This Isn't Hard, Rudy. You've Actually Done All The Work.
This is starting to get funny, now. In the deep recesses of the Pleistocene Era—which in political time was earlier this month, I posted here about the veritable plethora of enemies laying in the bushes with blowguns at the ready for a target t-shirted Rudy Giuliani.
The bottom line? In spite of Giuliani's pundit-class angels--some of them quite powerful, like the Drudge-pimped pushers of anti-Hillary books, or yes, the "na-na" obsessed, psycho-sexually damaged ex-Altar Boys in the pundit class who love him so, (Wipe yer mouth, Tweety--you've got something on it. You too, L'il Russ.) there is a fucking legion of folks out there who would like nothing better than to forcibly ass-pound this campaign--dry and angrily. And then turn and point at it lying there ruined, while laughing "Yeah... I did that." It's nasty. But true. We're looking, a year-and-a-half-out, at a campaign that could well die the classic "death of a thousand cuts"
Cited how he'd screwed over soooooo many people in his clambering to the top, that he was in effect standing on the still-warm bodies of those he'd used, and then callously discarded. Firefighters, educators, law-enforcement people, media folk, 9-11 survivors, and yes...his own ex-wife and kids. "Death of a thousand cuts" was the phrase that was thrown around as it seemed the long knives were coming out for Rudy. There was no special insight involved in sussing out what was coming not-so-far down the pike. If you lived in New York City, read the papers, or watched the news, knew a municipal union member, or quite simply...was Black, you knew all too well about Giuliani's dirt-doing, and that certain interested folks were looking to shank him pretty badly.
A week later, the karmic wheel turned a notch— and Rudy's scrotum got caught in the gears. Rudy went "Ow-wwwweee!"
(CBS) NEW YORK : The International Association of Firefighters has gone on the offensive against "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani, releasing a 13-minute video that viciously rips into the former New York mayor, who has been using his leadership demonstrated on September 11th to urge people around the country to support him in his quest to become President of the United States. The video, released early Wednesday evening, is titled "Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend," and offers testimonials from various members of the organization and family members of firefighters lost in the terror attacks. “We have the remains of dead heroes at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration and they’re still there today and they won’t remove them,” claims FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches on the DVD, which was released to CBS 2 HD before its public debut.
it was kinda funny to see the point manifest itself so quickly. I even joked about it in the follow-up post, where I goofed about the alleged clairvoyance, saying:
"Aaaaaaaah, I wish it was about my being "right" on what Rudy was gonna face from his "enemies" I ain't that good. So let's get a few things off the table, right now.
I will not give you tomorrow's winning Lotto numbers."
Well...I rescind that last statement about the Lotto numbers—thus, I give you the "Rudyball” graphic at the top of the post. Enjoy, because something is really up here. You see, in the original Rudy/Knives post I actually said the following:
Oooh! Howsabout, if you think the Edwards "I'm So Pretty", and Hillary "1984" video mash-ups were something, just wait 'til you see what a few enterprising New Yorkers who know the stories, have access to the video (it's all over the web), and some simple editing software are gonna toss out there into Rudy's grille.
Zip forward another week, and we find this, via Greg Sargent @ Talking Points Memo:
"Being a New Yorker, I'd remembered that during a cop union rally in 1992, Rudy had come unhinged and screamed, "Bulls#$t!"
For some time now I've been meaning to track video of this moment down. I thought it might tell us something about the reliability and temperament of this man who is asking us to make him our next Commander in Chief -- especially now that he's trying to win the support of GOP "values voters."
Wouldn't you know it, but video of that moment has suddenly surfaced, as if by magic!"
Oh, my. Here is that video.
Looks like some "enterprising New Yorker who knew the stories” did exactly what we suspected one would. Now, what rains down the guffaws after the initial belly-laugh on this is the reaction to the posting of the Giuliani "Bullshit! video, which I came across at TPM Cafe a wee bit later.
