The Giuliani Papers

Giuliani Back on the Paid Speakers Circuit

Rudy is back on the road trying to make some money speaking to people who one supposes didn't hear him for free on his failed campaign for the presidency.

The Washington Speakers Bureau has his current listing:

The concluding pitch on what paying audiences will get:

Giuliani delivers practical tips and insights while sharing stories that demonstrate how the obstacles we overcome strengthen us for the challenges that lie ahead. Giuliani discusses the shows leaders at all levels how to transform their corporate and organizational cultures—for bottom-line success and results.

The site lists only a range of possible fees charged and does not give Rudy's level number. It is assumed he'd be a #6, unless his failure to achieve "bottom-line success and results" in his most recent endeavors has bumped him back to a level 1 or 2:

1 = $1,000 - $7,500
2 = $7,501 - $10,000
3 = 10,001 - $15,000
4 = 15,001 - $25,000
5 = 25,001 - $40,000
6 = 40,001 & UP

Giuliani Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor Hill Blames the New York Times for Rudy's Defeat

Giuliani was just too damn nice. That's why he couldn't get people to vote for him and spent $40 million on one delegate. So says Charles Hill of Yale, Iraq warmonger and well-known neo-con and Rudy's chief foreign policy advisor in an interview in the Yale Daily News:

One of Giuliani’s problems, Hill said, was that he ran such a clean, positive campaign.

“He refused to be negative,” remarked the Studies in Grand Strategy professor.

Hill reserved his harshest criticism for the Times — “a never-ceasing slander machine,” he called it — but he admitted the paper succeeded where the Giuliani campaign did not.

“The communications strategy of the Times was far better than ours,” he said.

He criticized the paper for running what he described as stock feature stories looking back at and “denouncing” the mayor’s past — and using them in such a way that they seemed like news, even though Hill said they had no relevance to the current moment.

Wayne Barrett on Giuliani's Political Demise

The journalist who knows more about Rudy than anyone exposes the final lies of the Giuliani campaign:

Giuliani claimed last week that he'd run an "uplifting campaign" that had managed to stay "positive."...Giuliani's way of staying "positive" was to use his ex–deputy mayor and periodic campaign spokesman, Randy Mastro, to invoke the Keating scandal, in which McCain—one of the so-called Keating Five—was blasted in a 1991 Senate ethics report that found he'd intervened with federal regulators on behalf of infamous S&L owner Charles Keating, who had given McCain major contributions, corporate jet rides, and annual family vacations in the Bahamas.

The dishonesty of the Giuliani farewell was a fitting conclusion to a campaign that had lied even about itself, inventing the fantasy of a waiting-for-Florida strategy after Rudy had spent $3 million and made 124 appearances in New Hampshire, where he wound up beating Ron Paul by only 2,000 votes. The premise of his campaign—which began in Giuliani's mind before the smoke had cleared at Ground Zero—was that the Iwo Jima–style visual of him covered in soot and walking through the canyons of Lower Manhattan that morning would transcend his personal and political shortcomings and carry him into the White House. By the time he got to the endgame in Florida, he was even willing to run an ad that was all 9/11, with video footage of the carnage and a resolute voice declaring that "when the world wavered and history hesitated, he never did." But the uproar caused him to pull it almost instantly, the last gasp of a failed strategy of exploitation. (An editorial cartoon soon appeared of Giuliani behind a podium with just the numbers "9-11" on it and a campaign operative explaining that those were his polling numbers in Florida.) Once the mythology had worn thin, Giuliani's baggage loomed large, and the speaker who'd once earned six-figure fees couldn't draw three-figure crowds in the Panhandle.

As false as the campaign's central rationale was, so too were its collateral claims. Giuliani boasted in his farewell that he'd resisted the pressure to do negative ads, but in fact his commercials were fraudulent attacks on the very city he'd governed, appealing to longstanding American prejudices while portraying himself as the man who'd tamed the beast that is New York. He also produced an ad that distorted his own bout with prostate cancer for political purposes, using spurious numbers to draw false comparisons between American and British cancer treatments in an ugly assault on Democratic health-care proposals. He went to the last day hyping his 23 tax cuts as mayor, even after his campaign acknowledged that Giuliani was counting cuts he had nothing to do with, including ones engineered by state legislators, the governor, and the City Council. He brayed on and on about how he'd slashed the city's welfare rolls by 600,000 people and would combat any form of "socialized medicine" as president—and then promised Florida homeowners who had built their mansions in a hurricane path a multibillion-dollar catastrophe fund. Giuliani took shots at his former positions on gun control; promised to appoint the kind of judges who would reverse the Roe v. Wade decision whose anniversary he once celebrated; divorced himself from the gay couple who sheltered him before, on, and after 9/11; and said that he would have deported, if possible, all the undocumented workers he used to embrace.

