GIULIANI TO RUN FOR US PRESIDENCY; THOUGHTS?

[Professional Cynic]

So. I'm not much for political argu-, I mean, discussions.

However, I saw something interesting tonight on the news: it seems that Rudolph Giuliani really is going to make a run for the American presidency.

Any thoughts on this? Generally I hate politicians across the board. However, I find myself curiously fond of Giuliani. Sometimes. Slightly. This worries me.

[Twilight Girl]

Being from the usa I can personally say he was a big hero during 9/11 but now his party isn't all that hot, and if this madness of bulying politics continues and lack of compassion towards the poor and sick for medical research and funding and all that, and wars, we're in deeper S*** than we already are!

[Carmine A.]

Giuliani revived New York City from near death, even before 9/11.

Giuliani will not only be elected President, but will also be a great President.

[Guest]

So. I'm not much for political argu-, I mean, discussions.

However, I saw something interesting tonight on the news: it seems that Rudolph Giuliani really is going to make a run for the American presidency.

Any thoughts on this? Generally I hate politicians across the board. However, I find myself curiously fond of Giuliani. Sometimes. Slightly. This worries me.

mmmmmmmm

[Guest]

So. I'm not much for political argu-, I mean, discussions.

However, I saw something interesting tonight on the news: it seems that Rudolph Giuliani really is going to make a run for the American presidency.

Any thoughts on this? Generally I hate politicians across the board. However, I find myself curiously fond of Giuliani. Sometimes. Slightly. This worries me.

mmmmmmmm

Was that a thoughtful "mmmmmmm"?

Or "mmmmm" as in YUM?

Or are you just trying to hum?

I agree with Twilight about the Republican party, but I did a little research into Giuliani and discovered that he is an odd Republican, being as how he is in favor of gay marriage, abortion choice and gun control.

Food for thought....

[Guest]

So. I'm not much for political argu-, I mean, discussions.

However, I saw something interesting tonight on the news: it seems that Rudolph Giuliani really is going to make a run for the American presidency.

Any thoughts on this? Generally I hate politicians across the board. However, I find myself curiously fond of Giuliani. Sometimes. Slightly. This worries me.

mmmmmmmm

Was that a thoughtful "mmmmmmm"?

Or "mmmmm" as in YUM?

Or are you just trying to hum?

I agree with Twilight about the Republican party, but I did a little research into Giuliani and discovered that he is an odd Republican, being as how he is in favor of gay marriage, abortion choice and gun control.

Food for thought....

Yes, in other words he's not really a Republican. I would consider voting for him. He has no foreign policy experience, to my knowledge, which is a problem, but overall he's a popular candidate across party lines.

[humana]

I question this race to popularity on the basis of a guy who was at the right time and in the right place. Mr. Giuliani was a mayor of a city. We love him because he was a local boy who made good on 9/11. This in no way qualifies him to run a country, and it certainly gives him no foreign policy experience in a time when the US is hopelessly in need of someone who can repair the damage done by the former owner of the baseball Texas Rangers.

He will never garner the African American vote. Giuliani was in charge of New York City when he set in motion (or at least, encouraged) the aggressive police tactics that lead to the brutal murder of Amadou Diallo by police operatives. This is not the kind of example that the US wants to put before the world.

[mundheim]

I question this race to popularity on the basis of a guy who was at the right time and in the right place. Mr. Giuliani was a mayor of a city. We love him because he was a local boy who made good on 9/11. This in no way qualifies him to run a country, and it certainly gives him no foreign policy experience in a time when the US is hopelessly in need of someone who can repair the damage done by the former owner of the baseball Texas Rangers.

He will never garner the African American vote. Giuliani was in charge of New York City when he set in motion (or at least, encouraged) the aggressive police tactics that lead to the brutal murder of Amadou Diallo by police operatives. This is not the kind of example that the US wants to put before the world.

You obviously don't live in New York City and don't know much about American history, particularly the history of the Presidency.

Giuliani was a highly effective and popular Mayor of New York City before 9/11, which only made his popularity national.

You are wrong that Giuliani "set in motion (or at least, encouraged) the aggressive police tactics that lead to the brutal murder of Amadou Diallo by police operatives." Yes, Giuliani did institute more aggressive police tactics, but the Diallo killing could have happened under any Mayor because it was fact-specific. And Diallo was killed by New York City police officers, not "operatives."

You are correct that Giuliani "will never garner the African American vote." The reason has nothing to do with Giuliani's tenure as Mayor and everything to do with Giuliani being a Republican. Blacks throughout the United States vote monolithically Democratic, i.e., above 85% and even as high as 90%. Nonetheless, in the 40 year period between 1968 and 2008, the President was Republican for 28 of those years and Democrat only 12 of those years. Giuliani does not expect or need the black vote to win the 2008 Presidential election.

If blacks judged Giuliani fairly based on what he did as Mayor of New York, they would vote for him in droves. Giuliani cut the murder rate in New York City by 50%, i.e., from more than 2,000 homicides annually to under 1,000, and he cut violent crime as significantly. Although the number of blacks convicted of murder and violent crime throughout the United States was and remains disproportionately higher than the black population, the majority of victims of murder and violent crime are also black. Giuliani is thus responsible for saving a couple thousand lives of blacks who would have been murdered. Giuliani also made poor black and other minority neighborhoods safe for people to walk in the streets at night and go to work, reviving the black middle class in New York City.

A President does not need "foreign policy experience." That's why there is a Cabinet and myriad foreign policy advisers in every Administration. Very few Presidents had foreign policy experience before being elected President because most recent Presidents were previously State Governors.

That said, Giuliani has more "foreign policy experience" as Mayor of the most diverse city in the world, which is also home to the United Nations headquarters, than Bill Clinton had being Governor of Arkansas or Ronald Reagan had being Governor of California or Jimmy Carter had being Governor of Georgia. As Mayor of New York City, Giuliani routinely met foreign leaders and foreign dignitaries that Bill Clinton never met as Governor of Arkansas.

[Guest]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blunkett

America should have this man. pease!

[No Malice]

I second that.

[Wandering Englander.]

+ 2

[Guest]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Blunkett

America should have this man. pease!

Why would America want a British President?

[Guest]

From my point of, the further he is away from Britain the better, but then again perhaps I would not like him as the US President ? The Americans might not either.

[Blond Adult Girl]

If he changes his stance on guns, I'm cool with him.

[THAT_GUEST]

I think he has every right to throw his hat in, but I don't think he actually has a chance of winning, regardless of fund raising. Being the mayor of a major city, isn't the same as holding a Senator's seat or cabinet position for another administration, where domestic national and international policy are the norm of the day. That is the experience he lacks. I don't personally have against the man, but I don't think he will be the next US President.