It seems that a trio, that could at best be called "Duh-stiny's Child”, consisting of the idiot Malkin, the Night Train-and-peroxide brain-damaged Althouse and "Ace of Spades"(Oh lord...) are upset that this video was even put up, with how it is being characterized, and that it is somehow "unfair".
"It's the usual ham-fisted and heavy-handed stuff. Malkin says it "makes the Left-o-sphere look even more ridiculous than they already are." Althouse says we're simply "trying to hurt" Rudy (sniffle, sniffle) and even tries to claim that Rudy isn't "screaming," but rather is "shouting" (now there's a critical distinction). And Ace of Space grinds the gears furiously to produce something that is apparently supposed to constitute some sort of satire."
Yeah...you read right. Malkin, who as recently as a week ago had the John Edwards' "I'm So Pretty" YouTube clip featured at her Klavern/Site has a bug up her spastic, schoolgirl fetish-skirt clad ass. Althouse in her Giuliani defense, gives a scintillating primer on the difference between screaming and shouting—which is kinda like Chuck Manson delineating the difference between stabbing and puncturing. Ace? Well...the less said about inadvertent revelations of fetishes, I suppose, the better.
But these short-bus sycophants in their defense of the His Royal Razor Lips forget—or rather willfully blinder themselves from several things about that clip. Things they could have known had they lived in New York, or even asked a New Yorker who lived here when that incident went down.
Someone like...I dunno...me. :)
See, that clip, is a snippet of what went down at that rally that day. Rudy SCREAMED "Bullshit!" several times during his screed as a punctuation to pointed lines. I remember the news reports of that day, and they were quite reticent to show him whipping that crowd up, so they edited that portion of the rally. But...they can't edit history. And I know the history verrrrr-rrrrrry well.
I remember the day of that rally. It was in the third week of September. I recall it very clearly because it was a pivotal week in my life. It was the last week of publicity, pick-up shots, and final tweaking before the debut of the first TV show I'd ever worked on. I was writing and co-starring in it. In New York. The show would start it's season the following week. That week before, the week of the "rally" was nice weather-wise—cool at the beginning, and warming from Wednesday on. The rally was in mid-week, and it affected me because I hadn't actually quit my day job in spite of landing the TV gig—I was weekending and night-shifting temporarily. The day job was waaaaaaay downtown, near Bowling Green, just past City Hall Park. I was waaaaaaay up-town working on the show, and wanted to get my paycheck. There was a hole in the shoot day and I called downtown to ask if my check was ready, and was told that it was.
"Great! I'll be down there in 40 minutes!"
"Um...can you come a little later? There's kind of...a situation down here right now."
"What? It hasn't been signed?"
"Um, no. It's just—it's kinda crazy down here right about now. There's a big rally goin' on at City Hall. Cops."
"Aw, damn. I gotta get my check. I may not be beck there until Monday."
"You don't wanna come down here right now. It's really crazy. They're going off."
"Wha? They're cracking heads?"
"Don't come down here. Don't come down here now. Seriously."
"But-"
"We'll figure something out. Somebody'll be here waiting with your check, okay? But not now. In a few hours, okay?"
"Hoooo-kay."
I never did get down there that day. The production wouldn't let me go later, so they sent a P.A. (Production Assistant) downtown to nab it for me. And in the end, that was probably a good thing—because what I saw on the news that night on TV in the writers room was in a word...disturbing.
