Rudy's worse week ever!!!!!!

[Joanne98]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Worst. Week. Ever.

It's inevitable that presidential candidates will experience a certain ebb and flow as the process unfolds, but can we all agree that Rudy Giuliani has seen the worst week of any candidate in recent memory?

On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that Giuliani, despite railing against congressional earmarks on the campaign stump, and pledging to "get rid of" lawmakers' pet projects if elected, actually "sought federal earmarks for 14 companies this year, 11 of which hired after Giuliani joined in March 2005." Republican consultant Eddie Mahe responded, "It's a bit hypocritical."

On Tuesday, Giuliani attended a campaign fundraiser hosted by a "man convicted in a notorious corruption case." An embarrassed Giuliani "came and went from last night's fundraiser without comment, ducking down in his car as ABC News cameras attempted to photograph him arriving."

On Wednesday morning, a new batch of polls show Giuliani's support fading in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Shag Fund scandal broke.

On Thursday, while the Shag Fund scandal gathers steam, we learn that Giuliani's private security firm provided security consulting and advice in Qatar through contracts overseen by Sheik Abdullah Bin Khalid al-Thani, who is suspected of close ties to Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Osama bin Laden.

On Friday, the New York Times' Michael Cooper reported that Giuliani cites a series of statistics in his stump speech, most of which "are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong."

On Saturday, the Washington Post's conservative editorial board noted that Giuliani's new TV ad is patently ridiculous, premised on tax policy assumptions that even the Bush White House rejects as foolish.

All the while, Giuliani and his aides try one defense after another for the Shag Fund scandal, none of which makes any sense.

Don't worry, Rudy, there's always next week.

--Steve Benen

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[AtomicKitten]

1. Attack ads against Rudy will write themselves.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Bloomberg News reporting, huh? I'm sorry, but I'm seriously suspicious

that Bloomberg's office is behind all of this. Politico had to get the initial accounting info (about all those bills to obscure NYC departments) from someone within that administration. I think he's taking Rudy out, or at least crippling him, in preparation for his own run. Hillary's camp would not have released this stuff so soon, and I doubt McCain, Thompson or Romney have lots of inroads into NYC bureacracy.

[rufus dog]

4. you are correct

A democrat has nothing to gain by releasing these now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I sure wish it was his last week ever.

[rurallib]

5. Well at least his girlfriend didn't dump him.

Whatever happened to Starr Shepherd? I can't even find any reference to her any more. Isn't that the name of the woman Rudi was seeing down in Houston last summer?