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CNN: Will Rudy Be ‘Swiftboated’?
NewsBusters.org ^ | 11/21/2007 | Matthew Balan

Posted on 11/21/2007 8:22:43 PM PST by Pyro7480

A report on Tuesday’s "The Situation Room," which highlighted the anti-Giuliani campaign of some family members of firefighters killed on 9/11, also tried to throw some retrospective doubt on the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" who opposed John Kerry in 2004. CNN correspondent Deborah Feyerick proposed the following question about the campaign: "is this another 'Swift Boat' situation, in which unsubstantiated attacks against John Kerry's service in Vietnam, scuttled his presidential candidacy. These families say no."

In addition to this question, CNN played two sound bites, one from Sally Reganhard, a prominent member of this campaign, and the other from a Baruch College professor, which reenforced the "unsubstantiated" label used by CNN. Reganhard indirectly accused the "Swift Boat" veterans of using lies. "The difference between the 'Swift Boating' and this is that everything that we are saying is the truth." Also, a chyron during the report proclaimed that "9/11 Families Challenge Giuliani: Efforts Compared to ‘Swiftboating.’"

Host Wolf Blitzer introduced the report, which aired at the bottom of the 5 pm hour, by immediately bringing up the "Swift Boat" comparison. "It's the cornerstone of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, the 9/11 terror attacks. But now, an unlikely group is trying to undermine that with an effort that some are comparing to the 'Swift Boat' campaign against John Kerry." Neither Blitzer nor Feyerick mention who is making this comparison.

One thing that is mentioned is the campaign’s connection to the International Association of Firefighters, a union who endorsed John Kerry in 2004. As Feyerick put it, "over the summer, these firefighter families appeared in a scathing anti-Giuliani video made by the International Association of Firefighters." The union’s president, Harold A. Schaitberger, started a close relationship with Kerry early during his 2004 campaign. In August 2007, a CNN report quoted Kerry as saying, "I still keep a picture at home of Harold Schaitberger… standing by my side the night we won the New Hampshire primary."

Immediately after the three-minute report, Blitzer conducted a four-and-a-half minute interview of Jim Riches, a deputy chief for the Fire Department of New York City who is a member of the family members’ campaign against Giuliani. After a commercial break, Blitzer then interviewed Howard Safir, a former NYC fire and police commissioner and Giuliani supporter who accused the members of the campaign of "turning the terrorist attacks of September 11th into a political football."

The full transcript of the report from Tuesday’s "The Situation Room:"

WOLF BLITZER: It's the cornerstone of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign, the 9/11 terror attacks. But now, an unlikely group is trying to undermine that with an effort that some are comparing to the 'Swift Boat' campaign against John Kerry. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is joining us now. She's watching all this unfold. So, who's challenging, Deb, Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 credentials?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is not a new group. In fact, the faces, to many New Yorkers, are familiar. These are people who have repeatedly criticized Rudy Giuliani's handling of 9/11 and all the events before and after that day. The big question - can this small group gain momentum and, if so, what does that mean to the mayor's candidacy?

FEYERICK (voice-over): This is the image many Americans have of Rudy Giuliani -- the New York City mayor covered in dust moments after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. It is an image he has evoked in his run for the White House to spotlight his leadership on that tragic day. But Sally Regenhard and others are challenging that image.

SALLY REGENHARD, MOTHER OF 9/11 FIREFIGHTER: Rudy Giuliani is no hero of 9/11.

FEYERICK: Regenhard's son was one of 343 New York City firefighters to die when the towers fell. She is part of a small, determined group of firefighter families taking on the former mayor.

REGENHARD: We want to give people the opportunity to hear the true story and to make their own decisions.

FEYERICK: On Monday, the group traveled to New Hampshire, a crucial state where Mr. Giuliani recently began running these ads.

RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe I have been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They're not going to find perfection, but they're going to find somebody who's dealt with crisis.

FEYERICK: The families told a handful of people about some of the fire department radios that didn't work on 9/11, about the emergency command center to coordinate a response that, instead, literally collapsed, and about the lack of respirators provided to firefighters searching for colleagues in the toxic rubble.

Political scientist, Doug Muzzio says these issues are not new, at least not to New Yorkers.

DOUG MUZZIO, BARUCH COLLEGE: There is a lot of hyperbole in what Rudy Giuliani says about what he did prior to 9/11, on 9/11, and after 9/11. But the kernel of truth is that Rudy Giuliani had his finest hour on 9/11.