The news...nearly every broadcast outlet, was referring to the event as a rally that turned into "a riot". Giuliani had narrowly lost the election to NY's first (and only) Black mayor David Dinkins three years before—by less than 50,000 votes. And Rudy from the day he lost to Dinkins (He had to calm down a loud and angry contingent of campaign workers at his concession speech before starting on election night '89) started campaigning for the '92 run, sniping at every chance, demagoging whenever he could. It was a bitter, racially-riven campaign season in '92, too. To spike the election totals for Rudy's second run, Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari managed to get a referendum on the ballot for Staten Island's secession from New York. Staten Island happens to be New York's whitest borough, and at that time boasted maybe a 15% minority population. And when Dinkins became mayor, the naked animus from that borough was almost palpable. If the mayor of New York is gonna be a n*gger, we don't wanna be a part a' New York. was what they were in effect saying. but that referendum was put on the ballot to increase the interest and turnout in that borough. Needless to say, it worked, and swung the election Giuliani's way by...50,000 votes—but prior to that outcome, Giuliani was running a small scale version of Nixon's "Southern Strategy”—uniting White ethnics against the no -longer-minority majority. (Of course, after Rudy was elected, the "secession" idea disappeared, never to be heard again.)
And that day near City Hall, was an example of that strategy—writ two-ton jelly doughnut large. At that time, the NYPD was far whiter than it is today—which is to say it was closer to 85% White than it's present-day "egalitarian" 65-70%. And Rudy's rally that day appealed specifically to that very White element. The NYPD chafed under a Black mayor from jump—especially since that election gave Black folks a feeling that for once, the department would be held accountable for its legendary racist excesses. And worse still, Dinkins pushed for a residency law for the NYPD—forcing the officers to actually live in the five boroughs where they worked. This was waving a red cape before a coffee-and-bear-claw-stuffed bull.
These guys DID NOT WANT to have to live in the same city as the skells, and moolies, and "pablos" they were kicking the shit out of every fucking day. Dinkins wanted 'em to. Plus, under the Black mayor, they couldn't pull the usual shit with impunity. Dinkins was pushing hard against much police resistance for a real Civilian Complaint Review Board. With teeth. And the ability to actually punish rogue cops.
So, it bubbled. The resentment. The anger. Barely concealed police rage .
Enter an opportunistic Rudy Giuliani.
That fateful September day, between 9,000 and 10,000 cops showed up for Rudy's "pro-police" rally. To give you an idea of how many cops that was, NYPD force levels were considerably less than what they are today. Back then, the force was about 29,000 strong. Nearly a third of the force turned out that day. One out of every three cops in NY were there, just beyond the mayor's door. Screaming. Angry. And yes, a lot of 'em were drunk.
Still, Mr. Giuliani took a fateful step that would for years prompt questions about his racial sensitivities. In September 1992, he spoke to a rally of police officers protesting Mr. Dinkins’s proposal for a civilian board to review police misconduct.
It was a rowdy, often threatening, crowd. Hundreds of white off-duty officers drank heavily, and a few waved signs like “Dump the Washroom Attendant,” a reference to Mr. Dinkins. A block away from City Hall, Mr. Giuliani gave a fiery address, twice calling Mr. Dinkins’s proposal “bullshit.” The crowd cheered. Mr. Giuliani was jubilant.
“If you’re acculturated to like cops, you don’t necessarily see 10,000 white guys who don’t vote in the city, don’t write political checks and love you for the wrong reason,” an aide said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is working with the Giuliani presidential campaign.
Mr. Dinkins has not forgotten that sea of angry cops. “Rudy was out there inciting white cops to riot,” Mr. Dinkins said in a recent interview.
Mr. Giuliani said he never saw racist signs. “One of the reasons those police officers might have lost control is that we have a mayor who invites riots,” he said at the time. The Giuliani campaign later conducted a “vulnerability study” to identify their candidate’s weaknesses in 1993. This study, obtained by Wayne Barrett, author of “Rudy!” — an investigative biography — offers an unsparing critique: “Giuliani’s shrieking performance at the cop rally may be his greatest political liability this year. Giuliani has yet to admonish those who attacked the mayor with racist code words on signs and banners. Why not?”
"When Giuliani was running against former Mayor David Dinkins in 1992, he led a rally of 10,000 cops at city hall. Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin described the rally: "Candidate Rudolph Giuliani bawled out insults at Dinkins. Several police held up toilet plungers and snarled, `flush the ni*ger down the toilet.' One cop held up an immature drawing of Dinkins with a toilet plunger on his head."
