Giuliani: The legacy of an a**hole

[dogday]

A pox on the "mayor who cleaned up New York


Steven Wishnia is the latest writer to cover the new documentary on former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, "Giuliani Time." I usually can't read more than one review per subject, but I've read about six reviews of this documentary so far (see, especially the Gothamist takedown, and the Village Voice's. Maybe it has everything to do with the fact that Giuliani is probably my least favorite American political figure. My specific hatred for Giuliani was for his barely concealed racist policies, and Wishnia is all over it:


Crime-fighting is the cornerstone of the Giuliani legend. In 1990 and 1991, with heavily armed gangs battling for control of the crack trade, the city averaged six murders a day. Giuliani supporters such as Myron Magnet of the Manhattan Institute, his main advocate in this film, simply point to the numbers: By the time Giuliani left office, crime had dropped to the levels of the mid-’60s, with murders below three a day. But the decline of New York crime in the ’90s began under Dinkins and paralleled a nationwide decline. Did Giuliani’s policies -- in particular, “quality of life” policing, prosecuting small offenses like public drinking and pot-smoking (and even reviving a Prohibition-era ban on dancing in bars!) -- really bring it down in New York? William Bratton, Giuliani’s first police commissioner (who admits he never got along with the mayor) cites the use of computers to pinpoint high-crime locations -- and the 6,000 new police officers hired by Dinkins.


“Quality of life” policing was actually most successful in reducing the perception of crime. Giuliani’s campaign against the menace of “squeegee men” epitomized this; it played to the fears of white car owners who were so terrified of being accosted by a ragged-looking black man that they wanted them all locked up.


But the racial subtext of Giuliani’s policies eventually caused his political downfall. The 1999 police killing of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant shot 19 times because he pulled a wallet during a police stop, cracked the mayor’s invincibility. Giuliani dismissed the ensuing protests as “silly,” which translated to many as callous and racist.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/35997/

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/Blog+Image_thumb_giuliani.jpg

[Missy M]

1. I have the same feelings you do about Giuliani.....

and it really gets me how he uses 9/11 the same way Bush does. Is that a real portrait of Giuliani or something off the internet? If it is real then:puke:

[AX10]

2. He's a racist.

Also, he's a petty opportunist.

[butterfly77]

4. Thank you ! agree

They try to portray him a the greatest thing on earth. He was there because it was his job. How many government contracts did he get afterwards to start off his business how many have gotten rich off of peoples misery. Iraq,911, Katrina.

[cspanlovr]

3. I've thought many times that 9/11 was the best thing that ever happened

to these people.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. IMO, three men define the Guiliani "legacy":

1. Abner Louima
2. Patrick Doresman
3. Amadu Dialo

All three were victims of the Guiliani crime-fighting obsession. "The Mayor" never apologized for what happened and supported HIS police force no matter what they did.

[ShortnFiery]

6. Oh yes! Perfectly stated = The legacy of an a**hole

:rofl: :thumbsup:

[mod mom]

7. Plain Dealers says he's backing BLACKWELL in Ohio. UFB!