FEYERICK: The Giuliani campaign cited news reports praising Giuliani's efforts on behalf of firefighters, and touting the city's preparedness. A former fire commissioner, speaking on Giuliani's behalf, accused Regenhard's group of quote, 'turning the terrorist attacks of September 11th into a political football.' The question now -- is this another 'Swift Boat' situation, in which unsubstantiated attacks against John Kerry's service in Vietnam, scuttled his presidential candidacy. These families say no.

REGENHARD: The difference between the 'Swift Boating' and this is that everything that we are saying is the truth.

FEYERICK (on-camera): Now, over the summer, these firefighter families appeared in a scathing anti-Giuliani video made by the International Association of Firefighters. Giuliani's representative called the group highly partisan. It is endorsing Democrat Chris Dodd, but says it was not part of this particular New Hampshire trip. Still, that firefighters' union is meeting after Thanksgiving to consider a much larger campaign against the former mayor. Wolf?

BLITZER: Deb Feyerick in New York, thanks very much.

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cnn; giuliani; rudy; swiftboat
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To: Mariner
While he was the “Republican Mayor” of New York City he appointed more than 60 men and women to the Civil, Criminal, and Family Court benchs. In all of those judicial appointment only two were Republican.

All of his other judical appointments were either registered Liberals or registered Democrats. As the “Republican Mayor” he had appointment power over more than 70 full commissioners in more than 50 City agencies, yet at no time during his administration did REPUBLICANS account for more than 10% of those appointments.

He even appointed Chuck Schumers wife as the City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner.


________________________________________________________________
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9054.html

“And even as we grieve for those who lost their lives, and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones, we may be able to find some sort of meaning in this tragedy by using it as a catalyst to revive national gun control efforts.”
Rudolph Giuliani

At the first Republican debate in May, Giuliani was alone among the GOP candidates in offering a less-than-robust affirmation when asked whether it would be a good day if the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling.

"It would be OK," Giuliani said. "It would be OK to repeal it."

But, he added: "It would be OK also if a strict constructionist viewed it as precedent" and kept the law intact.

21 posted on 11/21/2007 9:02:59 PM PST by narses (...the spirit of Trent is abroad once more.)
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To: Pyro7480

“Swift boating” otherwise known as vicious truthing!


22 posted on 11/21/2007 9:04:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Your "dirt" on Fred is about as persuasive as a Nancy Pelosi Veteran's Day Speech)
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To: Interesting Times

Thanks for the thumbs-up.

You’ve been around a while! :)


23 posted on 11/21/2007 9:08:01 PM PST by Steely Tom (Steely's First Law of the Main Stream Media: if it doesn't advance the agenda, it's not news.)
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To: DakotaRed
He cannot be “swift Boated” unless he has a detrimental truth he is hiding from the public to get himself elected, like John ‘F’raud Kerry did.

That would be his long standing position on the executive board of a gay activism organization whose raison d'etre is to abolish age of consent laws.

24 posted on 11/21/2007 9:08:35 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck is the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aren't going.)
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To: Steely Tom

You’ve certainly got their modus operandi down cold.

I’ve been calling them “the Democrat Media” for quite awhile, although “the godless Media” is beginning to have a lot of attraction for me.

I’d call them “Pravda” but that means “truth” in Russian, and I’d hate to offend the truth.


25 posted on 11/21/2007 9:09:01 PM PST by EternalVigilance (Our God-given rights, and those of our posterity, are not open to debate, negotiation or compromise!)
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To: Pyro7480

Definition: swiftboat - v., to expose a poseur and reveal his true character by bringing forth convincing evidence


26 posted on 11/21/2007 9:10:33 PM PST by SergeiRachmaninov
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To: tear gas
" I could never ask our troops to salute Rudy Giuliani."

Even if he wears his fishnet stockings and black gloves?

27 posted on 11/21/2007 9:14:04 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
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To: Pyro7480
I have done a little research on the complaints of these folks. Here is one of the pieces of info I have found. It is in regard to the testimony of the emergency preparedness guy before the 9/11 commission. He is a Hillary supporter. So far I have not found anything from him that backs up the families' complaint; he seems to have emphasized some kind of turf problem between the police and fire depts:

Later in the day, however, Jerome M. Hauer, who had served as director of the Office of Emergency Management for Mr. Giuliani, said the city had purchased radios to permit the two agencies to communicate, but had run into political problems.

