• President 2008,  Rudy Giuliani

    Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy in LA Today

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    Mayor Rudy Giuliani, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, at the L.A. County Sheriff Headquarters, Monterey Park, California March 5, 2007. Photo By Flap.

    Flap set out this morning to cover Mayor Rudy Giuliani in his appearance with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, the Sheriffs of Orange and Riverside county and other law enforcement officials. The Mayor was there to discuss combating crime and gang violence in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

    Flap arrived at 10:00 for the 9:45 AM scheduled event and waited another ten minutes or so before the photo and then the written press were given brief access for what was a press-free or private meeting between the law enforcement officials. This amounted to a photo opportunity while the law enforcement participants discussed issues with the Mayor, Governor and Sheriffs.

    We were then ushered out and Flap was able to meet up with some of the Mayor’s traveling campaign staff. No time for a Flap interview today but was promised later that one would be afforded him at the earliest opportunity.

    Out in the hot sun all of the press awaited a post-session news conference.

    Here is the video (in two parts) of the news conference:

    Part Two:

    The news conference proceeded and questions were asked. The first was one regarding crime and state funding and the Governor gave a rambling answer promising increased funding for anti-crime programs.

    Then, the press focused its attention on the Mayor.

    Mayor, asked an unnamed reporter, about statements made by your son, Andrew.

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    Rudy and son, Andrew, at Westchester Country Club in 2001

    This is a question in follow-up from the New York Times piece: Noticeably Absent From the Giuliani Campaign: His Children

    AP: Giuliani seeks privacy on family issues

    Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani asked for privacy on Monday to deal with strained relationships within his family, including his son’s complaints about his third wife.

    Campaigning in Southern California, Giuliani faced questions about his family after his son, Andrew, publicly said their relationship had become distant after Giuliani’s messy divorce from Andrew’s mother, Donna Hanover, and his later marriage to Judith Nathan.

    “My wife Judith is a very loving and caring … mother and stepmother. She has done everything she can. The responsibility is mine,” the former New York mayor told reporters gathered outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s headquarters.

    “I believe that these problems with blended families, you know, are challenges — sometimes they are,” he said. “The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties.”

    The New York Times reported last weekend that Andrew Giuliani and his father have recently tried to reconcile after not speaking “for a decent amount of time.” In the Times article, Andrew attributed the strained relationship to Mrs. Giuliani, saying, “There’s obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife.”

    In a statement to ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” Andrew Giuliani said: “I got my values from my mother. She’s a strong influence in my life. She’s a strong woman. I have problems with my father, but that doesn’t mean he won’t make a good president.”

    There was a follow-up question and the news conference ended.

    It was hot in Los Angeles today with clear skies and the temperature around 85 + degrees. So, Flap made his way to the gentlemans to wash his face and heard interesting conversations regarding the Mayor.

    Law enforcement officials including the Sheriff of Orange County, Mike Carona were appalled at the press corp for asking Rudy personal family questions. Words used in the conversations were “morons” referring to the press; they (the press ) build them up (politicians) and then tear them down; this was a “terrible question;” “I think he will be elected President;” The question was “below the belt.”

    These were very interesting observations of California law enforcement officers and voters – social conservatives, one might say, who were disatisfied with the airing of the Mayor’s family life – dirty linen.

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    Mayor Giuliani speaks at post-session news conference. Photo by Flap.

    Analysis:

    For many years it was an unwritten rule in the press to not go after a presidential candidate’s children.

    Has this rule changed?

    It is apparent that the liberal press is pushing the envelope – in order to discredit Giuliani.

    The “POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION?”

    You betcha…….

    This is an intentional attempt to HURT the Mayor and bring him down a notch. And it does HURT him personally.

    Will it hurt Rudy politically?

    Flap does not think it will stick and hurt him.

    After all, there is nothing NEW here.

    However, the New York Times and other media outlets have sunk to a new LOW.

