Rudy Giuliani comments on the outrage of NYC Firefighters: "radio malfunctions"
Rudy will be dogged by the firefighters until the race is over and he should be. Check out his response to some of their major problems with Rudy on ABC's THIS WEEK which include his handling of their radios as well as stopping the search at Ground Zero for their fallen brethren. He led by the usual Republican method---giving no bid contracts and ending up with a bad product.
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GIULIANI: Well, the radios that you're talking about weren't put online for three, four, five years after. So, it would have been impossible for me to have those radios ready. It took the city two or three more years...
STEPHANOPOULOS: But they had malfunctioned in 1993.
GIULIANI: But even with the new equipment, it took another two or three years for those radios to be put online. So it would have been impossible for us to have gotten them online before that, given the fact that it took so long afterwards. As far as ending it too soon, I kept it going, you know, as long as we could. I mean, I was just as involved, just as hurt, just as interested, and I had friends that I lost that I wanted to see recovered just as much as everyone else.
Amanda did a little digging:
But it wasn’t “impossible” to get new radios to these firefighters, as Giuliani tried to claim. After the 1993 incident, Giuliani gave Motorola a $14-million no-bid contract. Despite this exorbitant sum, the radios were faulty and had to be taken out of service in March 2001, after a “distress call from a firefighter trapped in a burning house” went unheard.
(Here's CNN's piece back on 3/11/07 
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DownloadPlay (1449) on the protests over stopping the search) (1920) | I've posted a ton of articles and videos on this issue alone. (full transcript via THIS WEEK below the fold)
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've also talked a lot about your record after 9/11. There's a group of pretty determined firefighters, who want to defeat you on this issue. They're led by the deputy fire chief, James Riches, whose son died -- also a firefighter -- on 9/11.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES RICHES, DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF, FDNY: He's the guy on the top. He's the guy to yell at. He takes the hit. And my son is dead because of it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He blames you.
GIULIANI: I feel very bad about that. And I feel very bad at the whole situation. I feel these people -- all these people, myself and all the people that were involved in this -- have been very hurt by this. And it creates a lot of pain. It creates a lot of suffering. And if they're angry at me, so be it.
I did everything I -- I did everything I could think of doing in that situation to help. I think I made mostly the right decisions. Probably didn't make all the right decisions, but I tried very hard to alleviate the problem as much as I could, and to lift the spirits of the city.
And in most cases, I think I made the right decisions. In some cases I may not. And then maybe just some people that are angry at me for it, and I'm not going to argue with them. My gosh. They've gone through too much for anybody to be arguing with them.
Stephanopoulos: They make two main charges. Number one, that those firefighters in the north tower, many of them lost their lives because their radios didn't work. They also say you ended the recovery efforts too soon.
Giuliani: Well, the radios that you're talking about weren't put online for three, four, five years after. So, it would have been impossible for me to have those radios ready. It took the city two or three more years...
STEPHANOPOULOS: But they had malfunctioned in 1993.
GIULIANI: But even with the new equipment, it took another two or three years for those radios to be put online. So it would have been impossible for us to have gotten them online before that, given the fact that it took so long afterwards. As far as ending it too soon, I kept it going, you know, as long as we could. I mean, I was just as involved, just as hurt, just as interested, and I had friends that I lost that I wanted to see recovered just as much as everyone else.
So, I did it -- I did it -- it was going on, actually, all during the time I was there, until the time I left. I never took -- I never took any action to have some kind of a precipitous halt to what happened there. And if they think that, that just isn't correct, and I would never have done anything like that. I had too much at stake, even personally, for an action like that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: These firefighters say they're going to be dogging you in South Carolina and Florida. And Senator McCain's campaign says this is going to be a tough general election issue. It's one more reason, they say, not to vote for you.
A New York City Council report on the fire department’s radio procurement process concluded:
Thus, despite its acknowledgment two years earlier that several manufacturers were developing technology that might meet FDNY’s CAI specifications, and in apparent disregard of its pledge to evaluate new technologies and products, the FDNY appears to have elected to accept a radio representing an entirely new communications technology from Motorola rather than conduct a competitive review of products and prices.
Giuliani loves and supports the troops and the firefighters - just not as much as money and women.
This is his real Xmas card.
I don't trust Rudy.
I am in no way a supporter of Ron Paul, but I was interested in how he fared on MTP this morning, so, since I don't have cable, I hit the blogs to find out. Not one post on this one, on FDL, on Americablog, etc. You guys aren't journalist, you're cheerleaders. If an issue comes up you don't like, you just ignore it, or ban it. If a candidate scares you a little, your try to ignore him the same way Fox and Friends do. Ron Paul is news. I don't support him, but, guess what, journalist are supposed to cover what is newsworthy. Straighten up and fly right, boyz. Or at least announced yourself as utterly partial and nonjounalistic in any way. One or the other.
