http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/3127
August 11, 2007
Rudy: Open mouth, insert foot
GOP frontrunner admits screwup on Ground Zero claim
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy:
You just can't stop opening your mouth and inserting your foot -- all
the way up to your butt.
Presidential wannabe Rudy Giuliani's claim that he had spend as much
time at Ground Zero in the after math of the 9/11 terrorist attacks as
first responders left jaws dropping and tongues wagging.
Had, people wondered, the presumed GOP frontrunner lost it?
Was he inhaling?
No, Giuliani was just doing what Giuliani does best -- overstating the
facts.
In other words: Lying.
Wasn't the first time the former New York Mayor has been caught in a
lie.
Won't be the last.
Reports Libby Quaid of The Associated Press:
Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he
misspoke when he said he spent as much time, if not more, at ground
zero exposed to the same health risks as workers combing the site
after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I think I could have said it better," he told nationally syndicated
radio host Mike Gallagher.
"You know, what I was saying was, 'I'm there with you.'"
The former New York mayor upset some firefighters and police officers
when he said Thursday in Cincinnati that he was at ground zero "as
often, if not more, than most of the workers."
"I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same
things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them," he
told reporters at a Los Angeles Dodgers-Cincinnati Reds baseball game.
Fire and police officials responded angrily, saying Giuliani did not
do the same work as those involved in the rescue, recovery and cleanup
from the 2001 terrorist attacks, which left many workers sick and
injured.
On Friday, Giuliani said he was trying to show his concern for the
workers' health.
"What I was trying to say yesterday is that I empathize with them,
because I feel like I have that same risk," he said.
"There were people there less than me, people on my staff, who already
have had serious health consequences, and they weren't there as often
as I was," Giuliani said, "but I wasn't trying to suggest a
competition of any kind, which is the way it come across."
Giuliani's explanation further angered his ground zero critics,
prompting several to issue a statement demanding an apology.
"He is such a liar, because the only time he was down there was for
photo ops with celebrities, with politicians, with diplomats," said
deputy fire chief Jimmy Riches, who spent months digging for his
firefighter son.
"On 9/11 all he did was run. He got that soot on him, and I don't
think he's taken a shower since."
Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of
Fire Fighters, a union that fiercely opposes Giuliani, said he doubted
Giuliani misspoke.
"I think he was simply showing what his true character is — a
self-absorbed, self-deluded promoter who got caught and is now just
simply trying to backtrack," Schaitberger said.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards offered his own
criticism of the former mayor.
"That's all we need is another person trying to exploit the tragedy of
9/11," Edwards said while campaigning in Las Vegas.
"What he ought to be talking about instead is trying to explain why
the firefighters and the first responders didn't have the equipment
.... to get the job done."
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Poor phony 9/11 photo-op "hero". Mebbe he oughta stick to dresses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrE6FMpai8&eurl=
Harry
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