The NYT quotes an AP interview:
“There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik,” Mr. Giuliani said in the interview. “But what’s the ultimate result for the people of New York City? The ultimate result for the people of New York City was a 74 percent reduction in shootings, a 60 percent reduction in crime, a correction program that went from being one of the worst in the country to one that was on ‘60 Minutes’ as one of the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails.”
Here you have the mistake that seems inherent in Rudi's make up, no matter what the outcome of Rudi's appointment of Bernie Kerik, the gaping wound is a NY Police Commissioner who was crooked. The 74% reductions in shootings is not the definition of NYC Police, corruption is, it was rotten at the top, it was what it supposedly fought. The information gained from torture, whatever its reliability - little - is not the definition of the policy it is a matter of it defining us as who we are supposedly fighting. The infringement of civil liberties in the name of protecting liberty may produce security, but it is also defined as tyranny.
Rudi is dangerous, not because I disagree with his social policies or economic policies, but because he represents the worst of the Republican authoritarian impulses. While the Republicans may with a certain justification accuse Democrats of trying to establish a nanny state, their "daddy knows best" leads to the establishment of the Fatherland - an outcome to be opposed tooth and nail in the electoral and judicial arenas. Once that 'goal' is reached, opposition will devolve to the streets with arms, and that is chaos. Two hundred and thirty years ago the guns would have been sounding by now, this is worse than many realize.
1 comment:
This is the typical unrepentent egomania we expect from Rudi. He's never REALLY wrong, is he? No thanks, but I've had my fill of this swill with Prez "W."
Aside from his pretentions of fascism, my main beef with Giuliani is my same beef with Clinton--I'm tired of no-holds-barred, ends-justify-the-means self-righteousness and divisive, cut-throast politics. Enough already!
A great piece in this month's Atlantic Monthly neatly sums up the problem by linking our shrill political environment back to the cultural rift of the late 60s and points out how the two shrillest camps we have today came out of the two most visible stereotypical camps of the 60s/Vietnam era. I'm ready for something else.
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