Here’s a quote from Rudy Giuliani that I DO agree with, despite the individual abuses of the Wall Street bonuses.

Wall Street has $1 billion, $2 billion in bonuses, the city had a deficit,” he said on CNN’s “American Morning.” “Wall Street has $15 billion to $20 billion, New York City had a $2 billion, $3 billion surplus, and it’s because that money gets spent.”

While it would severely impact the city not to have them, sometimes it’s better to do the right thing. Nonetheless, Giuliani has been out of sight for a while and is now back considering a run for the Governor’s seat.

In what seems like a lifetime ago, New York City was under his care - and when it was, for a time, it was a good thing. Giuliani came in after a thoroughly disappointing one term by David Dinkins and turned the city around. Having been the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Giuliani knew crime and how to stop it. He was almost single handedly responsible for the downfall of the mafia in New York, having indicted eleven members of the five families and bringing a decades long chapter of power to a relative end. He also took care of the first round of Wall Street criminals, including Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken.

Having been privy to Times Square as a younger person and knowing it as a somewhat enjoyable hell hole were crime at certain times of night were a constant possibility, it was incredible to see what it became by the time Giuliani left office. In fact, the entire city experienced a renaissance and was a constant source of enjoyment, entertainment and sustinence for all of us who lived there.

There were cracks in the armor, though. First of all, his original campaign in 1989 was downright ugly. He picked up Lee Atwater as his campaign manager and for anyone who remembers the race-bating fiasco of the Bush Sr. Presidential Campaign - and the ugly, cynical ambiance of it - it was no surprise that Dinkins won. New Yorkers aren’t easily bullshitted, or scared (heck, the city has consistently voted majority democrat for some time, even after the 9/11 - we know when a political figure is trying to instill fear in us. Sorry. Doesn’t work).

Also, in Giuliani’s last few years in office he did some wacky things, and we’re not just talking about his personal life. On Lexington, Madison, 5th and I’m sure many other avenues in the city he put up barracades and forced New Yorkers to cross at the light. For non-New Yorkers this might seem minor, but to us it was like an alien from outer space who had never stepped foot in the city was now running it. New Yorker’s cross where they want. It’s a busy city and that’s how it goes.

Guiliani was a republican, but, like Bloomberg, he ran and governed as more of a centrist. When I first heard he planned to run for President, I was a bit tentative about endorsing him, primarily because I had that knowledge of history on my side. I remember the ugliness of the first campaign, I remember the nastiness he showed many public and private figures, and I remember the wackiness that I feared would have gotten worse had he been there longer.

And he became Bush’s biggest cheerleader. That was a huge problem. When you have someone who has been right many times and begins going down the path of “just plain wrong”, you have a little fear at the thought of what this person might do in office.

Anyway, despite his personal issues and his support of gay rights, Giuliani has been the poster boy for the far right for quite some time. His mocking of Obama as a community organizer during the Republican convention, the nasty snicker and the pause to let the audience chime in on the laughter was enough for me to campaign against the man. What kind of President to be mocks ANYONE in such a disrespectful way? It was fortunately unpresidential enough for most people to give him the heave-ho by Super Tuesday. Good riddance.

So now, while not confirmed, it looks like he will plan a run against Andrew Cuomo. Hopefully, people will remember the past, or at least be reminded of it. This once respectful man has no place in public office anymore.

Politics, Verbal Paintball lost election, New York in the 90.s, republican right, Rudy Giuliani