One Dead Man; Two Frenzied Pols
Anybody following the New York Senate race knows it's a question of character: two larger-than-life characters in a nasty campaign of ego-bashing. While Hillary Clinton has taken most of the hits, the tide this week has turned.
Clinton's opponent, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is best known for his success in cleaning up the city: the streets, the street people and especially the street crime. But his tough stand on crime, which has given the city a sparkling new reputation (and more tourist dollars to boot), is coming under fire because of the latest police shooting of an unarmed civilian.
Instead of waiting for an investigation, as he did in the case of the unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was killed in a hail of gunfire by New York City police last year, Giuliani chose to strike out early against this latest victim, Patrick Dorismond. Dorismond was killed during an undercover drug sting; he was allegedly shot during a scuffle with an undercover officer, whose gun went off. Before the investigation was even a few days old, Giuliani released Dorismond's sealed juvenile record, in an attempt to show that the 26 year old man had a history of violent behavior.
As city officials reeled in disbelief, Hillary Clinton wasted no time slamming the Mayor's actions:
"I am saddened that the Mayor is continuing his pattern of dividing and polarizing New Yorkers. At a time when New Yorkers are in desperate need of leadership that can bring the city together, Rudy Giuliani continues to tear people apart," Mrs. Clinton said in a press release.
While Mrs. Clinton was later assailed for trying to get a little political mileage out of the tragedy, her response could only have been expected. If the campaign is about character, not issues, as this one seems to be, then character must always land front and center, and Giuliani's character was clearly on trial in this incident.
In fact, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was not as polite as candidate Clinton. He told the New York Post that Giuliani, "sounded like a mentally disturbed person."
Guliani's camp struck back:
"Why is anyone surprised that Mrs. Clinton and her supporters in the Al Sharpton wing of the Democratic Party, including Jesse Jackson, are shamelessly exploiting the situation for a partisan political campaign?" campaign manager Bruce Teitelbaum told the Post.
But the greater question is: Why is anyone surprised that Giuliani would act the way he did? His reputation is not in dispute; let's not forget that the Mayor is depicted as a Nazi in an art exhibit that opened this week at New York's Whitney Museum.
New York pundits don't believe this latest controversy will have much effect on the Senate race, because it's par for Rudy's course. Not to mention, it's not getting much play upstate. As for the influential city vote, New Yorkers have accepted and elected this type of attitude for years. And while they may cry foul o the Mayor in public, secretly, behind the closed doors of those high-priced high-rises, they're glad their streets are safer. Call them crazy.