March 30, 2007

Giuliani Hitting The Wall

By Joe Guzzardi

Time is running out for Rudy Giuliani, open borders enthusiast and recent darling of the Republican Party Establishment (but no hero to VDARE.COM).

Last week’s revelation that Giuliani's current wife, Judith Nathan, is in her third marriage—and not her second, as the couple previously reported—is another scandalous drip-drop in the former New York mayor’s personal saga that will ultimately doom him.

Can Giuliani, who was aware of all three Nathan marriages, expect to convince the country that he forgot about it? How do you forget about a marriage—especially one that lasted five years?

It’s very had for leading presidential candidates to have a personal life as disgraceful as Giuliani’s and expect to survive. (Especially in the still-square GOP—see David Pyne’s Rise of the adulterers: GOP at risk of hostile takeover by the left.)

The surprise is that Giuliani’s shocking personal behavior has not fully captured America’s attention given the country’s fascination with the prurient.

Among Giuliani’s indiscretions while mayor are:

Some might say, “Well, that was then and this is now. Giuliani is 'America’s mayor' and given his courage during 9/11, we’ll forgive him his moral trespasses.”

But you won’t find many people who live in New York who feel that way.

Some of the words New Yorkers used to describe Giuliani’s governing methods are “ vindictive, petty, totalitarian, and controlling.”

And don’t forget that prior to the 2001 election, Giuliani attempted a power grab by trying to persuade the candidates to agree not to take office during the city’s post-9/11 time of crisis. His unsuccessful ploy exposed Giuliani as imperialist as George W. Bush.

But to me the most interesting aspect of Giuliani’s curriculum vitae is his total failure to end violence and corruption in Mexico City—as he pledged to do in a much-ballyhooed 2003 multimillion-dollar agreement with Mexico.

Four years ago, to fanfare in Mexico and the U.S., Giuliani Partners signed a $4.3 million contract with Mexico to consult on how to reduce the country’s murder and kidnapping rates. “Rudy To The Rescue" read an Associated Press headline [Oct. 10, 2002].

Two years later, the Mexican government, disgusted by the lame efforts of Giuliani Partners, did not hire the firm for follow-up work. Ultimately, Giuliani Partners was paid less than the agreed-upon $4.3 million sum.

Although there is finger pointing by both sides as to why the mission failed, it’s clear that Giuliani Partners didn’t have a clue what it had committed to when it promised to clean up Mexican corruption. For example, the starting salary for Mexican police officers is $6,000 annually; the police department has few computers or FAX machines; its officers drive broken down cars; Mexican citizens distrust local police.

Giuliani, indirectly admitting failure, has not returned to Mexico since his initial trip in 2003.

One of the Mexican officials, Antonio Rendon, said:

The only thing Giuliani has going for him: a few weeks of good photo ops immediately following 9/11.

But when Republican voters look at Giuliani’s complete package, it is hard to imagine that they won’t turn to a more appealing candidate— assuming one can be found within the ranks of the GOP.

Joe Guzzardi [ e-mail him] is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor. In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.