The Return of DiBrienza
By Azi Paybarah | January 29, 2009 | 3:02 pm
Steve DiBrienza, a former City Councilman known for... READ MORE»
Into a Vacuum Goes the Manhattan Institute
By Jason Horowitz | November 18, 2008 | 7:03 pm
On a recent weekday afternoon, a handful of policy wonks sat in a corner office adorned with maps and books in the Vanderbilt Street headquarters of the Manhattan Institute discussing a political opportunity presented by the current financial crisis. “We feel that the moment is here,” said Steve Malanga, an economic policy expert at the Institute. After losing the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time in 15 years, Republicans are scrambling... READ MORE»
Let’s Not Give Up On the Idea of a More Fuel Efficient Taxi Fleet in NYC
By Steve Cohen | November 1, 2008 | 12:15 pm
Last week, another element of Mayor Bloomberg's plan for sustainable transportation was dealt a significant, but by no means fatal setback. A federal judge blocked implementation of the requirement that all of the City's cabs be powered by hybrid engines. According to The New York Times' Sewell Chan: "In his ruling, Judge Crotty, who was the city's corporation counsel from 1994 to 1997, under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, agreed to block the city... READ MORE»
Spinning St. Louis: McCain Supporters Loved Palin Performance, Debate Format
By Jason Horowitz | October 3, 2008 | 10:21 am
At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Rudy Giuliani set the tone for Governor Sarah Palin and the sharp, well-delivered attack speech that brought her to national prominence. Then, last night, after a poor stretch for Palin highlighted by embarrassing interview performances, Giuliani was back to confidently herald Palin’s return to form. “I mean, this was a fabulous performance,” said Giuliani, walking at a two-step-per-minute rate with his wife, Judith, in a frenzied... READ MORE»
Breaking! McCain Praises Community Organizers
By Jason Horowitz | September 11, 2008 | 9:13 pm
John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin disagree on at least one thing: the importance of community organizers. “Of course I respect community organizers,” said McCain, responding to a question about whether he agreed with the evisceration of community organizers at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. (During the convention, Palin and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, among others, mocked the community organizer job, which Obama had after law school, as meaningless and... READ MORE»
Bernie Kerik Remembers
By Azi Paybarah | September 11, 2008 | 11:53 am
You may not see much today of Bernard Kerik, the former NYPD Commissioner who was on duty during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but he is staying busy. I spoke with him by phone yesterday as he was planting 23 flags outside his home to commemorate each of the police officers he lost that day. He said he was going to a funeral for a New Jersey police officer who worked with his son... READ MORE»
Rudy on Why Size Doesn't Matter; Rudy on Why Size Matters
By Jason Horowitz | September 4, 2008 | 4:35 pm
In two separate speeches yesterday, Rudy Giuliani lauded the virtues of Sarah Palin’s small-town executive experience. During an address to the New York delegation at the Marriott hotel in Minneapolis, he said “Sorry Senator [Obama], if the city is not big enough for you--they are probably that group of people who cling to religion and guns.” And during his keynote address to introduce Sarah Palin at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul later that... READ MORE»
Community Organizers Beg to Differ
By Azi Paybarah | September 4, 2008 | 1:50 pm
Yesterday, Republicans, seemingly at once, started attacking Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer. "What in God's name is a community organizer?" asked George Pataki at a breakfast. "What do they do?" Giuliani implored during his speech last night. And Sarah Palin, in her enthusiastic address, said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." So community organizers are now organizing themselves. John Raskin of the West Side... READ MORE»
The Rudy-and-Sarah Act Goes Down a Storm, But Now the Show's Over
By Jason Horowitz | September 4, 2008 | 12:23 pm
ST. PAUL--For much of Wednesday night, the delegates on the floor of the Republican National Convention had to make the most of the tiny rations of red meat offered to them by the speakers on stage. They happily chanted “drill baby drill” with former Senate candidate Michael Steele, but few jumped out of their seats. They applauded approvingly at Mike Huckabee’s zinger that Sarah Palin “got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska,... READ MORE»
Is Palin a Tax-Slashing Conservative - Or a Big-Spending Socialist?
By Joe Conason | September 4, 2008 | 8:35 am
Ad libbing as he warmed up the Republican convention crowd for their vice presidential nominee, Rudolph Giuliani quipped: “She got an 80 percent approval rating. You don’t get those kinds of numbers in New York!” Of course, getting those numbers would be just as easy for a New York mayor or any other mayor or governor if they were able – like the charming hockey mom -- to send $1200 to every man, woman and... READ MORE»
Rudy's Speech and the Ghost of Bernie Kerik
By Jason Horowitz | September 3, 2008 | 7:46 pm
ST. PAUL—Rudy Giuliani will finally deliver his keynote address tonight, marking his most high profile role in electoral politics since his own ill-fated presidential run. The Giuliani campaign was done in by a variety of factors, not least among them a flawed strategy that put all its eggs in a Florida basket, an ability to assuage conservative concerns about his liberal positions on social issues, his unorthodox personal history, as well as this and... READ MORE»
Now or Never for G.O.P. Attacks on Obama
By Steve Kornacki | September 3, 2008 | 6:53 pm
The main strategic knock on the last night's primetime G.O.P. convention session was its decided lack of red meat-attacks on Barack Obama. Instead, the evening was given over to building John McCain's biography and to framing his campaign as a principled crusade that rises above partisan politics. Good enough, but with Sarah Palin slated to speak tonight and John McCain on tap for tomorrow night, when will the Republicans showcase the kind of bare-knuckled... READ MORE»
Giuliani and Pataki Go After Biden
By Jason Horowitz | September 3, 2008 | 4:03 pm
MINNEAPOLIS--Both former mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Governor George Pataki had words for Joe Biden at today’s New York delegation lunch. Giuliani said that Biden’s proposal to devolve Iraq into three separate regions meant that he was “totally oblivious to what that has done to Pakistan and India.” He then mocked Biden’s gregarious nature: “Joe has a great deal of experience talking, talking, talking.” Pataki derided Barack Obama’s message of change by saying that, for vice... READ MORE»
Rudy Attacks, Right Out of the Republican Convention Playbook
By Jason Horowitz | September 3, 2008 | 4:01 pm
MINNEAPOLIS—In what may be a preview of his keynote speech tonight to the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani spoke to the New York Republican delegation at a downtown Marriott this afternoon and attacked Barack Obama on matters of national security and experience. “At the top of the ticket they have someone who is the least experienced candidate for president in 100 years,” said Giuliani. Speaking about the war in Iraq and the surge, he said,... READ MORE»
Lunch with Giuliani, Pataki
By Azi Paybarah | September 2, 2008 | 8:16 pm
In an email from the New York delegation: “[We] will hold a luncheon at the Marriott City Center at 30 South 7th Street in Minneapolis, MN tomorrow, Wednesday September 3 beginning at 2:00 pm. "The keynote speaker will be Rudy Giuliani. Additional speakers will include Governor George Pataki, Brigadier General Jon Reynolds, Dr. John Lehman, Governor Jane Swift and Congressman Luis Fortuno. "Members of the media are invited to attend." Which should relieve Representative Peter King somewhat... READ MORE»