"We attempted to get the Police and Fire Departments to communicate on both a common radio frequency at hazardous materials incidents and on an 800 megahertz frequency at major emergencies," Mr. Hauer said. "We were unable to get the two groups to share a common frequency at hazardous materials emergencies and the 800 megahertz radios were carried by fire chiefs, although rarely used, but not by the Police Department."

http://www.skyscrapersafety.org/html/article_20040520.html

28 posted on 11/21/2007 9:14:45 PM PST by freespirited (I'm voting for the GOP nominee.)
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To: Pyro7480
"Will Rudy Be ‘Swiftboated’?"

Does a bear poop in the woods?

29 posted on 11/21/2007 9:16:05 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Our God-given unalienable rights are not open to debate, negotiation or compromise!)
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To: EternalVigilance
I’ve been calling them “the Democrat Media” for quite awhile, although “the godless Media” is beginning to have a lot of attraction for me.

I’d call them “Pravda” but that means “truth” in Russian, and I’d hate to offend the truth.

I haven't hit on the perfect term for them, so I try different ones. I think Rush's "Drive By Media" is very very good, but when I use it I feel like I'm poaching from the master.

I think that, for Soviet Citizens, the name "Pravda" as used for the party's main propaganda organ, was kind of a sick joke. Kind of like that Catholic "gay" organization that calls itself "Dignity." Or, for that matter, the American Civil Liberties Union.

We live in the age of the public sick joke, which laughs in your face, with it's tin-foil and rhinestone halo wagging back and forth, not even trying to hide the fake coat-hanger that holds it crookedly aloft.

30 posted on 11/21/2007 9:17:01 PM PST by Steely Tom (Steely's First Law of the Main Stream Media: if it doesn't advance the agenda, it's not news.)
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To: DakotaRed

“He cannot be “swift Boated” unless he has a detrimental truth he is hiding from the public to get himself elected, like John ‘F’raud Kerry did.”

Shows how damaging lies and innuendo can be to a candidate. But let’s put this is perspective: Vietnam happened 30-40 years ago and halfway around the world. All we had were photos, camera footage and people’s memories... 9/11 was different- it happened here in America, was filmed from the moment the planes slammed into the WTC towers, was shown daily for weeks, maybe months; and much of what RG did was reported, filmed, photographed and analyzed daily.

Secondly, NY City for many decades had a deep split between the NYPD and NYFD and it was a continuous battle to get them to work together for many mayors. RG finally appointed a Chief to oversee and coordinate both departments to end the turf wars. He was reviled unfairly for that especially in the NY City media...

Doesn’t mean i’m an RG supporter, just want to shed some light on the subject..


31 posted on 11/21/2007 9:18:44 PM PST by billmor (tenjooberrymush)
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To: Pyro7480
Fire Dept officials were criticized by the staff of the 9/11 commission. In fact, their bad call was blamed for lost lives. Communication failures were deemed inevitable in a disaster of this scale.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In a report issued before Wednesday's testimony, the panel's staff found that New York fire officials had failed to realize that they could have dispatched firefighters more quickly to the South Tower in the crucial minutes after the skyscraper was hit by the second plane. Because of a lack of timely information, commanders dispatched new fire units to the South Tower instead of turning to units on hand in the North Tower. As a result, the additional firefighters arrived later and, in many cases, were killed in the ensuing collapse, the report said.

"The decision to handle the South Tower by dispatching new units meant that the number of firefighters available to help evacuees in that tower was relatively small for at least the first 20 minutes after the tower was hit, though that number sadly was rising in the minutes before that tower collapsed," the staff wrote in a 10-page report.

That haunting conclusion followed Tuesday's report, which acknowledged numerous acts of heroism and bravery on Sept. 11, 2001, but detailed widespread problems with the communication and organization of New York police and fire officials. The panel found that employees in the South Tower were erroneously told to stay there by 911 operators even after an evacuation order had been issued, and despite the fact that one of the stairwells in that tower remained passable.

By contrast, Wednesday's report praised the emergency response to the attack on the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, crediting a clear command system that vested a significant amount of power in one entity: the Arlington County Fire Department. But the commission report also cautioned that the "two experiences are not comparable" because of the scale of the calamity at the World Trade Center, which involved tens of thousands of potential victims and was far less contained than the devastation at the Pentagon.

But the staff also found that authorities in the Washington area reported communication glitches and other problems similar to those in New York. In an "after-action report" by Arlington County, for example, officials described problems with radio channels and equipment that had also plagued firefighters and police officers at the World Trade Center.