Site Monitor: You want to loosen the tin foil hat a little? If you look at yesterday's posts, Nicole said they were going to post fewer things over the holidays to give the contributers a break. I looked at the upcoming schedule and there IS a Ron Paul post coming up. You can now apologize to the site for being an utter ass. And guess what, Francis? We're not journalists. It's an opinion blog and we can put up anything we want when we want it. Don't like it? Start your own damn blog, give us the URL and we'll come over and tell you how to do your business and be asses about it too. Go ahead--make our day.
Col. Klink speaks 9/11 from his arse, indeed.
Every time 9/11 he opens his 9/11 mouth, he 9/11 keeps the 9/11 myths and wounds open and 9/11 alive.
Lord oh lord...
amato, thanks for continuing to highlight what a fraud ghouliani is.
i also heard there's 9/11 human remains buried in potholes throughout nyc, compliments of ghouliani.
and i heard he had foreknowledge the towers were going to collapse. i think there's a newsclip of him saying this, somewhere on youtube...
Giuliani came across on Stephanopoulos as what he is, toast.
Nonsense.
Every bicycle messenger company in New York City can get compatible two way walkie-talkies to their bikers on a moments notice so to hear that The City of New York claim can't do the same for its cops and fireman is so beyond the reach of reality that it boggles the imagination.
Here's to Mr. Ghouliani's campaign continuing its pancaking, controlled, free-fall, implosion before it get out of South Carolina.
Goodbye.
~Nyc
The Lying King.
Rudy let the firefighters die with his corporate cronyism but Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd give him BJ's every time the camera is on
Rudy is lying again. NYPD had radios that worked, which proves that it wasn't impossible to have working radios for FDNY. I guess this means that Rudy isn't the next Mussolini. Mussolini made the trains run on time, Rudy can't make the radios work. So Rudy is a failed fascist.
I agree with OxyCon, that was my first reaction, too, that NYPD had working radios.
There is a video somewhere which shows Ghouliani smiling at a press conference upon hearing the news that all the gold was recovered from the WTC, and within the next day or two Ghouliani called off the rescue efforts. I hope the NYFD buries him in all his lies.
What is the meaning of the word 'expect'?
You can expect something if someone promised you something, You can expect something if someone owes you something, but when Giuliani says: " I don't just pray for miracles, I don't just hope for miracles, I EXPECT(emphasis Giuliani) miracles." isn't that going a little too far, or even much too far. Of whom does he EXPECT miracles? Mother Teresa? Or heaven forbid - god himself?
Then: "Of course I appointed every republican in New York I could find to the bench".
Why are people still supporting this ass?
I have to hand it to the Republicans. I am rarely undecided, but this year I simply can't make up my mind who would be the worst possible candidate. First one will sprint ahead and then another will catch my attention. Between the theocratic autocrats and the autocratic theocrats what a field to choose from!
Who Rudy Giuliani Is Cannot Be Denied
He talks like him; he lies like him; his financial dealings are suspect like him; he wants war like him; he hires cronies like him. Who is he?
On so many issues, Rudy Giuliani speaks as though he is parrot on our president's shoulder. However, the closer we get to actually considering him the more will reveal just what he stands for. So say the actual Firefighter of 9/11, we cannot elect Giuliani to the most important office of this country.
His determination to continue in spite of intense confrontation is puzzling. He continues, knowing he will be confronted about his part in trying to appoint a crook to a critical government post. He continues to support the Iraq war in spite of the national outrage concerning this war. In his eyes, we have a solid and thriving economy in spite of what the facts bare. Bush and Giuliani share the above as if they were cut from the same tree. I know this country will not elect another Bush, even if he has a different name.
Joseph
"GIULIANI: But even with the new equipment, it took another two or three years for those radios to be put online. So it would have been impossible for us to have gotten them online before that, given the fact that it took so long afterwards."
This statement makes NO LOGICAL SENSE.
Rudy was in a bad spot. It was either new radios, or a tiara for Judith. Guess who won.
UnEasyOne @ 14:
The reason it's difficult to pick the best of the republican candidates, is that there is none. Have you ever tried to pick out the best drop of pond scum on a large cattle watering hole? Neither have I, nor do I intend to.
mainstream media really wants a NYC versus NYC election this year. they really want Hillary vs. Rudy. and the people really don't want that. its funny. they kept plugging away at what winners Hillary and Rudy were, what frontrunners... until finally the bullcrap got to be too much. so now they're chipping away at Giuliani. its good to see arrogant people backed into a corner.
