rudy one-note
In the current issue of New York magazine, Stephen Rodrick profiles Rudy Giulani, former New York mayor and seemingly the Republican frontrunner for president.
Giuliani is building his image on the reputation he gained in the wake of the the 9/11 attacks spoke to an adoring audience in the hinterlands thusly, writes Rodrick:
The secret is to be prepared for anything, Rudy says. Terrorism can happen in New York or Boston or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, “one of the smallest towns in the United States.”
The punchy good cheer of this small town is replaced with grave attention. Rudy notes that he once spoke to the Shanksville high-school graduating class. “But for the grace of God and the bravery of the people who brought that plane down,” he says, “those kids wouldn’t be with us.”
This is a little strange. The terrorism had nothing to do with Shanksville, and if the brave people who brought that plane down had not done so, those kids in Shanksville wouldn’t have been anywhere near a plane crash.
Anyway, it’s a pretty shaky foundation to build a campaign on. Neither Rodrick’s article nor anything else the citizen-viewer has seen actually spells out what exactly Giuliani did after the attacks that was so admirable. Aside from making a few genuinely moving speeches, he just happened to be mayor at the time.
How heroism has been devalued.
citizen-viewer
in US politics, media, New York
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