Rescue Rudy Redux
Rudy was at Ground Zero more often than the rescue workers? Yea, maybe if you count it in dog years.
Last week, Rudy Giuliani caused a bit of a stir when he suggested that he was at Ground Zero “as often, if not more” than rescue workers at the site. At the time, Atrios commented that such a statement was just begging for follow-up since his empirical claim could be easily verified. Indeed, as one of the prominent figures of the time, Rudy’s whereabouts would have been well documented.
This morning the New York Times obliged, crunching the numbers from Rudy’s mayoral archives. What they found shouldn’t surprise anyone.
A complete record of Mr. Giuliani’s exposure to the site is not available for the chaotic six days after the attack, when he was a frequent visitor. But an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts.
Now I’m sure there will be those who say I’m being a mean ole vituperative blogger for piling on Rudy for his little embellishment. But given that Rudy is the one who wraps himself in the dust covered flag that once adorned the entrance to the World Trade Center whenever someone questions his credibility, a little piling on when he is proven to be a sanctimonious ass is the least he deserves.
More from Meme.
(X-posted at The Xsociate Files)
I’ve never understood just what Giuliani did at Ground Zero, or anywhere else, that was supposed to be so heroic. It seems to me that New Yorkers, along with the rest of us, were so traumatized by 9/11 that anyone in authority who showed up and said appropriate things without, say, giggling (or disappearing for three days) would look appealing.
Oh, and if that nutball 9/11 conspiracy theorist shows up in these comments again, I for one would appreciate it if you could ask him to go somewhere else.