Trying to "Swiftboat' Rudy
March 14, 2007
There's a great Presidential lineup today in Washington DC today at the Hyatt hotel. The International Association of Fire Fighters is hosting a presidential forum. All the big time candidates will be there except one. Rudy Giuliani. Let's just say there's a little tiff. In this day and age of presidential politics, whatever you do, you don't want to get 'swiftboated". Just ask John Kerry. Recently, there's been an attempt to 'swiftboat" Rudy Giuliani when it comes to his image as a national hero. The International Association of Fire fighters doesn't like Rudy. They invited him to the event but Rudy's folks turned it down because of "schedueling conflicts". The bottom line is Rudy wasn't going to get their endorsement anyhow. Here's a snyposis of the deal from the
New York Times.
"The IAFF has harbored ill will toward Giuliani since November 2001, when, union leaders say, the mayor committed “egregious acts” by reducing the number of firefighters permitted to search for remains at “Ground Zero” and instituting a cleanup process the IAFF deemed to be disrespectful to the victims. Union officers protesting the decision to scale back the search parties were arrested that November, further angering the union. These grievances were reintroduced to the public March 9 when a Feb. 28 draft letter to affiliates written by IAFF leadership surfaced on the Internet. The leaked draft stated that the group decided to invite “all serious candidates” except Giuliani and did not mince words. “Giuliani crucified firefighters after our protest and publicly stated that our members were essentially acting like babies,” the letter stated and encouraged affiliates to respond “Hell, no” if the Giuliani campaign asks them for support."
Giuliani's team is "fighting fire with fire' so to speak. They sent me this open letter from the Executive Director of Firefighters for Rudy:
"There is no one who respects firefighters and first responders more than Rudy Giuliani. That’s why I was deeply disappointed and disheartened to learn of the recent partisan political activities by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). Those of us who have worked with him know that Rudy Giuliani has always been a steadfast and unrelenting supporter of firefighters and first responders. The IAFF’s accusations in its “draft letter,” which made its way into the hands of the media, flies in the face of the facts. It is offensive and inaccurate."
I also just got off the phone with Phil Ruvolo who is a 3rd generation active firefighter in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He told me, "I've seen first hand that Mr. Giuliani is cool under fire. I've seen what he has done for my city.I don't think anybody in New York City can say he's not a leader. Was he always the greatest to NYC firemen? No. Of course not. But a larger percentage will say he's good for the country. He was at virtually every funeral and every wake.(after 9/11)" Ruvolo wants to make clear he's speaking for himself and not his union which is the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
So let's break this down a little. The reality is this is a pretty partisan organization who has it in for Rudy. Giuliani is not the type of candidate who ducks crowds that don't like him so I'm not convinced that he purposely skipped the event. He may have had schedueling conflicts. A haircut could have been a schedueling conflict. But think about it. What's the upside for him going to this? He wasn't going to get their endorsement anyway? CPAC is not the friendliest environment for him either but he showed up because there is an up side to it (read: votes) Rudy hopes this talk doesn't stick. I don't think it will.
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
