There is something deranged about you ... this excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness ... you should go consult a psychologist or a psychiatrist with this excessive concern, how you are devoting your life to weasels. You need somebody to help you. There are people in this city and in this world that need a lot of help. Something has gone wrong with you.

-- New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on his radio show, to a ferret advocate, after imposing New York's 2001 ferret ban

The attack on the twin towers blew a hole in downtown Manhattan and in our collective memory. Osama bin Laden and company did a better P.R. job for Giuliani than spin ghouls Hill & Knowlton ever did for Dick Nixon. He made everyone but the most grouchy and resentful New Yorkers [like me --tm] forget that before planes crashed into the World Trade Center, Rudy was a hyper-authoritarian narcissist with a lust for overkill verging on the sociopathic.

And now, at a time when the machinations of another hubristic bully have brought an unprecedented expansion of the powers of the presidency, "America's Mayor" may be our next chief executive. He is neck and neck with John McCain when Americans are asked their preference for the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is alarming to think that the murky dealings and totalitarian tendencies that have marred the current administration could flourish even more under another control-junkie Republican. It is even more frightening to think what a commander in chief who already has a violent record of abusing authority could do with the unrestrained might of a geopolitical superpower. Given Giuliani's historic willingness to take Spanish Inquisition-style action against threats both real and imaginary, is anyone in doubt that it is every American's duty to keep Rudolph Giuliani as far from the White House as possible?

Rudy Juliani is an idiot. He doesn't realize that al Qaeda is fighting against the Iraqi Shiite majority who are already aligned with Iran. What a putz. His authoritarian tendencies and complete ignorance about Iraq make him the perfect successor to Bush. But since he doesn't think boys who kiss other boys should be burned at the stake, he may not get the nomination.

DP: So you don't think we should leave Iraq?

RG: I think...I don't think we should leave Iraq, certainly not under the present situation that Iraq is in, and with the consequences that would flow from leaving Iraq. I think this is a question of if...if we were to walk out of Iraq, it would satisfy a certain degree of public opinion right now, and I think within six months or a year, the people who made that decision would be very much...would regret it, and I think the American people would, because the terrorists understand how important Iraq is. They are putting tremendous resources into defeating us in Iraq. If they defeat us in Iraq, Iran all of a sudden has a very established strong neighbor that's an ally. You have a place that can be a breeding ground of terrorism. And the reality is, it will make the terrorist movement that much stronger. And I think that we have to figure out, as the President is doing now, I think in a very deliberate way, what's a better strategy, how do we succeed in Iraq, what can we learn from the mistakes we may have made, and then as we go forward, do a better job of creating a stable situation in Iraq. But the idea of leaving Iraq, I think, is a terrible mistake.

Your link is broken. As for the gay issue, he'll sell out his friends and move to the right on that issue if it'll get him elected. But his ignorance of Iraq as revealed in that statement above is staggering--he appears to think, like the new House intelligence chair, that al Qaeda is the same as Hezbollah, and/or is an agent of Iran, and that we're really fighting Iran in Iraq. What a confused man.
- tom moody 12-12-2006 5:21 am

Fixed.

The fact that Christians can't understand how subtle doctrinal distinctions can inspire sectarian blood lust reveals how crappy history education has been in this country for decades.
- mark 12-12-2006 5:47 am

I admit to being more up to speed on all the sectarian divisions and entities after 9/11 than before--but he was the mayor of NY! Wasn't he the least bit curious to know about the main "underground" political organizations that could potentially destroy his city and who they were allied with? He's a professional pol (and multimillion dollar "security expert," supposedly), and I'm just a guy with a computer.
- tom moody 12-12-2006 6:46 am