    Hizzoner moved onto fundraising this evening:

    Giuliani, New York City’s mayor from 1994-2001, was also scheduled to attend a $2,300-per-person campaign fund-raiser at the Brentwood home of former ambassador Rockwell Schnable and his wife Marna. According to the entertainment trade newspaper Daily Variety, the event’s co-hosts include actor John O’Hurley and Oscar- and Emmy-nominated screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd.

    Stay tuned……

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    Rudy Giuliani listening to Southern California law enforcement officials. Photo by Flap.

    Previous:

    Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy and the Liberal New York Media

    Giuliani Notes: Arnold and Rudy in California to Fight Gangs on Monday

    Giuliani Notes: Rudy Wins Combo Presidential Straw Poll Vote at CPAC

    Giuliani Notes: Newsweek Poll – Rudy Leads McCain 59% – 34%

    Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Spartanburg Straw Poll

    The Rudy Giuliani Files


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  • President 2008,  Rudy Giuliani

    Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy and the Liberal New York Media

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    Republican presidential hopeful, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gestures while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Friday, March 2, 2007.

    Howard Kurtz: Looking Back to ‘9/10 Rudy,’ and Ahead to 11/’08

    Rudy Giuliani, who is now the Republican presidential front-runner (according to absurdly early polls), has a problem. And it’s not just that he may be too liberal on social issues for GOP primary voters.

    The former mayor’s earliest adversary is the New York press corps, and its depiction of what has come to be dubbed the 9/10 Rudy.

    Every White House contender must deal with a home-state media contingent that knows his or her flaws and foibles. But Giuliani came to power in the nation’s biggest media echo chamber, where hordes of journalists remember his personal and political difficulties before the Sept. 11 attacks gave him a heroic aura.

    “Anyone who lived here at the time remembers the 9/10 Rudy: strong on crime and the economy, yes, but arrogant, bullying, and terrible on race and civil rights. . . . The rest of America sees a far different Rudy,” says a New York Magazine cover story.

    And here it starts the Clinton Cabal and the “POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION.”

    But, will it stick?

    Flap doesn’t think so. Why?

    1. Most voters will know this is a partisan attack from the LEFT

    2. The majority of voters know the “RECORD” of Rudy Giuliani in New York – they have seen it.

    3. Every family has their own problems with divorce, remarriage and children – and these problems are difficult at best. Moreover, by exploiting Giuliani’s family problems, the press will look MEAN and VINDICTIVE.

    The piece circulated by ABC News and summarized in the New York Post is a case in point.

    First, the ABC News piece is inaccurate in that he skipped his son, Andrew’s high school graduation.

    Second, who cares about whether Rudy has visited his son at Duke. My parents never visited me at USC in eight years. I would see them at holidays and assorted weekends. They wrote the checks and I was happy.

    Bringing Rudy’s children into the political arena as the lefty MSM did with President Bush’s daughters is “below the belt” politics.

    Who the feck really cares – except the gossip mongers and the cheap tabloids that William Randolf Hearst who made “YELLOW JOURNALISM” a household word?

    A candidate for President is a politician who brings the vastness of experience and accomplishment to the office. Mayor Giuliani meets the criteria more than the others.

    So, how about the liberal MSM leaving Rudy’s kids alone?

    Go after the Mayor like you did in New York for eight years and characterize him as whatever – mean, short-tempered, thin skinned. Except this time, with the blogs, vetting your biased writing you better attempt to be fair or prepare to be scrutinized yourselves.

    Stay tuned…….

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    Previous:

    Giuliani Notes: Arnold and Rudy in California to Fight Gangs on Monday

    Giuliani Notes: Rudy Wins Combo Presidential Straw Poll Vote at CPAC

    Giuliani Notes: Newsweek Poll – Rudy Leads McCain 59% – 34%

    Rudy Giuliani Watch: The Spartanburg Straw Poll

    The Rudy Giuliani Files


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