"Cellular telephones were of little value. . . . Radio channels were initially oversaturated. . . . Pagers seemed to be the most reliable means of notification when available and used, but most firefighters are not issued pagers," the Arlington report said, according to the commission.

The report concluded that command, control and communication problems "will likely recur in any emergency of similar scale." It recommended that New York adopt an "incident command" system to provide better coordination during major emergencies. Although Bloomberg and other New York officials testified that their new plan fits that definition, several commission members argued that the plan may cause more problems than it solves.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39104-2004May19_2.html

32 posted on 11/21/2007 9:22:34 PM PST by freespirited (I'm voting for the GOP nominee.)
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To: tear gas
The victims of 911 know Rudy is a coward.

Really? What kind of BS statement is that? What mayor of MAJOR U.S. city would have done better that morning? Remember?

I don't even support this guy. But give me a break. He did well on 9/11!

33 posted on 11/21/2007 9:27:33 PM PST by outofstyle (My Ride's Here)
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To: Steely Tom
We live in the age of the public sick joke, which laughs in your face, with it's tin-foil and rhinestone halo wagging back and forth, not even trying to hide the fake coat-hanger that holds it crookedly aloft.

Yeah. Kinda like "RU-486."

"Are you for eighty-six"?

eighty-six
One entry found.

Main Entry: eighty–six
Variant(s): or 86
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: probably rhyming slang for 3nix
Date: 1959
slang : to refuse to serve (a customer); also : to get rid of : throw out

34 posted on 11/21/2007 9:28:17 PM PST by EternalVigilance (Our God-given rights, and those of our posterity, are not open to debate, negotiation or compromise!)
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To: narses
What's any of that have to do with the accusations by the 911 union crew?

What is YOUR motive for tearing down a GOP contender?

Who do YOU advocate as presidential material?

There's been a eormous push by the Romneybots/Romneyites on this site lately. Tear down everyone else that counts (Fred and Rudy)...elevate everything possible about Romney. The Romeny Zombie Army.

Is Mitt Romney you man?

35 posted on 11/21/2007 9:33:57 PM PST by Mariner
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

The Anti-Rudi posts here are worse and more distasteful than their DU counterparts on the democratic forum.


36 posted on 11/21/2007 9:34:02 PM PST by Count of Monte Logan
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To: Mariner
What is YOUR motive for tearing down a GOP contender?

I abhor pedophilia. Rudy was on the executive board of the Stonewall Veteran's Association for years. There is no defence for this man in polite society. Period.

37 posted on 11/21/2007 9:45:14 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck is the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aren't going.)
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To: Count of Monte Logan
I tell the truth, if you want a left winger.

You must want only one party, the republicrat party.

No conservatives allowed!

38 posted on 11/21/2007 10:10:25 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Rudy and Romney, For reply, send a self-abused stomped elephant to the DNC.)
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To: Mariner

narses had a couple of good posts...

for a beginning low-down on Rudy, here is the article on Wikipedia on him..It is quite revealing- shows how he shunned the Conservative Party in NY for years, endorsed Mario Cuomo, D over George Pataki-R, appointed mostly Liberals and Democrats to the NY State judiciary and to many NT State commissions, and accepted the Liberal Party endorsement. He has said he is a Rockefeller Republican..That means Trouble with a capital T..Rockefeller is the poster boy for RINO...been there, saw that firsthand...

Here is the Wikipedia URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani


39 posted on 11/21/2007 10:10:58 PM PST by billmor (tenjooberrymush....)
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To: billmor

I too am not a RG supporter. But, too many of us, Viet Nam is still fresh and vivid in our memories.

As for the Swift Boat Vets, the lies and innuendoes were actually about them, not by them. In the rapid fire cry of how wrong it is to bash a Veteran, it was completely missed that the Swift Boat Vets are a group of over 250 men, all Highly Decorated Combat Veterans who spent much more time fighting in country than ‘Lurch did.

As far as I’m concerned, Lurch threw away his membership in the Brotherhood by his slanderous lies he told in 1971 and since. He was exposed for what he is and the left now tries to make the term Swift Boating what it isn’t.

In its truest sense, Swift Boating is what we need more of, exposing lying politicians that hide their nature from us.


40 posted on 11/21/2007 10:34:00 PM PST by DakotaRed (Liberals don't rattle sabers, they wave white flags)
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