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'Mean Mr. Giuliani' Would Bring Toughness to Washington
by Deroy Murdock In Wednesdays National Review Online, Evans & Novak reporter David Freddoso hammers former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as a man with a mean streak. Freddosos piece recalls some of Giulianis more colorful moments in office including his once saying, If you tell me off, I tell you off -- thats my personality. Freddoso repeats the often-stated myth that Giuliani was hated by the end of his term, until the September 11 terrorist attack rehabilitated his supposedly tattered reputation and rocketed him to global fame and acclaim. On the contrary, a key survey showed that New Yorkers regarded Giuliani very highly less than a month before al-Qaeda agents demolished the Twin Towers. An August 5-12, 2001 poll by the New York Times -- perhaps Giulianis most bitter critic during his eight-year administration -- showed that among 1,353 New Yorkers surveyed, Giuliani was very popular and widely credited for having rescued Gotham from the flames in which he found it in 1994. As Adam Nagourney and Marjorie Connelly reported that August 15: Only 25 percent said they believed that the city would become a worse place to live in the next 10 to 15 years, the lowest percentage since The Times first asked the question 28 years ago. Eight years ago, before Mr. Giuliani was elected, half of city residents were pessimistic about the long-term course of the city. And 4 in 10 said Mr. Giuliani's policies had a lot to do with the improvements. Overall, 55 percent said they approved of the job he was doing, compared with 30 percent who disapproved. So, the man who the conventional wisdom still says would have vanished into a rain of rotten tomatoes had September 11 not occurred, in fact, enjoyed a 55 percent approval rating one month before al-Qaeda struck. Naturally, The West 43rd Street Gazette entombed news of Giulianis popularity in paragraph 30 of Nagourney and Connelleys story -- the very last paragraph. Freddoso does concede that, Maybe a hard, mean man was what New York City needed after decades of feel-good, politically correct thinking had made the place unlivable and nearly ungovernable. This is one reason why Giuliani is exactly the presidential candidate around whom conservatives and libertarians immediately should coalesce. Posted by: ryuge 2007-02-21 |
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