It Wasn't Giuliani's Fault, It Was the Political Press Killed the Beast

Already there's a revisionist spin on the collapse of Giuliani. It wasn't the stupid incompetent primary strategy. It wasn't the the lack of a coherent reason for his candidacy. It wasn't the fact that the more people came to know him the less they liked him. No. It was the New York political press that martyred Saint Rudy.

That's the take of some columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Michael Smerconish.

So what happened? Rudy Giuliani was treated with enmity by the political press. He was cornered as the "9/11 candidate." And he endured a concerted effort to trash the fiscal and domestic successes he orchestrated in New York before Sept. 11. That treatment proved fatal to his campaign.

Is this guy for real? Here, a typical piece of his evidence:

Before most Floridians even went to the polls, the political whispers had become deafening with "news" of Giuliani's imminent withdrawal.

Maybe because he spent an uninterrupted 30 days and $40 million on a Florida contest he said was the clincher and was still in third or fourth place?

And this guy has a job as a reporter?

Chris Matthews is Such an Idiot

Chris Matthews has had a hardon for Giuliani since before America's Ayatollah announced for the presidency. Night after night, the hardballer would oooh and ahhh over Rudy's tough-guy, street-smart charade and drool recounting Giuliani's high heroism in insisting on talking to reporters while running away from the World Trade Center on September 11.

Now, of course, with Rudy's abject failure in his incompetent campaign, Matthews says he had his doubts about Rudy from the get go. Wrong!

Media Matters tells the real tale:

During MSNBC's coverage of the Florida primary, Chris Matthews said of Rudy Giuliani: "I began to watch his campaign soon after he entered it last year, and the one thing missing was a big idea as to why he should be president," adding, "It was all, it seemed to me ... about the past. It was about 9-11." But Matthews has repeatedly cited Giuliani's experience on September 11 as one of his greatest perceived strengths in the presidential race.

But if Matthews recognized flaws in Giuliani's campaign "soon after" Giuliani entered the race, as recently as January 19, he said otherwise. On January 19, Matthews said to Giuliani: "You know, Mayor, for months now, I think I've been one of the troubadours for you out there in terms of your prospects. I have always seen the Giuliani advantage in a party that treasures leadership." And on November 6, 2007, Matthews described Giuliani as "the person with the best shot to win the Republican [presidential] nomination."

Matthews has repeatedly touted Giuliani's prospects as a presidential candidate since 2006:

During that November 6, 2007, edition of Hardball, Matthews also asserted: "I'm not going to sell Rudy. It's not my job to sell anybody." Later, Matthews said: "You know why I've been saying this guy looks good for a long time -- looks like a potential winner? Because I've been talking to a lot of people in the South -- guys that go to lunches in the South, not necessarily church-y people, just secular Republicans -- they hear about lower taxes, law and order, they like him."

On the February 7, 2007, edition of Imus in the Morning (then broadcast by MSNBC), Matthews said of Giuliani: "And I think the country wants a boss like that. You know, a little bit of fascism there. Just a little bit. Just a pinch of it." When host Don Imus asserted, "Well, the lame observation being made by a lot of folks, maybe it's not lame, but -- that he can't get the nomination because, you know the right-wing nuts, you know --" Matthews interjected: "Well, you know what -- that is such conventional wisdom. ... [T]here should be a buzzer that goes off when people say that kind of crap. Look, if you go down to Jackson, Mississippi, you go to Atlanta, Florida, you go anywhere in the South to men's clubs for lunch, who is the number one speaker they want? Giuliani."

On the July 18, 2006, edition of NBC's The Tonight Show, Matthews predicted that "the next president of the United States will be Rudy Giuliani."

On the July 12, 2006, edition of Hardball, Matthews said Giuliani is "not only running" for president in 2008, but is "going to win the whole thing."

On the June 14, 2006, edition of Hardball, Matthews described Giuliani as the "perfect candidate" to replace President Bush.

