The New York Times Endorses Clinton and McCain, Ethers Guiliani

The New York Times editorial page threw its endorsements for the Democratic and Republican nominations behind Hillary Clinton and John McCain, respectively.

The editorial page says it is impressed by Clinton’s experience and wonkishness (though it asks her to have Bill Clinton back off.

The McCain endorsement trumpeted the Arizona Senator’s ability to reach across the aisle —- but almost half of the editorial was a scathing critique of Rudy Giuliani.

Why, as a New York-based paper, are we not backing Rudolph Giuliani? Why not choose the man we endorsed for re-election in 1997 after a first term in which he showed that a dirty, dangerous, supposedly ungovernable city could become clean, safe and orderly? What about the man who stood fast on Sept. 11, when others, including President Bush, went AWOL?

That man is not running for president.

The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization* was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.

Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking. When he claims fiscal prudence, we remember how he ran through surpluses without a thought to the inevitable downturn and bequeathed huge deficits to his successor. He fired Police Commissioner William Bratton, the architect of the drop in crime, because he couldn’t share the limelight. He later gave the job to Bernard Kerik, who has now been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.

The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city’s and the country’s nightmare to promote his presidential campaign.

Well, damn. For a second it was looking like they were gonna call his momma a bitch.

The Times‘ endorsements probably won’t sway many voters’ opinions, but their critique is bound to be a talking point in coverage of Giuliani’s struggling, unorthodox campaign over the next few days.

*The lowest point in Giuliani’s mayoralty was his reaction to the death of Patrick Dorismond, an unarmed Haitian-American security guard and father of two. Dorismond was killed by two undercover cops during an attempted drug buy (the confrontation began when Dorismond told the cops he wasn’t a drug dealer and had nothing to sell them and escalated from there). In reflexively defending the officers, he obtained and released Dorismond’s sealed juvenile records to the public (!) to prove, as he said, that Dorismond ‘was no altar boy’ (Ironically, Dorismond had been an altar boy; he and Giulaini attended the same school). He refused to offer sympathy to Dorismond’s mother, saying it would make the shooting seem justified. He praised the cop who shot Dorismond, who had previously shot a neighbor’s dog and pulled out his gun during an argument in a bar. He refused to meet with black civic leaders as tempers flared. And so on. This one incident managed to encapsulate all of Giuliani’s disgusting inclinations and obdurance, but there are many, many others.