Giuliani Reminds America
By Monte Kuligowski (09/09/04)
The anti-Bush crowd and their friends in the media clearly do not want voters to reflect upon the days and months that followed September 11, 2001. Even though President Bush was attacked for daring to remember 9/11 in an earlier campaign ad, memories of the events that redefined America refuse to lie in obscurity. On August 30, 2004 at the Republican National Convention in New York City, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani took his audience back to the rubble; for out of apparent defeat, America rekindled its sure faith, hope, unity and strength.
Now that a few years have passed, the dark clouds of leftist pessimism have returned to block our view of the sun. Many who once stood resolutely with the president have now given themselves over to Howard Dean-Michael Moore-type-rhetoric. With the assistance of the liberal media the far-left conspiracy theories found their way into mainstream thinking. Even so, leftist clichés like, “Bush led us into an unnecessary war,” or “Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction,” were instantly reduced to ashes at the historical reflections of the mayor. Mr. Giuliani dared to raise the curtain of propaganda allowing the light of reason to overcome the darkness of emotional rant.
It was out of our nation’s greatest single-day tragedy that the Bush presidency was defined. Out of times of crises the true characters of leaders emerge. The president didn’t consult the corruption-laden United Nations on how to respond to terrorism. He didn’t need the approval of France and Germany to act. Mr. Bush instead consulted with American firefighters, rescue workers, construction workers and survivors on how to deal with the terrorists. The Bush Doctrine was formulated out of conviction and strength, not because some international opinion poll revealed that it was politically safe to hunt down the terrorist and all who assist and harbor them.
Mayor Giuliani relayed one exchange between President Bush and a group of construction workers that occurred on September 14, 2001 at ground-zero. With a backdrop of burning wreckage and debris, the volunteers “were advising [the president] in their own words on exactly what he should do with the terrorists.” Giuliani went on to note that, “one of them really went into great detail and upon conclusion of his remarks President Bush said in a rather loud voice, ‘I agree.’” At the president’s affirmation, “the guy just beamed . . . he reached over, embraced the president and began hugging him enthusiastically.”
Out of the rubble, the president unambiguously launched a campaign against global terrorism with the full support of the U.S. Congress; the likes of which the modern era had never seen. Prior to the Bush Doctrine Giuliani noted that the world had created a response to terrorism that allowed it to succeed. Indeed, the Islamist terrorists of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games were released within two months by the German government. And in 1985 terrorists attacked the Achille Lauro and murdered an American citizen just because he was Jewish. This time the Italian government allowed the release of the captured terrorists, fearing reprisal from other terrorist groups. Consequently, the mayor pointed out that, “terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was ‘accommodation, appeasement and compromise.’”
The New York mayor also pointed to the terror-related accomplishments of the Bush administration. The terrorists “heard from us” when we destroyed the Taliban half-way around the world. They heard from us when we removed the man who supported global terrorism, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people, permitted horrific atrocities against women . . . used weapons of mass destruction [and] was himself a weapon of mass destruction.” Libya even got the message “and without firing a shot Gadhafi abandoned weapons of mass destruction.” Nations now think twice about aiding and abetting terrorists.
And, of course, Mayor Giuliani contrasted the flip-flopping of John Kerry with the decisiveness of George W. Bush. Most notably Kerry has been both an anti-war and pro-war candidate in the same campaign. It was also suggested that the senator from Massachusetts still has time to change his position at least three or four more times before the election.
John Kerry says America needs to regain the respect of the world – translation, liberal Europe.
To the contrary, Americans need to regain respect for America. And respect for America is only found within the perimeters of the Bush/Cheney ticket. For the multitude of Democrats disillusioned by ambivalence and flip-flopping, they are welcome to return to the strong and decisive leadership of President Bush. Yes, the same man they supported after 9/11 when his approval ratings topped those of any other president in United States history.
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