Matthews has also repeatedly cited Giuliani's experience on September 11, 2001, as one of his greatest perceived strengths in the primary:

On the June 12, 2007, edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews -- discussing Giuliani's presidential prospects -- asserted: "Rudy's the ultimate street politician. He was there on the curb when 9-11 struck. He had soot on his face," later adding, "I think that's what people are looking for: somebody who's clear and present and right there answering our questions."

On the March 1, 2007, edition of Hardball, Matthews touted Giuliani as a "hero," saying that Southerners "can't spell his name necessarily, but they know Rudy was a hero." Matthews also praised Giuliani as "the one tough cop who was standing on the beat when we got hit last time and stood up and took it" and said "[w]e know that Giuliani would be powerful in the ethnic Northeast."

On the February 7, 2007, edition of Imus in the Morning, while discussing the field of presidential candidates, Matthews called Giuliani "the kind of gutsy, street-corner politician we all grew up with" who "stood on the corner during the fire and told us what was going on."

On the February 5, 2007, edition of MSNBC Live, during a discussion of Giuliani's plans to file a "statement of candidacy," Matthews declared that Giuliani "has street cred" on the issue of "protect[ing] this country against the bad guys," citing "the image [Giuliani] conveys." He also asserted that "voters like this guy because during 9-11, he was the one guy there on the street corner, answering questions, not hiding like all the other pols did."

The Post Mortems Begin

The New York Times had their "what happened?" piece all ready to go last night.

Its a fairly standard MSM take on the collapse of "America's Mayor," though it does include a basic, if usually subtextual truth: He is totally unlikable.

In interviews Tuesday, even before he gave a concession speech in which he spoke of his campaign in the past tense, Mr. Giuliani described his strategic mistakes, suggesting that his opponents had built up too much momentum in earlier primaries. But this is a rhetorical sleight of hand; he in fact competed hard in New Hampshire, to remarkably poor effect.

Perhaps a simpler dynamic was at work: The more that Republican voters saw of him, the less they wanted to vote for him.

London's Telegraph reminds us of Rudy's amazing capacity for self-adoration:

On a campaign visit to London last autumn, Rudy Giuliani said he was one of the five best known Americans in the world.

At the time it seemed a typically big-headed and gauche remark, but the prevailing wisdom then was that he would win the Republican nomination and stood a fair chance of becoming president of the United States. The incontrovertible truth now is that Mr Giuliani’s campaign imploded through the negative force of his own personality and a major tactical error.

And New York Magazine instructs us to not get too giddy or complacent in our deliverance from evil.

In his concession speech, Giuliani said he was “proud” he had run “a campaign of ideas.” Really? Can anybody name one? If he’d actually come up with a few, he might have stood a chance. But he didn’t — thus, he’s gone.

Well, not totally gone. At some point today, Giuliani is expected to endorse McCain, and this could actually mean quite a lot. For the Arizona senator, who now stands as the undisputed Republican front-runner, closing the deal on Super-Duper Tuesday depends on his kicking ass on the coasts: in California, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And in these places, Rudy not only still has substantial support but organizational infrastructure that he can flip over to McCain. The question is what the payback might be. The obvious possibility is a position in a putative McCain administration — say, attorney general.

We cannot sleep soundly. The monster may seem defeated but we know too well what can happen in the final reel to set us up for a sequel: "The Return of the Beast from New York."

Why Did Rudy Fail?

There is a ton of speculation about why Rudy did what he did.

Time asks:

"I don't want to hate on his strategy, but I don't think you can blow off all those states and expect people to forget about that," says Zeke Romero, a 20-year-old Florida International University student who came to a Giuliani rally on campus Monday night. "Why did he do that?"

Yes, why did he do that? "They'll be asking that question in political science classes for years to come," a Giuliani aide muses with a fatalistic sigh. "You know, there are more votes in one of those senior citizen complexes in Boca than the entire city of Manchester, New Hampshire. But politics doesn't work like that."

And then trys to answer:

Perhaps the strangest thing about Rudy's collapse is the candidate himself. The rap on Rudy was always that he was a successful mayor but a nasty man; what the critics never understood was that his nastiness helped make him a successful mayor. He never cared that much whether The People loved him; he wanted a city that worked, and he pursued that goal with a take-no-prisoners combativeness that sometimes bordered on mania. Now he seems so serene, so resigned, so Zen. He doesn't look like he wants to throttle anyone — he doesn't sound vengeful or bitter or power-starved; he talks about "returning power to you!" Who would have thought Rudy would be the guy reminding voters that he's run a positive campaign, declaring that he's "sick and tired of all the name-calling"?

