His greatest strength as a leader in New York city was that he didn’t care what the New York Times thought. Ever. He didn’t compromise to gain political favor (much more often than not anyway) in the end, this left him with no base locally or nationally.
He also has a terrible tendency (fed by his ego no doubt) to completely mishandle his desire to be a king maker (Endorsing Cuomo over pataki, not running against Hillary) always holding his support and funds till the worst possible moment, by which it was usually too late and poorly timed. This is not the sign of a bad leader, it’s the sign of a poor politician.
At rare moments I have seen the kind of passion and brilliance that can inspire and gain the support of those that might otherwise disagree with him. It was hardly ever visible in this campaign.
The political side is his weakness, and as much as Conservatives and Republicans like to think of themselves above that sort of thing... as we can see with our crop of candidates substance matters for very little.
As a New Yorker, is there any truth to what they say about Rudy and Bernie?
Not just the NYT, he doesn't care what anybody thinks. Evidence of his arrogant self-absorption.......he wants it HIS way. Wants to do what suits him, and have everyone sit back and say nothing.
He baited and demeaned conservatives---arrogantly said "so don't vote for me"----when so/cals sounded the alarm at his religious cleansing of the Repub party, his kicking so/cals to the curb.
His flop as a candidate was predictable----and exactly what he deserves.