You know, I always thought about the whole "plunger" and washroom attendant thing when the Abner Louima case came to mind.
Funny, that. But back to the story. I was told by my co-worker not to come downtown that day for good reason. There was police-perpetrated anarchy in the streets downtown...and Black folks had a lot to be afraid of in Lower Manhattan that day. I remember the news footage. Cops jumping up and down on cars in the area. Harassing citizens. Drunk and disorderly—and in no mood to be civil to Black folks. This from Wayne Barrett's Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudy Giuliani, via Reason Magazine:
Cops carried signs that said "Dump the Washroom Attendant," "Mayor, have you hugged your dealer today" and "Dinkins, We Know Your True-Color--Yellow Bellied." Drawings on their homemade posters depicted the mayor in a '60s Afro with giant lips, or engaged in kinky sex acts. They broke through police barricades and stormed the steps of City Hall, cheering "Take the Hall!" and banging on windows... They chanted "Rudy, Rudy," in thunderous rhythm, as he worked his way through the nearly all-white mob, beaming, backslapping, posing for photos, pumping his fist. WCBC-TV camerman John Haygood was called a nigger. Una Clarke, a city councilwoman from Brooklyn, was stopped by an off-duty copy with a beer in his hand who said to his sidekick: "This n*gger says she's a member of the City Council."
The Una Clarke part of the story I remember as if it was yesterday. She spoke about it on the news that night. She was shaken. You see, she wasn't merely stopped by drunken, racist officers. She was stopped from entering City Hall by drunken, racist officers. They had no problem with calling an elected member of New York City government a n*gger to her face and treating her as if it were the Jim Crow South, circa 1949.
That day, a bunch of drunken off-duty cops beat up a Black kid on the J train, after tripping him intentionally. I'll never forget his name. Yunas Muhammad. He whipped out a box-cutter to defend himself when the cops started kicking the shit outta him. Cops wanted to throw the book at him for that, but the charges were lessened. Can't remember quite how that one got resolved, but just for the record, that's how crazy the day was. That's the rally I was told to stay out of downtown because of. That's the rally that Rudy led.
So, it was a lot deeper that Rudy just using "a naughty word". It was him effectively playing a big part in what was in essence a one-day coup d' etat, where the "military" (The NYPD) let it be known that they were not beholden to the wishes of the present government, and had thrown their allegiance behind an unelected, rabble-rousing demagogue. And they were gonna make anyone who looked like "the government" (Mayor Dinkins) pay...big time
That's why that day will always stand out in stark, fucking relief for me, and several million other New Yorkers. It was a day that Black folks collectively gulped as we realized that the NYPD would not answer to the government. It made us all walk a little more carefully, with a flinch, and a glance over the shoulder—at the cops, and especially Rudy.
So spare me, Ms. Malkin. You weren't fucking here in New York, nor do you understand, or even seek to understand what that day was about. I'm sure you were too busy at the time with your College Republican Club trying to get Lou Diamond Phillips deported for his portrayal of the militant Rock & Roll Reconquista Ritchie Valens in "La Bamba". Althouse? The queen of "Take my sozzled ass in context, please? 'Hic!"? Could you, with your vaunted lawprof skills not even Google for background on the day in question before opening your grape-splashed yap? Or were the DTs too heavy for you to work the Goddamned keyboard? Ace? What the fuck do you say to a "dude" who thinks a vagina looks like bacon and play-doh? You say nothing I guess, except "He was always a loner" on that inevitable day the cops dig up his yard.
It wasn't just a high-dudgeon Rudy spouting off. He's never dealt with what happened that day. Events he was involved in. That he incited. And winkingly condoned.
To try to play stupid, and make like what happened, didn't—to gloss over it by lamely reducing it to..."a naughty word", is an attempt to undo the damage of that day, and spin that ugliness into "Oh, it's nothing."gold.
That would be lying. Or in other words...plain, old bullshit.
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