Hallelujah! New York Times Does An Epic Fact-Check Of Rudy's Multiple Falsehoods
November 30, 2007 -- 9:51 AM EST // //

As you regulars know, this blog has been obsessing endlessly about the fact that the big news orgs have yet to take a genuinely tough line on Rudy Giuliani's chronic mendacity, which at this point has taken on a soaring, almost operatic quality.

But today The New York Times has come through in a big way, delivering an epic, front-page fact-check of the multiple falsehoods that have been tumbling forth from Rudy since the beginning of Campaign 2008. The piece is just devastating, saying as clearly as one could expect from the Times that Rudy is, well, full of sh-t:

In almost every appearance as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph W. Giuliani cites a fusillade of statistics and facts to make his arguments about his successes in running New York City and the merits of his views.

Discussing his crime-fighting success as mayor, Mr. Giuliani told a television interviewer that New York was "the only city in America that has reduced crime every single year since 1994." In New Hampshire this week, he told a public forum that when he became mayor in 1994, New York "had been averaging like 1,800, 1,900 murders for almost 30 years." When a recent Republican debate turned to the question of fiscal responsibility, he boasted that “under me, spending went down by 7 percent.”

All of these statements are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong...

An examination of many of his statements by The New York Times, other news organizations and independent groups have turned up a variety of misstatements, virtually all of which cast Mr. Giuliani or his arguments in a better light.

Ahhhhh -- the sweet sound of real journalism.

The piece is chock-full of this sort of stuff. As you read through the piece, Rudy's multiple falsehoods topple like dominoes in the face of aggressive fact-checking. And glory be, The Times actually uses the "F-word" -- "false" -- to describe Rudy's claims. Perhaps best of all, check out how one of Rudy's supporters, GOP strategist Frank Luntz, justifies Rudy's constant dissembling in the piece:

"When he talks about New York, people see it," Mr. Luntz said of Mr. Giuliani, "and they feel it, and if a number isn’t quite right, or is off by a small amount, nobody will care, because it rings true to them."

In other words, who cares if Rudy lies -- most voters won't ever figure it out, so we're going to keep on doing it. You couldn't ask for a more perfect illustration of the Rudy team's contempt for the truth -- and the voters -- than that.

Which gives us an opportunity to pose this question yet again: When is Rudy's chronic mendacity going to become part of the pundit narrative of Campaign 2008? When is this constant dissembling going to be discussed by political commentators as indicative of large flaws in Rudy's character, just as pundits are so quick to do about Dem candidates on the strength of far less than this?

The evidence is now right there on the front page of The Times for all to see -- and as an added bonus, Rudy's own backers are confirming that they don't see a problem with his chronic fibbing. So there's simply no longer any excuse for commentators to ignore this.

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