Romney Is Dropping Names and Giuliani Just Drops Poor Decisions

Mitt Romney was in South Carolina yesterday dropping names. Romney was mentioning some possible vice presidential running mates on a Romney ticket. He mentioned three southerners, Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. He had this to say about Jeb Bush, “I love him. If his name weren’t Bush, he’d be running for president, I’m convinced.” Romney went on to say, ”I have to be honest with you, I haven’t given a lot of thought to that, so I don’t want to put any names in that hat right now,” But it appears that he has thought about it, and he just did put names in that hat. I think he should hold off on this decision for a bit, because his early picks are a bit weak. Jeb is just the dumber brother of G. W., and did nothing for the state of Florida in two terms as a governor. He supposedly helped education during those terms, yet the education system in Florida ranks somewhere around 47 or 48 in the nation. Then there’s Newt who has higher negatives than Hillary. I have nothing to say about Sanford, but I’m sure Romney is just pumping up the locals with that pick. If this is a sign of what’s to come in a Romney administration then I’m glad he is falling in the polls.
The leader on the Republican side Rudy Giuliani, is facing problems of his own. Some are questioning his leadrship skills when he was “America’s Mayor”. While mayor Giuliani appointed Bernard Kerik police commissioner, even though Giuliani was aware that Kerik had ties with a company that has ties to organized crime. Giuliani says he was unaware of these ties, but a top investigator briefed Giuliani about these ties as early as 2000. Giuliani forgot about those briefings, but does not deny they happened. But to make things worse he recommended Kerik to Bush as a Homeland Security Chief, and once nominated Kerik pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to his relationship to the company with ties to organized crime. Giuliani now admits that recommending Kerik to this post was a mistake. Of all the people in New York, and the only one available to be police chief was someone that might have ties to organized crime? Maybe Rudy should start with a bigger list next time. I would hope he would make better picks if elected as President.
And if that’s not enough trouble for Rudy, criticism of his actions post 9/11 are getting louder. This is a problem, because many voters look at Giuliani because he stood so tall as “America’s Mayor” during the 9/11 crisis. One major complaint aimed at him was the first responders had no way to communicate with each other. They were still using the same communication gear that caused the same problems for them during the 1993 terrorist attack on the twin towers. Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was among the 343 FDNY members killed in the terrorist attack, screamed at Giulianai at a 2004 commission hearing, “My son was murdered because of your incompetence!” Of course at the same hearing Giuliani was praised for his performance post 9/11.
The firefighters local IAFF have criticized Giuliani for his “scoop and dump” approach to cleaning up the 9/11 sight. Giuliani cut back on the number of searchers looking for fallen brother and sisters in the rubble. Many say it was because he was looking to salvage gold lost in the mess. Giuliani was also criticized for locating the city’s emergency center in 7 World Trade Center, a building that contained thousands of gallons of diesel fuel when it collapsed, (or was brought down) after the terrorist attack.
“We want America to know what this guy meant to New York City firefighters,” said Peter Gorman, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. “In our experiences with this man, he disrespected us in the most horrific way.” So as Giuliani was strutting around looking cool under pressure, he was really totally inept. Kind of reminds me of the way George Bush handled it. We still don’t know where ole Bin Laden is. Strut around, look good, talk tough, but in reality, total incompetence. And this is the front runner of the Republican party. No wonder Fred Thompson is doing so good in the polls. The last time the Republicans had a hero he was an actor too, and Thompson is a better actor than that one!!
Alan Cosgrove