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Giuliani Channels Karl Rove
Rudy Giuliani has just shown that he is as much a lying fearmonger as Karl Rove or any other Bush administration toady. From Politico:
Rudy Giuliani said if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, America will be at risk for another terrorist attack on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001.
But if a Republican is elected, he said, especially if it is him, terrorist attacks can be anticipated and stopped.
“If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it,†Giuliani said.
Ummmm...let's review some history, Rudy. Ronald Reagan and the elected Bush both SUPPORTED the Muslim fanatics that evolved into al-Qaeda. Bill Clinton is the one who first recognized them as a threat and tried to get them. The attack he ordered after the bombing of the USS Coles hit the location where bin Laden had JUST LEFT. The Clinton administration PREVENTED the millenium attacks. Clinton was so focused on getting al-Qaeda that the Republicans called him "obsessed" with al-Qaeda and he TOLD Bush that al-Qaeda would be the number one focus of Bush's administration.
Now let's look at Bush's administration: he ignored the warnings, let 9/11 happened, and he has consistently ignored the continuing al-Qaeda threat and instead invaded Iraq, a nation with absolutely NO TIES to al-Qaeda before we invaded. Experts around the world agree that we are LESS SAFE THAN EVER because of Bush's failed foreign policy.
So, Republicans SUPPORTED the groups that became al-Qaeda, Clinton attacked al-Qaeda, Bush ignored them, allowing them to attack America. So WHICH party is more likely to stop an attack, the Democrats who were "obsessed" with stopping al-Qaeda or the Republicans who supported and then ignored them?
And while we are at it, let's not forget something about Rudy himself. Rudy Giuliani wants us all to think of him as the 9/11 candidate, but the TRUE heroes of 9/11, the firefighters, detest the man, refusing to even invite him to a presidential candidate's forum that ALL the other candidates, Republican AND Democratic, were invited to. Personally, I would rather support our firefighters than the lying chickenhawk Giuliani who seems ready to repeat all the worst mistakes of the Bush administration. America wants change. Both McCain and Giuliani have shown that they represent more of the same old failures.
Giuliani's tactics are not thoughtless
It might not appeal to you, but perhaps Mr. Giuliani's pitch is aimed at others. There are still many people in the the US who see the GOP as a party of National Security. While I (and maybe you) think that's a falsehood; it's a falsehood with legs. We need to do better, in my view, in reaching out to those vulnerable to these sorts of canards. There is still some support out there for the right-wing story.
Myths
There are three major myths out there that need to be countered:
The Republicans are the party of morality (the unprecedented levels of Republican scandals disprove that)
The Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility (I dealt with THAT myth here)
and
The Republicans are the party of national security (which I address repeatedly, most recently here).
These are all lies...myths. These myths HURT America. Giuliani is LYING to America. We need to call him on his lies.