actions.

And not to put to fine a point on it, but:

In April, Cato Institute’s president, Ed Crane, asked several candidates if they believed the president should have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens, on U.S. soil, and detain them with no review of any kind. National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru reported Giuliani’s response: “The mayor said that he would want to use this authority infrequently.”

In aggressively rejecting that such a power could exist Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive.” Yet Giuliani’s instinct was to assume that he would automatically possess that tyrannical power.

When you are far to the right of Justice Scalia and he considers you out-of-bounds you have crossed the threshold of tyranny. Plainly. And simply.

Vote for Rudy at your own peril.

Rudy on Offense

A Nod's as Good as a Wink ...

Andrew Sullivan opines sweetly about a John McCain candidacy. John Cole disagrees.

I believe anyone who voted for the Military Commissions Act should be closely scrutinized as to qualification to be President. An argument can be made that this legislation would allow the President to hold an American citizen—that he or she deems a terrorist, and taken into custody on American soil—without the right to challenge that detention in a court of law. In other words if the President says you are a terrorist you have NO Civil Rights. Habeas Corpus has effectively been suspended under certain circumstances. Period. None. Nada. This provision of the Act has not been tested in a court of law so we don’t know if it would withstand scrutiny in a court of law … And, as exciting as the thought of Tom Delay being frog marched in shackles—never to be heard from again—is to me, I wouldn’t want it to happen to people I like. So … I guess … I’ll just leave that possibility to my dark, fetid fantasy world.

The Gelding, formerly know as the Maverick,John McCain voted for that legislation. Since he decided he wanted to be President. Again. The Gelding chose the Rovian path of 50% + 1 vote path to the White House. That really broke my heart and he lost my respect when he began this ridiculous trek.

I don’t agree with McCain on many issues that are important to me, but I always thought he would be a good President. These flip-flop’s on war, prisoner treatment, and such, have convinced he would not be a President I could be proud of. The only way I can see myself voting for him is if HRC is the Democratic candidate. Other than that I can’t pull the lever for him.

Of course it could be worse. HRC on one side and Rudy on the other, could quite easily be the signal that the American Dream is on its death bed and life support is being removed from the now terminal patient. But, don’t call me paranoid! One of them could not tell the simple truth if waterboarded and the other would allow your local jack-booted thugs to waterboard you for a traffic ticket. Jesus! Is it really getting that bad? Not yet. Not yet.

But … a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse.

The Small Man in Search of a Balcony

Am I stalking Andrew Sullivan? Well, not exactly but he is one clever fellow and I love his blog--even when he's wrong. Or, as others might like to put it--when we have differing opinions. What? Let's call a spade a spade--Sullivan has a great blog and you don't have to agree with him on everything to enjoy the read. In a recent post he referred to Rudy Giuliani as "the small man in search of a balcony." Henceforth, so long as this blog breathes Rudy will the know as: The Small Man in Search of a Balcony. I find this extremely amusing, and I get to be the Decider here. At least for now.

Leadership vs. Management

In this post about Fred Thompson; Andrew Sullivan links to this ABCNews.com piece by Jake Tapper and Katie Hinman. He highlighted the final paragraph and Thompson's apparent "humble Christianity." Interesting. But several paragraphs earlier Thompson took a swipe at Rudy and Mitt:

Asked about his lack of executive experience that Giuliani had as a mayor or Romney had as a governor, he said, "Management's important, but leadership is more important. Managers are people who leaders hire."

In today's NYT this article about a NYC public golf course boondoggle begun during Rudy's "management" tenure should give anyone second thoughts about his actual skill level. A little taste of Rudy's "management" experience:

The $84 million Ferry Point Golf Course, planned for a former municipal landfill in the east Bronx near the Whitestone Bridge, has been under construction for seven years. But even now there is no grass or trees, and the area frequently smells of the methane gas produced by the rotting garbage beneath it.

Plans for the course were first announced in 1998 by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. It was supposed to have been built at a cost of $22.4 million, and to have opened in 2001. The hope was that it would one day serve as host to the United States Open and other premier tournaments.

But the site — 222 acres in the Throgs Neck neighborhood with views of the Manhattan skyline — has been plagued by problems including the discovery of high levels of methane gas, as well as arsenic, lead and other toxic substances.

Whoopee! With Rudy we get: More Spending! More Endless War! More Abrogation of the 4th Amendment! More Imperial Presidency! Cazart!

I can hardly wait.

Misunderstanding Torture

The Khmer Rouge practiced torture as an exquisite and horrifying method of subjugating even the mildest forms for dissent. Waterboarding was a regular treat for any dissident who didn't end up in the Killing Fields. What the Khmer Rough knew, and what other state sponsors of torture know, is that torture is NOT an effective means of extracting actionable intelligence. However, it is a highly effective method of terrorizing people who might be sympathetic to the cause of the person, or persons, being tortured. In other words, torture is really only effective as a means of Terrorism. Yes, that is correct. Terrorism. Why does Rudy support Terrorism? Have we become a bunch of self-hating Americans? No! We just hate all the other Americans who hate other Americans for not hating the Fanatic Jihadist enough. Cazart!

Obama Taking No Prisoners

Another journalist proves that Journalism School is not necessarily an institutions of higher learning. This from First Read, MSNBC.com:

Giuliani went after Obama Tuesday, criticizing Obama's plans to meet with the leaders of rogue nations without preconditions. Giuliani, speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition, took issue with Obama's claims that meeting with leaders like Hugo Chavez is akin to Ronald Reagan's meetings with the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

"I say this most respectfully, you're not Ronald Reagan," Giuliani said, adding the Reagan called the Soviets the "evil empire" and pointed intermediate range missiles at them before calling for negotiations. "He made sure this country was negotiating from strength.”

Where to start with this pile of shit? Obama doesn't have "plans" to meet with any rogue leaders. He answered affirmatively to a hypothetical question during the You Tube debate. Obama left the door open to talk to any foreign leader. Jesus H. Christ .. why is that so difficult to grasp? He does NOT have plans. He would consider it part of his Foreign Policy to talk to Foreign Heads of State.

Here's the Obama Campaign response to Rudy:

While Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton do not think we should engage in the type of strong diplomacy practiced by Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy, Obama does. And given the hefty fee that Hugo Chavez's oil company paid Rudy Giuliani's firm, he apparently thinks we shouldn't talk to Chavez, but it's fine to take his money.

Fuck me to tears, I believe that's called a twofer.

(h/t Think On These Things)

He's NOT my Mayor

Brave New Films takes down the Real Rudy and debunks the myth of his 9/11 heroism.

Phony? That would be too kind for this lying skunk. It may not be enough to call Rudy a liar. Rudy makes Nixon look like a dissembling fool. Rudy's shriveled up little heart should be ripped from his chest and fed to a pack of wild jackals.



Listen to the audience when Giuliani lies to the 9/11 Commission about the radios. If this does not get Rudy put in prison then we have no hope for justice in this country. I am sick of this lying prick and his reliance on his "heroism".

The good news here is that between the Evangelicals who don't like him for their reasons and his out and out lies about the Firefighters on 9/11 we hopefully will not have to deal with this coward anymore.

Hey Rudy the NRA is Calling

I wonder if Rudy would take a cellphone call from the NRA during a speech to the... uh, well, NRA. Maybe not. Now, how do you spell that word that means an obsession with doing extravagant or grand things? Let me give it a shot ... m-e-g-a-l-o-m-a-n-i-a, megalomania. Did I get it right?