Update: Giuliani - "I misspoke."

Sure you did, Rudy.

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.'"

..."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.

Chasing the Chimp

I was away this past week, but here is what I've seen happening with Curious George just these last few days alone:

Bush, Mr. Compassionate Conservative, threatened to veto the S-CHIP Program, (State Children's Health Insurance Program). The legislation renews an effort to provide health insurance to children of America's working poor. But President Bush is threatening to veto the plan.

In the midst of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bush decided to blame Congress for not spending the discretionary highway monies in the budget properly while at the same time, is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations.

Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty had earlier rejected a 5 cent per gallon tax to help in funding road and bridge repairs.

When asked about the Pat Tillman case, in which seven separate Pentagon investigations have all been a dead end, Bush decides to look the other way and then invokes executive privilege dealing with the death of the soldier whose sacrifice this administration used in the drumbeat for war.

The House of Representatives passed a bill (HR 3159) which would guarantee troops as much time at home as they spend deployed. The vote count was 229-194 (191 Republicans and 3 so called Democrats whose days are numbered by this vote, no doubt).

The White House's response? The bill would “infringe on the president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief to manage the readiness and availability of the armed forces” and would “substitute the mandates of Congress for the considered judgment of our military commanders. If this legislation were presented to the president, he would veto the bill.”

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

So let's recap: We can't afford to continue providing children in need with health care (approximately $7 billion a year over the next 5 years). We can't afford to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, meaning dams, bridges, power grids, water supplies, etc., that are in desperate need of repair and are at critical conditions at the cost of $160 billion over the next 10 years. But we can afford $12 billion spent in Iraq monthly (close to $600 billion and counting that we know of), and we can afford more corporate tax cuts. They claim to support the troops, but won't give them much needed time at home, and earlier this year, the White House opposed a 3.5% increase in pay for the military. Now they are fighting a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to an official's comments last week.

Republicans at their finest, protecting billionaires in need. God, I hate these people.

Giuliani the Great: I worked with Ground Zero responders.

I've been meaning to catch up on the last weeks events and have been taking notes furiously, but I couldn't let this one go without commenting on it.

"America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani had the audacity to compare himself equally with Ground Zero 9/11 responders in terms of working at the site.

"This is not a mayor or a governor or a President who's sitting in an ivory tower," Giuliani said. "I 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."

What a hack! No, Rudy, you weren't exposed to the same toxins they were, because you wore a respirator. The same kind of respirator that real 9/11 responders and rescue workers didn't wear because OSHA rules weren't enforced for fear of slowing down work.

Of course, the real 9/11 heroes, you know the ones who are now disabled because of lung problems and can't get medical treatment, are outraged.

Queens paramedic Marvin Bethea, who said he suffered a stroke, post traumatic stress disorder and breathing problems after responding to the attacks, said "I personally find that very, very insulting. Standing there doing a photo-op and telling the men, 'You're doing a good job,' I don't consider that to be working," said Bethea, 47.

Ironworker Jonathan Sferazo, 52, who said he spent a month at the site and is now disabled, runs a worker advocacy group with Bethea and called Giuliani's comments "severely" out of line. "He's not one of us. He never has been and he never will be. He never served in a capacity where he was a responder," Sferazo said.

Now, no one is saying that Giulani was manning a bulldozer, or cutting steel with a welder, but his claim that "I was working there with them" gives you the impression that that's what he wants you to think. The thought that Rudy was knee deep in rubble, arm sleeves rolled up, trolling through toxic dust with a big "S" on his chest is the disingenuous picture he's trying to paint.

Some people just have absolutely no shame. But what do you expect from a man that had his first marriage to his second cousin annulled and whose children from his second marriage are supporting Obama because they don't like his third wife. Nice family values, huh?

On Vacation...

...and getting married, but boy, there's so much that's happened in the last week, I know I'll be beating on my keyboard frequently, so stay tuned.