All You Need To Know: About Rudy Giuliani

I know there are those who buy into the whole "Rudy Giuliani is America's Mayor" thing, just like there are people who still think that John McCain is some political maverick (personally, I think they get him confused with this guy).

But, according to Slate.com's Fred Kaplan, Giuliani is little more than a Ferengi:

It was widely assumed at the time that Baker-Hamilton [aka, the Iraq Study Group] would serve as Bush's vehicle for getting out of—or somehow otherwise resolving—Iraq. And Giuliani, like all other mainstream party members, was still very much in Bush's camp. To be a part of this 10-member panel—to claim the prestige of such august company, to play the role of politico-strategic statesman, and to gain instant credibility on a topic to which he'd previously had no exposure—should have been regarded as an enviable opportunity, both on its own terms and as a boost to his political fortune.


But—given a chance to elevate his standing, serve the country, and get educated on the nation's most pressing issue—Rudy went for the money.

Now I know he came out with an excuse, but it's pretty lame. It's so obvious that Cash Rules Everything Around Him, and he wanted to make sure (in part) that he had the dollars to keep up with the likes of McCain and Mitt Romney.

Ironically, Giuliani would have had a foreign policy "leg up" not only on McCain and Romney but President Bush (who was waiting for the report). He could have used the information gathered there to come up with ideas and solutions that would have made him look like a real visionary. What a shame.

Instead, he's resorted to using 9/11 to scare people into voting for him.