Giuliani: A Review of His Mayoral Years

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 06:54:00 AM EST
Tags: Rudy Giuliani (all tags)

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I watched the documentary Giuliani Time last night. It chronicles Rudy's years as Mayor of New York.

The film nicely debunks the perception that he was responsible for the drop in New York City's crime rate and adequately establishes that "Broken Windows" policing has never been shown to reduce serious crime.

It does a great job of explaining his misguided welfare policy. He called it a work for jobs program but it failed to train people for real jobs and instead made them work for their welfare payment at menial jobs without wages and with no hope of a job or advancement or skills at the end of the term. His policy ended up increasing the number of homeless (he shuttled them into shelters or the outlying boroughs to make it appear to tourists and Manhattan residents they had decreased in number)and it forced some who were attending school to drop out and sweep streets in order not to lose their financial assistance. At the same time his administration doled out corporate welfare by the millions.

The film also adeptly and accurately, in my view, portrays Rudy's atrocious record on civil liberties, from busting the homeless, squeegee men and turnstile jumpers to authorizing massive stop and frisk policies that targeted minorities on the flimsy justification they were going to confiscate weapons, to his frequently overturned first amendment crackdowns.

More...

The film is less partisan than I thought it would be -- there are plenty of instances of Rudy and others defending his misbegotten policies.

It ends with September 11, so it doesn't even get into how exaggerated the praise for his leadership was or his Bernie Kerik and other judgmental lapses.

Nonetheless, it shows enough to convince that he would be the worst possible choice for President in 2008.

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Giuliani: A Review of His Mayoral Years | 9 comments (9 topical)

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perhaps, but that didn't keep us from (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:16:08 AM EST

getting bush in 2000 & 2004.

by 2004, bush's fatal flaws, both personality and intellect wise, were nationally known commodities. in spite of that, here we stand, at year's end, 2007, with this tragically incompetent man still in the oval office.

the members of the choir already know of hizzonor's glaring ineptitude, and low budget ethics. the hard core followers won't care, it'll just add to his "charisma" factor, in the warped cortex of their brains. the undecideds are the real targets, and i'm yet convinced they have the energy left to watch/listen/read.

of course, by comparison to messrs. huckabee, paul and thompson, giuliani comes off looking nearly benign.

My review of the Guliani years..... (none / 0) (#2)
by kdog on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 10:42:45 AM EST

Most of my friends, and myself, have arrest records as a result.

My impression is that the police (none / 0) (#3)
by JSN on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 11:15:29 AM EST

are arresting more people because of a reduction in response time and because they can do a real time criminal records check and arrest persons with outstanding warrants. The problem is there does not seem to be a good mechanism for flushing the data system of old inactive warrants.

The homicide rate fell all over the county (at about the same time) but it fell faster and further in New York so I think Bratton did make a difference and it appears he is making a difference in LA.

Bratton first applied the "broken windows model" to the NY subway system evidently with good results. The term is a code word for a range of techniques and not all of them are used. Police departments pick out a few of the techniques and try them with varying results. Local circumstances make a big difference.

What I see is the police and the Dept. of Corrections putting pressure on the social service agencies to provide services to people who really need help. If the did not do so the agencies would avoid those folks because they live in a tough neighborhood.

I thought you had a typo in your title, Jeralyn (none / 0) (#4)
by Edger on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 12:07:39 PM EST

And that it should read "Giuliani: A Review of His Amoral Years", but on reflection it's the same thing, so you had it right the first time. ;-)

: Actually (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by chemoelectric on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:02:15 PM EST

A review of Giuliani's amoral years would be the same thing as a full biography, no?

Just remember - he's still not out of it (none / 0) (#6)
by scribe on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:20:22 PM EST

from this article, sobering news for the Rudy-haters out there:

Consider some basic facts: There are 29 states that hold primaries or caucuses between now and Feb. 5, which combined offer a total 1,313 delegates - or 122 more than a Republican needs to win the nomination.
In the 24 states that have conducted public polling, Giuliani remains ahead in 13 - many of them big, winner-take-all states such as New York, New Jersey and Missouri.
Romney and Huckabee, by contrast, are front-runners in only four states each. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson leads in two, and Arizona Sen. John McCain can claim top billing only in West Virginia, polls show.
The bottom line? If Giuliani wins every state where the most recent polls showed him still ahead, he'll end next month with some 758 delegates.
Using the same standard, Huckabee will end the month with only 170 delegates and Romney with 112, while McCain and Thompson will trail with fewer than 100 each.
. . .
[I]t's less likely any one candidate will work up a real head of steam, now that Huckabee - to Giuliani's utter delight - appears to have stymied Romney in Iowa and South Carolina, according to polls.
... "If one candidate sweeps these early primary states, it becomes awfully tough for Rudy to catch up. But if two or three candidates are each winning a state or two, his approach makes a huge amount of sense."
"In that regard, Mike Huckabee is to Rudy Giuliani what Paulie Walnuts is to Tony Soprano," .... "He's a hired gun, and if he does his job right, he does Rudy's dirty work for him."

So, there's no time like the present for throwing Rudy some more anchors from his past.

Yes (none / 0) (#7)
by squeaky on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:39:10 PM EST

Many Americans want an a$$hole lying egomaniac to lead them into world domination, no kidding. They voted the swaggering cowboy idiot in for two terms.

It is a mistake to overestimate the voting public.


You talking about (none / 0) (#8)
by Wile ECoyote on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 03:52:18 PM EST

evil Rudy or his evil twin Hillary?


: There You Go (none / 0) (#9)
by squeaky on Wed Dec 26, 2007 at 04:00:23 PM EST

A perfect example of one of the many voters who crave a macho, authoritarian, them against us warmonger, to conquer the universe.