Comments on: President Giuliani

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:44:47 +0000

My gf was across the street when the towers fell. I spent the day trying to find her. It was awful. I’m not a person who likes Giuliani on a political or a personal level (I’ve dealt with his office both in opposition and in cooperation), but I was very thankful for his leadership on that day. On everyday matters, I don’t like the direction he leads, nor his style of leadership, but he knows how to take charge in a crisis.

I remember watching Bush finally manage to stammer weakly on TV and thinking, “Man, I wish we had Clinton back.”

By: Unix-Jedi

Unix-Jedi — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:36:46 +0000

Giuliani was utterly washed up nationally, until September 11th.
I joked about moving to NY, and running for Senate. All I’d do, would be to buy billboards, I’d be in the middle, with my arms kind of crossed, pointing to Hillary on the Left, Rudy on the right. Below that “Vote for me! (Or else, you’ll get one of them!)
(I still think I’d have won in a landslide.)
Rudy wasn’t thought of highly. He’s got no truck with any 200+ year old piece of paper standing in his way, he’s too NYC-centric.
But he *was* a leader in September. When hard decisions were needed, when leadership mattered, he had it, and his reputation has exploded out of bounds with what was shown there. (Similar to what McCain’s experiences showed about him, and his fitness for elected office).

By: Rustmeister

Rustmeister — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:57:28 +0000

Two points:

1. Long-term ethanol from corn won’t work. Corn needs lots of water and nitrogen fertilizer. In the long run it will do more harm than good.

2. As far as Rudy goes, he’d pretty much have me if he weren’t a gun grabber. I agree with some of his other stances, and the ones I don’t agree with aren’t deal breakers in my book.

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:32:48 +0000

Rudy is making a ton of money and has a ton of respect. In the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign, the gloves will come off, the right will smear him, and he’ll fight dirty, just like any other candidate. The shine will rub off and, win or lose, he will emerge with less dignity, respect and adoration than he currently commands. This, said the WSJ a few weeks ago, is why he will not run.

Their premises are right, but I think Rudy knows the money is there for him to take whenever he wants, before or after a stint in Washington. He’s an ambitious guy, a rabidly egomaniacal king prick, and I don’t think he can pass on at least testing the waters. He’s never been afraid of people thinking poorly of him.

Nobody thought Clinton could win. He took a flyer at it and now he’s a king wherever he goes. The reason why any small-chance candidate enters the lottery is because maybe the stars will shine your way at just the right time.

It took prostate cancer to force him out of his last race. We’ll see what it takes this time.

By: beerslurpy

beerslurpy — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 02:05:39 +0000

Rudy will never win nationally. He pushes all the right buttons to piss off about 80 percent of the people who show up to republican primaries. He is only a Republican because he is not extreme enough to fit in with the NYC left wing and run as a Dem. The far-left cities are really career killers for anyone with national level aspirations because of how far to the left it shifts the politics of anyone who runs a winning campaign there.

A similar character would be a Zell Miller old type southern dem- probably acceptable viewpoints for a national level contest, but a huge pariah to his own party.

By: countertop

countertop — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 01:17:46 +0000

smart money says Rudy is making too much money (and enjoying too much) to ever seriously consider running for president. Not only that, but he actually managed to get a huge, mongo major energy law firm to change its name for him.

By: JustinB

JustinB — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 01:08:27 +0000

Depopulate LA and MS and grow sugar cane 24/7. Viva Brazil!

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:42:31 +0000

Ethanol actually kind of is solar energy, really. It’s just a really inefficient way to store it. Even direct solar is a boondoggle, since it takes years for solar cells to even recoup the energy that went into making them, and most typical sunny spots in the lower 48 only get about 250 watts average of sunlight per square meter. 250 watts can barely run my computer. Think what it would take to air condition a house, or even just make a pop tart in the morning. And that’s assuming 100% efficiency from your solar cell. Real cells get pretty crappy efficiency.

By: Brutal Hugger

Brutal Hugger — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:14:50 +0000

How can you doubt our ability to farm our way to energy independence? Dude, the corn comes up from the ground… it’s like magic! Free energy, and it’s yellow! What else is yellow? That’s right, sunlight. Ethanol is just like solar!

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:06:44 +0000

I agree with your assessment on Rudy’s chances as a nominee. I like his push for nuclear and more refineries, but ethanol from corn is a boondoggle. It takes nearly as much energy to make ethanol from corn as you get out of it as a fuel. Corn farmers love it because it keeps the price of corn high, but it won’t do anything to help our energy problems. Be skeptical of any claim we can farm our way to energy independence.