Finally! New York Times Says It: Rudy Is Exploiting 9/11
September 11, 2007 -- 12:01 PM EST // //

This is as good a day as any other to hit on this again.

Awhile back this blog ranted endlessly about the fact that Rudy's ongoing exploitation of 9/11 had yet to enter the media narrative of this Presidential race. I wondered why pundits were so reluctant to see Rudy's constant dissembling about his Masterfully Churchillian Performance that day as a clue to the man's character, when the most trivial of gaffes are immediately taken as emblematic of massive character flaws on the part of Dem candidates (see Haircut, $400).

Now, however, there's reason for cheer. The New York Times has come as close as possible, in a reported "Political Memo" piece, to saying the unsayable about Rudy: He's trying to ride his 9/11 magic carpet right into the White House. Check out this priceless lede by Times reporter Marc Santora:

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept 7 — During a Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, Rudolph W. Giuliani asserted, “The reality is that I’m not running on what I did on Sept. 11.”

Two days later, a crowd of nearly 1,000 filed into a ballroom here for a 9/11 Remembrance Luncheon. Graphic images of the exploding towers, dust-covered survivors and even a series of photos that showed someone leaping from a tower were flashed on two giant screens flanking the stage where Mr. Giuliani was about to speak.

“America must never forget the lessons of Sept. 11,” Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, later told the crowd.

Ahhhhh. So good. Don't you just love the idea that Presidential candidate Rudy is speaking about 9/11 from a stage containing a picture of someone jumping out a tower window?

The piece notes that while Rudy had been trying to appear restrained in talking about the disaster, he's now taken to talking in hushed tones to audiences about seeing people jump out of the towers. It drolly adds that he recently "offered a justification for speaking of the attacks often, saying it was important to keep the lessons in mind."

It's worth noting that this justification -- that Rudy wants to make sure that we don't forget the "lessons" of 9/11, as opposed to forgetting his performance that day -- has become a stock justification for his constant references to the tragedy. Here, for instance, is Rudy in a recent interview:

"For me every day is an anniversary of Sept. 11," Giuliani said after reviewing emergency response equipment at the Pinellas Sheriff's Office with Attorney General Bill McCollum and Sheriff Jim Coats. "If we don't talk about Sept. 11, you can't prepare to try to avoid another Sept. 11."

It's also worth noting that there are two types of stories out there about Rudy and 9/11. There's the above Times piece, which hints at Rudy's exploitation of the disaster. Then there are also ones like this Reuters piece, which basically says that running on 9/11 is a risk for Rudy, because it exposes his actual record to more scrutiny. Such pieces typically present Rudy's relationship to 9/11 as hinging on a substantive disagreement about his performance, and this latter type of analysis is what we hear most often from pundits these days. But the reality is that it's the former type of piece that really gets at the central truth about his candidacy. Props to The Times for taking a stab at it.

Now, if only we could get our haircut-obsessive pundits to start seeing Rudy in these terms.

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