Smellrat - msnbc has full transcript of the Ron Paul interview, and a big opinionated message board full of comments and arguments, if thats what you're interested in typing about. I thought he had a fairly lousy start to his interview, personally.
Why didn't Stephanopolous nail Rudy with the "NYPD had the new radios" point?
Smellrat
there is now a post at FDL about Paul on MTP, maybe you found it already. And believe me, nothing says "merry christmas" more than watching goopers feast on each other.
Rudy is lying his ass off and I hope the fire fighters continue on distroying any kind of chance this fools may have of doing the same thing to this country that he did to the people of NY.
Smellrat @ 4:
This is slightly off topic but to respond to this..timmeh badgered Paul for a half an hour, a lot on the libertarian idea of no IRS. But ron paul's lamest moment came when timmeh asked him about Abe Lincoln freeing the slaves and 'causing' the Civil War, AND timmeh didn't follow up on paul dissing Honest Abe....If you post a cut, it might to be that one. I think Ron Paul went from being a phenom to toast.
This guy will say anything he thinks voters want to hear, true or not. But, problem is, the more he speaks, the more people see him as he really is. And it ain't pretty.
Fuck Rudy...But if he is the future of the GOP,then...more power to him!HA!
OxyCon @ 11:
Trains running on time was most likely a joke against Mussolini.
Straight Shooter @ 12:
If the reports are to be believed, about trucks in access tunnels under the WTC site,
somebody recovered 800 million before the towers collapsed, 200 million afterwards during the clean up / rescue.
Can You Say Mafia.
Can You Say prostitution.
Can You Say Collusion.
Can You Say Extortion.
Can You Say Racketeering.
Can you Say Murder.
the only reason the government want to clean up the streets is to corner the market and eliminate competition.
Rudy Guliani wants us to believe that it quite naturally took 8 years to get new radios for NYS firefighters, which is roughly the same time that it took NASA to figure out how to fly men to moon and return them safely to earth. As much as it bothers me that Guliani is willing to insult the intelligence of Americans by making such an absurd statement, what bothers me even more is that Stephanopolous would let him make such a statement go without even a whimper. The sad truth is that our national broadcast news media has become so cowed and controlled by its corporate owners that people like Stephanopolous have become essentially indistinguishable to me from the likes of Monte Hall and Wink Martindale.
As a former editor for United Press International, which has long since met its demise thanks to the fact that the printed word is becoming anachronistic, I can only say that I'm glad as hell I don't have to work in a profession anymore where I have to look myself in the mirror every morning and think to myself, "What happened to me?"
E. F. Johnson the premier mobile radio company that could have supplied the radios, but alas the company was taken over in 1997 then dismantled and finaly destroyed by interests in 2005.
The result cheap nasty imported radios that dont work as well or last as long as proven old tech.
Toast, anyone!
What makes anybody think Rudy could run the country, if he can't even get a bunch of walkie-talkies working? Hell, he didn't even TRY to get the radios working, and now all he's got is twisted excuses. Actually, he is pretty good at talking, as long as it doesn't have to make any fucking sense at all. I guess that makes Rudy Giuliani the top Republican candidate.
I'm surprised that the reichwing aren't calling the firefighters a bunch of "swift boaters" and "cowards". Oh wait, that's their department.
Then again, the reichwing (most of whom are chickenhawks) called returning soldiers "cowards" for criticizing the illegal war. These people are that shameless, so it wouldn't surprise.
Remember Al Pacino in Cruising, well Rudy had a similar experience. He spent so much time go after gangsters that he became one.
I will never vote for Rudy for president but I have to say something about what I perceive to a lot of crap.
What I have to say in no way reflects on individual Firefighters or Police...
NO ONE CAN IMAGINE what goes on when police and fire depts battle for budget priorities. No matter where
you go or what large city it is always the same. In NYC it is 10X WORSE. You cannot get these guys to agree
on anything. WHEN DEALING WITH THESE UNIONS you have to hold your breathe and plug your ears.
The life and death battle between these two agencies is reflected on every level...it is all political.
Jerome Hauer, the head of an NYC agency dealing with emergency preparedness tried to get the proper
equipment for cross agency communications and couldn't do it because the police dept shot him down at
every turn. Throw into the mix a guy like Rudy and for-get-about-it. As far as contractors and no-bids
are concerned I honestly don't blame Guiliani for going outside "normal" procedures.
Try dealing with these unions over the phone when they want money or try being a local politician
who doesn't go along with every word and sentence when it comes to budgets.
to be a local politician
rudy the sausage loves to fuck pussy-that is all you need to know about mr. 911. he loves the old in & out. he is only interested in power and politics as a means of getting some sweet pussy. FUCK IT, RUDY THE SAUSAGE, FUCK IT HARD
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