Anyone else offended?

[BSmith1068]

Was anyone else offended, and I mean really offended, by the speech Rudy Giuliani gave (and the response of the crowd) last night?

Look – it is a political convention, so you expect a lot of critical attacks at the other side, but this just seemed to be downright insulting and completely out of line.

I think the most insulting part for me was when Rudy started to talk about Obama’s experience and work as a community organizer. The crowd, with Rudy’s encouragement, basically hooted and hollered and screamed “zero” over and over again in response to this.

You can watch it here, It starts at around the 5:00 mark:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/03/sot.rnc.giuliani.entire.cnn

Is this really the face of the Republican Party? Is it truly acceptable to mock and condemn someone because they helped the poor instead of getting a high paying job at some law firm?

The speech pretty much stayed in the gutter from that point on. Rudy even went so long that they were not able to show the video introducing Sarah Palin.

And what was up with the shot of Lower Manhattan without the twin towers in the background for the entire speech? Do we really not know that Rudy was the mayor of NYC during 9/11 and need the reminder?

 

[MobBoss]

No, I actually liked it a lot.

Look, if Obama is going to take Palin to task for being a mayor, then whats the big deal? Mayor > than community organizer any day of the week.

 

[Godwynn]

And what was up with the shot of Lower Manhattan without the twin towers in the background for the entire speech? Do we really not know that Rudy was the mayor of NYC during 9/11 and need the reminder?

Rudy wasn't the mayor of New York City. He was the mayor of 9/11.

 

[Cutlass]

Don't forget, if Rudy hadn't cheated on his wife, Hillary would never have been a senator

 

[nonconformist]

The saddest thing about Rudy is that he used a song about poor, unprivileged black Carribean immigrants to Britain discriminated against by a white conservative etablishment, written and performed by a leftwing anti-US imperialist band as his campaign song.

 

[BSmith1068]

No, I actually liked it a lot.

Look, if Obama is going to take Palin to task for being a mayor, then whats the big deal? Mayor > than community organizer any day of the week.

The Obama campaign has taken Palin to task for having only been a mayor of a very small town and governor of a state with a population less than most cities in the country for less than 2 years because that is all she has done.

Obama has also been a state senator, a U.S. Senator, and has run a brilliant campaign that ousted the Clinton political machine.

My overall point is that arguing the issues (like experience) is perfectly acceptable. Downright derision and mockery is not.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

People watching this should start at 2:00, for about 15 seconds, then skip to 5:00. Anyway, I felt the speech is likable to some or comical to others. But I would only go so far as saying that mostly only those white knighting for Obama were offended.

 

[DBear]

Aw, whatsa matta? Big bad Rudy criticize your precious Obamassiah?

Liberals can dish it out, but they can't take it.

 

[warpus]

I'm offended that Off-topic is saturated with threads I don't care about right now

 

[MobBoss]

The Obama campaign has taken Palin to task for having only been a mayor of a very small town and governor of a state with a population less than most cities in the country for less than 2 years because that is all she has done.

Obama has also been a state senator, a U.S. Senator, and has run a brilliant campaign that ousted the Clinton political machine.

The problem with that, is Obamas experience in all that still isnt the same as the executive experience of being a governor. And the dems dont understand this.

As to the population, Alaska is not the least populated state. Howard Dean was gov of Vermont, with a much smaller population. Was his states population a concern in his run for the presidency? Not at all.

 

[BSmith1068]

Aw, whatsa matta? Big bad Rudy criticize your precious Obamassiah?

Liberals can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Ok - thanks for the troll... This really adds to the discussion.

I admit that I am a Democrat and support Obama - that is pretty obvious from my OP. Even though I have a bias, I don't think that the Dems stooped to this level of mockery, condescension and downright insulting that has been fairly prevalent at the RNC and exemplified by Rudy's speech.

Feel free to counter or challenge my bias by providing examples where the Dems have engaged in the same level of trash (specifically at their convention, and in prime time) and we can have a debate.

Simply responding by insulting is counterproductive and likely to get you unfavorable attention by the mods...

 

[QuoVadisNation]

I'm almost finished watching the entire video. (I was eating breakfast while doing so); you need to admit, Rudy did hand out a few good zingers.

 

[Arwon]

I thought it was long since established that Rudy Guiliani was a ridiculous authoritarian hack, so who cares what he says?

 

[Phlegmak]

The saddest thing about Rudy is that he used a song about poor, unprivileged black Carribean immigrants to Britain discriminated against by a white conservative etablishment, written and performed by a leftwing anti-US imperialist band as his campaign song.

Which band and which song? I don't want to watch any Rudy crap video.

 

[I'm Cleo!]

Well, I think it might be a little confusing. The theme of the Republican convention is "service," and mocking not only Obama but the concept of "community organization" doesn't really make much sense. It'll go over well with people who've completely internalized the "anything associated with Obama = evil" frame, since, to them, community organization by definition doesn't do any good, but will it work with anyone on the fence, who are the ones who are going to decide the election?

The Democrats seem to be trying to define the Republicans as out-of-touch elitists -- which the Republicans have done to Democrats with great success since . . . the mid 1960s? -- and cracking jokes about community organization might actually end up helping that definition. Just put Phil Gramm's statements about a "nation of whiners" up next to Rudy and Sarah Palin mocking community organization and you might have a winner.

Cleo

 

[nonconformist]

Phlegmak

Rudie Can't Fail by the Clash.

Nevermind that this is what a Rudie (RudeBoy) looks like

 

[Alpine Trooper]

He should've bragged about how much more experience he has visiting La La Land on Sunday. I bet each Republicans boner in there would increase by atleast 25%.

 

[Oerdin]

It was gutter politics just like the entire RNC has been.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I did find Rudy's speech rather offensive. There were several little things which probably wouldn't have bothered that much me by themselves, but he just kept going at it.

I liked Palin's speech though.

 

[JollyRoger]

Rudy attacked community service and the conventioners mocked that with "zero"? How will that play with people who volunteer their time to their community?