One can learn all kinds of interesting things watching “Meet the Press.” For example, yesterday, Tom Brokaw claimed that Rudy Giuliani’s television ads airing in Florida “don’t mention terrorism.”
“I’ve just gotten back from Florida. Rudy Giuliani’s ads on the air don’t mention terrorism. He’s the man who reduced the corporate taxes in the city of New York, created new jobs, reduced crime, and also took a lot of people off the welfare rolls."
Listening to the context, Brokaw apparently didn’t do any real research at all. He traveled to Florida, watched a little television, saw some Giuliani advertising that didn’t reference terrorism, and felt he was then in a position to tell a national audience that “Giuliani’s ads on the air don’t mention terrorism.”
Except, that’s not even close to true. Indeed, just last week, Giuliani began airing ads in Florida that used footage and photographs of 9/11, and, in a truly nauseating display, told viewers, “[W]hen the world wavered, and history hesitated, [Giuliani] never did.”
And that ad, of course, comes just two weeks after Giuliani’s Tancredo-esque ad, which also ran in Florida, and which sought to exploit the Bhutto assassination in Pakistan. It featured a voice-over saying, “An enemy without borders. Hate without boundaries. A people perverted. A religion betrayed. A nuclear power in chaos. Madmen bent on creating it. Leaders assassinated. Democracy attacked. And Osama bin Laden still making threats. In a world where the next crisis is a moment away... America needs a leader who’s ready.”
Giuliani’s “ads on the air don’t mention terrorism”? Are we talking about the same Giuliani?