It's hard to watch this Prozac version of Rudy on the trail without wondering if his heart is really in this race. He was like this when he kinda-sorta-almost ran for Senate against Hillary Clinton in 2000; he actually blew off his get-to-know-you tour among the GOP elites of upstate New York to attend the home opener at Yankee Stadium. He still says that he can win today, that Florida could be a "gate-opener" building momentum for Super Tuesday on February 5, but he seems to sense that the gate is slamming shut. And he doesn't seem to mind that much. He appears to be enjoying himself, which wasn't usually the case in New York. "We've been campaigning in Florida so long, I really feel like I'm one of you," he said last night.

Maybe, in the end, that's why he put all his eggs in the Florida basket: He likes it here. It was 71 degrees and sunny this morning at his meet-and-greet at a Sunny Isles Beach deli. He likes to say he banked on Florida because of electoral realities and limited resources; he thought it was a big state he could win "given my positions, given the pros and cons." But at the Orange County Republican dinner Saturday night, Rudy made a telling quip: "People pay a lot of money to spend the month of Florida in January." When the political science classes ponder the remarkable collapse of the Giuliani '08 campaign, they might come to think of it as a $40 million Florida vacation.

Time dances around the more brutal truth: Giuliani, at root, is a pussy. He can act like a tough guy if he's got the NYPD behind him or some flunkies to do his dirty work but out there on his own with everything on the line -- he's the opera-loving Yankees fan marooned among the Elvis lookalikes and Brooklyn Dodger freaks -- he's scared to death. That's why Rudy's so dangerous, in the same way that GW Bush is dangerous, the frightened little boy out to prove himself no matter what the consequences -- for which he will not be accountable!

"Giuliani May End Race After Loss in Florida:" Duh

The LA Times has the late-breaking news:

Rudy Giuliani appears to be pondering an end to his long pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination.

In a meeting in the back of his chartered plane en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., a short while ago, the onetime, longtime GOP front-runner told a small group of reporters, including The Times' Louise Roug: "The winner of Florida will win the nomination."

What else is the man going to do after coming in third or fourth in Florida? Though, it is true, we can never underestimate Rudy's capacity for grandiose self-delusion.

Giuliani As Pathetic Loser

What a delicious fall.

Giuliani snubbed by Florida governor.

Florida's popular Republican Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed McCain on Saturday. The endorsement clearly caught the Giuliani campaign off guard. In early January invitations went out for Orange County's GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, promising remarks by Giuliani and a "special appearance" by Crist. But on Saturday night only Giuliani showed up.

Giuliani begging for attention aboard the media bus.

...the most noticeable change in the campaign has been his increased attention to the press. A funny thing happened on the way to Orlando's Hard Rock Hotel last night. Giuliani, notoriously distant with his traveling press corps, made a rare appearance—one of a handful throughout the entire primary season—on his campaign media van. "Hi, guys," he said almost sheepishly, grasping hands (but avoiding eye contact) as he made his way through the media reception line. At first no one moved. The journalists, not quite sure what to make of the unexpected appearance, hesitated before grabbing their tape recorders and forming a cramped gaggle. Unlike reporters following Sen. John McCain—who joke that they can't shut the guy up—those trailing Giuliani have had to fight for every sound bite. He's so detached from the press corps that one embedded journalist who has been following the campaign for months says Giuliani still mistakes him for a voter at campaign events, and will reach out to shake the journalist's hand as he exits a venue.

Priceless.

MoDo Twists the Knife

Maureen Dowd in the Times today:

I expected more of Rudy.

Not a better message. It figured that he would snowbird his strategy, taking his New York subtext of blacks-want-to-mug-you-and-I-can-protect-you down to Florida and switching it to Arabs-want-to-kill-you-and-I-can-save-you.

I simply expected that Rudy would rise to greater heights as he fell behind, that he would self-immolate in a dramatic way befitting a man who loves opera and the “Godfather” movies. I longed for the Manhattan diva to reprise Maria Callas doing one of her famous Donizetti mad scenes that he loved so much.

His deep investment in one state and a one-dimensional message do not seem to have paid dividends. He needs to quit talking about 9/11 and dial 911. His numbers have dropped by half in the year he has campaigned here. The more he has wooed, the less he has won. His campaign may have always been doomed, given that he was unacceptable to so many other Republicans. But the final act seems sad — sputtering, stalling and dying like a bad engine on an old car.