As the twin towers shook, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani recalled, "Spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said, 'Thank God George Bush is our president.'"
Maybe, I'm not the best one to decide this ... isn't there something a little sacrilegious about this? Something to make some of the honest religious faithful there a bit uncomfortable? Not that I ever took Rudy as that much of a um ... religious person. It is a bit particular that a twice divorced, pro-choice, pro-gay Catholic isn't booed off the stage given what they did to Kerry.
Of course, as an icon, Rudy is much more untouchable. He didn't continue reading to school children when he heard about a crash into a major landmark. He didn't come to the city a few days after the event. Giuliani earned his respect.
Not that his remarks at the convention, well expressed as they might have been, leads moi to respect him too much. For instance, he compares the rise of Islamic terrorism (Posner aside, "terrorism" per se is just not what we are talking about here) to the rise of Nazism -- noting how little was done to stop it. This is both ironic and just plain wrong. As a product of public and parochial schools in the former mayor's fine city, I learnt how said "little" could be somewhat fairly blamed on his party, given the tendencies of the isolationists of the era.
And, Clinton did plenty (if not enough, arguably) against terrorism, including prosecuting those who placed the bomb in the Towers the first time around. Also, as Richard Clarke notes, a well placed retaliation strike sent a message to Saddam after the Iraqis was deemed to be involved in the assassination attempt against Bush's father. The value of this is seen best by those who separate 9/11 from Iraq. This might be hard to do when we hear that the only alternatives in dealing with Iraq after 9/11 was to do nothing or go to war. Or is this a sign of our President's moral assurance? It gets a bit confusing at times.
My former mayor's encouragement to Bush to be Mr. Tough Guy is both loyal to both of their personalities, and pretty ill advised, especially given what was done thus far. To refer back to the "God" comment, what exactly would have President Gore done differently in response to the attacks? The constant snide sniping by some that he just wouldn't have been man enough (you know, stocked with foreign policy types like Clarke who were just chomping at the bit to go after Al Qaeda, instead of those who wrote letters to Clinton suggesting the way to deal with the current situation was to overthrow Saddam) or something. Please.
And, don't get me started about all of Guiliani's social liberal beliefs (along with the rest, including Gov. Arnold aka Mr. Libertine, who's got into power because the party decided to change the rules) conveniently put aside.
Anyway, I checked the scene of the crime today, and nothing too much was happening (this was circa six o'clock at night, probably not a great time). I did have a better time checking out Madison Square Park, which is about a half mile away at 23rd and Madison. It's a nice public space, very Republican friendly (statutes of David Farragut, Roscoe Conkling, and William Seward) with places to relax, play areas for the children, fountains, and a dog run. Many benches to read your Republican literature. There is even a place to buy ice cream, hamburgers, and the like.
Close your eyes and imagine a bit, and you wouldn't even know you were in the den of Satan.