The Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002838833

A long-awaited re-appraisal of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's much-hailed actions surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks will be published in September to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. It's called "The Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11," written by Wayne Barrett, the longtime Village Voice writer and author of a biography of the former mayor, and Dan Collins, a senior producer for CBSNews.com. The publisher is HarperCollins.

"When he assured New York that things would come out all right, he was blessedly believable." That was on 9/11. Things haven't been as good for Rudy Giuliani since. And this book won't make it any better.

Compared to the bewildered George W. Bush, Giuliani projected confidence, calm and leadership in the terrible hours after the Twin Towers fell. That was all to the good. However, Barrett and Collins assert, Giuliani's subsequent claims that he had expected and had been preparing for a terrorist attack since taking office do not match the facts, which the authors explore in abundant (and just this side of numbing) detail.

Giuliani, for instance, detailed an Office of Emergency Management, but then located its headquarters inside what had long been identified as a prime target—the World Trade Center. It was, the authors write, "the only bunker ever built in the clouds."

Wonder if Chris "Tweety" Matthews(who's already annointed Rudy) will have this writer on?

as though it were worthy of a crisis room press conference. Everything from ferret ownership to art made with elephant poop was a "Crisis" for Giuliani.

9/11/2001 was unfortunately the day when the crisis finally matched up with Rudy's personal drama.

... world.

It's a curious phenomenon: a small group of super-rich publishers seem to agree on whom they are going to support (eg. Koch, Guiliani, Bloomberg) and on whom they are going to oppose ( eg. the liberal DEM Dinkins) and their minions in the newspaper world begin to promote a shared narrative.... i.e. Koch was brilliant, Giuliani flawless, Bloomberg a technocrat without equal, Dinkens a pathetic failure who couldn't do anything right. Said narrative is pounded into the craniums of the hapless citizenry.

Barrett's been debunking this nonsense for years in the Village Voice and elsewhere. Largely, he's ignored; invariably, he's right.

Looking forward to seeing him let the wind out of Giuliani's gas bag.

Rudy's approval rating was at 32%.
The weeks following 9-11 he was hailed as some sort of hero and he had approval ratings in the 90s.
I still don't know why.