The Evolution of My Feelings Toward Rudy Giuliani

During his tenure as mayor, I was mostly indifferent toward him. The Abner Louima assault and the Amadou Diallo murder took place under his watch. I was outraged and sickened by those events but didn't viscerally connect them to Giuliani the same way I know Bush is responsible for 100 thousand plus deaths in Iraq. I wasn't apathetic enough to stay home from the polls like Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail". I voted for Ruth Messinger. But Giuliani seemed somewhat socially liberal, seemed to have a sense of humor about himself, and stayed off my radar for the most part. Maybe having Clinton in the White House also made me more tolerant in general, meaning, I felt good enough about who was ultimately in charge so local politics didn't make that big a difference to me. At the time.

In the week after 9/11, the words "I would vote for Giuliani for president" came out of my mouth. I work 4 blocks from ground zero and lived less than a mile away. Yes, that appearance at the podium, when he said the loss was probably more that we could bear, seemed honest, and it looked at the time like he knew what he was doing. And compared to Bush, he appeared, for the moment, heroic.

In the years since 9/11 I've grown to despise him. From trying to exploit our emotions over 9/11 in his every waking breath, to the abandonment and total sellout of his friends in Queens, who he had once said would personally marry himself if gay marriage ever became legal, to the bloodlust that lives him which I believe is far more dangerous than whatever hawkish tendencies exist in the democratic front runner.

I'm not a Hillary supporter. Will I vote for her and encourage others to do so should Rudy Giuliani be the nominee for the Republicans. Hell, if I voted for Ruth Messinger, what do you think?