Rudy vs. The Left

I've gotta admit I had a similar reaction to JPod on yesterday's threat to "swift boat" Rudy Giuliani from the head of the New York ACLU. Meaning: how can we raise money to foot his hotel bills in Iowa and South Carolina?

The Post's David Seifman reported yesterday that some New York lefties are seriously considering an effort to attack Rudy in the manner that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacked John Kerry in 2004 - to reveal the "unvarnished truth" about his mayoralty and deflate his status as an American hero.

Among those Seifman cites is Norman Siegel, the Rudy-era head of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Siegel said he "represents some families of 9/11 victims who he says 'have lots of questions in regard to what Giuliani did' and are prepared to express their concerns." And he wants America to know about Rudy's run-ins with New York City's "civil rights" community, which sued him and City Hall on a constant basis during his time as mayor.

I won't go into the specifics; this paper, this columnist and everybody else in New York covered them exhaustively for years. But Siegel did say his group won 23 out of 27 lawsuits brought against the Giuliani administration for First Amendment violations. What he didn't bring up is the 30 attempts to use the courts to dismantle Rudy's efforts to use zoning laws to rid family neighborhoods of porn shops - every one of which failed.

That was the most substantial and sustained legislative effort taken against the Giuliani administration, and its intent was to undo a key move to make the city a habitable and friendly environment for families.

That's one example of how Rudy, the supposed social liberal, used effective governing tactics to bring about something that America's social conservatives would cheer.

There's no better way to remind people of Rudy's conservative record than to get attacked by Norm Siegel, the Times editorial board, and the rest of the lefty freak show from Greenwich Village.

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