Rudy’s “Greatness” by Association
Anyone who has spent 5 minutes paying attention to the GOP presidential race knows that Giuliani owes his political strength and name recognition to the events of 9-11 and his ability to say the right things at the right time when every television camera in the world was pointing in his direction. Spend another 5 minutes and you will realize that Rudy references 9-11 as often as possible to try and create an emotional tie in the minds of voters back to the days when his approval rating was through the roof.
Now it seems that he is trying to associate another emotional tie in the minds of Republican voters–this time to Ronald Reagan and the day of his assassination attempt. You have to hand it to Rudy, he’s a gifted communicator, but it is surprising that he would twist a discussion about VP selections into annother “proximity to tragedy” event in his career.
“I would want a vice president who was a partner. Someone who was in on everything that was going on, so that that person could take over if, God forbid, something happened. You know, I was working for President Reagan, in fact I had breakfast with him, with a lot of other people, the day he was shot. So, I have been very, very close to a possible presidential assassination and seen how that all worked out that day…
… Giuliani added that at the time Reagan was shot, he was acting associate attorney general and “had some responsibilities to get Hinkley into federal custody,” and handle the arraignment.
Does is strike anyone else as odd that someone like Giuliani would try so hard to associate himself with tragic events? Yet, with the vagueness of the descriptions, it’s obvious he wasn’t as close as he wants to portray. He says, “I had breakfast with him, with a lot of other people, the day he was shot.” Which essentially means he happened to be invited to an event that was on the schedule of the busiest man in the world–several hours, and likely miles away from a near tragedy. In fact, Regan was shot around 2:30 PM, and in a busy day of a president, that equates to a lifetime of separation from the breakfast meeting Giuliani attended.
Rudy’s attempt reminds me of typical local news coverage of some local crime, fire, or other newsworthy event. First, the reporter tells what happened, and then he or she interviews someone who lives in the area to get their response. Typically, these neighbors never saw the actual event, but they really want to be on TV so they tell about how they felt when they heard about the event. It makes me laugh sometimes to see these people try to make themselves part of the story. That’s the same feeling I get from Rudy Giuliani when he tries placing himself “emotionally close” to the Reagan assassination attempt.
It gets even worse when Giuliani adds later that he “had some responsibilities to get Hinkley into federal custody,” and handle the arraignment. He describes these events in such a way that you could mistakenly conclude that he was the one wrestling the gun away from John Hinckley, Jr., when in fact, he probably filed a few papers to officially claim Hinckley as a federal suspect rather than him being charged under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.
Sorry Rudy, we’re just not buying it. There were hundreds if not thousands of people who were physically and chronologically closer to the event than you were, and you don’t see them using their proximity to get elected.
On the other hand, if you want to get a real first-hand witness of the events of March 31, 1981, try this link. It’s a powerful account in Ronald Reagan’s own words. Read it, and you will see a clear difference between true greatness, and someone trying to establish his own “greatness” by association.