The NY Times announced their endorsements for the primary elections today picking Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and begrudgingly choosing John McCain for Republican nomination. They gave a pretty glowing review of Obama in Clinton’s endorsement as well. All of this was not surprising, it was actually pretty expected. What WAS surprising was how intensely then went after Giuliani who they endorsed just a decade ago…

Why, as a New York-based paper, are we not backing Rudolph Giuliani? Why not choose the man we endorsed for re-election in 1997 after a first term in which he showed that a dirty, dangerous, supposedly ungovernable city could become clean, safe and orderly? What about the man who stood fast on Sept. 11, when others, including President Bush, went AWOL?
That man is not running for president.
The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.
Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking. When he claims fiscal prudence, we remember how he ran through surpluses without a thought to the inevitable downturn and bequeathed huge deficits to his successor. He fired Police Commissioner William Bratton, the architect of the drop in crime, because he couldn’t share the limelight. He later gave the job to Bernard Kerik, who has now been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.
The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city’s and the country’s nightmare to promote his presidential campaign.

Oh snap. That is pretty intense. I don’t think Giuliani has much of a chance, but it is still pretty amazing that the Times would have the balls to go after him like that. It is good to see that Fox News and Keith Olbermann aren’t the only ones with some bite in mainstream media. The one good thing that would come from Giuliani being president would be all the great Punk flyers and album covers that would be made from the photos of him in drag….

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