USA: FORMER AND CURRENT NEW YORK MAYORS RUDY GIULIANI AND MICHAEL BLOOMBERG PREPARE TO ADDRESS THE RUPLICAN PARTY CONVENTION IN NEW YORK
Record ID:
837603
USA: FORMER AND CURRENT NEW YORK MAYORS RUDY GIULIANI AND MICHAEL BLOOMBERG PREPARE TO ADDRESS THE RUPLICAN PARTY CONVENTION IN NEW YORK
- Title: USA: FORMER AND CURRENT NEW YORK MAYORS RUDY GIULIANI AND MICHAEL BLOOMBERG PREPARE TO ADDRESS THE RUPLICAN PARTY CONVENTION IN NEW YORK
- Date: 25th August 2004
- Summary: (U7) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) . PAN: CONVENTION VOLUNTEERS LISTENING TO BLOOMBERG SPEAK (SOUNDBITE) (English) BLOOMBERG SAYING: "New York is the most wonderful place in the world if you really think about it, yes it is. You read about what goes on elsewhere in the world and you just shake your head and say 'why don't they all understand that New York really is, and America really is the capital of freedom." VOLUNTEERS CLAPPING
- Embargoed: 9th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, AND LOS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAB8WRQD7QD8YWVNXR91YQUX39Y
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: The magic of the mayors - America's 9/11 hero and a
liberal millionaire - will headline at the Republican
Convention on Monday.
There was a time when former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani's relationship with the Republican party was
frosty at best.
But this week, at Madison Square Garden, the
tough-talking mayor will be one of the top attractions at
the Republican National Convention, stumping for President
Bush during a coveted speaking slot Monday (August 30)
evening.
The Republican National Convention 2004 goes under the
banner "A Nation of Courage" -- and what better way to
demonstrate that than by harnessing the power of Rudy
Giuliani -- a name synonymous with the September 11th
attacks and New York's strength in times of tragedy.
Giuliani these days is full of praise for the Republican
party and its leader, George Bush. At a recent political
rally in New Mexico, a smiling Giuliani stood side-by-side
with Bush and told the cheering thousands, "President Bush
is already in our history books as one of our great
American presidents for what he has done to restore
America."
A one-time Democrat, Giuliani only became the Republican
Party standard-bearer after 9/11. The attacks on the Twin
Towers and his handling of the disaster sky-rocketed him to
both national and international fame.
Hank Sheinkopf, a political and media strategist said,
"Smart move to get Rudy Giuliani out there in the hustings,
particularly in the mid-West where he can make a
difference."
"He is the hero of 911, he is New York's Mayor and he is
a Republican and what better way to prove that John Kerry
isn't as tough as he seems than to send a really tough guy
out there," he said.
Giuliani is set to spend his entire speech to RNC
delegates talking about September 11th with his traditional
candour that made him America's 9/11 hero.
The Bush-Cheney campaign will be hoping some of Rudy's
fighting-terror credentials will rub off on an
administration beleagued by controversy over White House
handling of 9/11.
Some are sceptical of Giuliani's motivation, and ask why
he's so willing to use his 9/11 credentials to help Bush
back into power.
Sheinkopf, along with many other political observers,
say it's all part of Rudy's grand plan to perhaps run for
President himself one day.
"What's in it for Rudy?" said Sheinkopf, "Rudy now has
lots of friends in the Republican party made by helping
George Bush which makes him a better shot in his own mind
of getting the Republican nomination in 2008," he said.
Speculation is also rife that Giuliani could join a
second Bush administration, perhaps as Vice President,
Attorney General or Homeland Security Secretary. The only
thing that's known for certain, Giuliani is an ambitious
and wily politician, who has long has his eyes on a
national position.
Another well known New York City Mayor -- the current
chief of the Big Apple, media-magnate, Michael Bloomberg,
will also be speaking on day one of the RNC.
Like Giuliani, he too is hardly a dyed-in-the-wool
Republican. A life-long Democrat, Bloomberg only switched
to the Republican party to compete in a less crowded field
in the mayoral race in 2001.
The multi-millionaire, who calls New York and America
"the capital of freedom", appears in an RNC promotional
video hailing New York's ability to chose leaders.
Bloomberg is far from a believer in the more traditional
Republican values. During the RNC he'll be attending two
events that will likely make the right-wing of the party
recoil. Bloomberg will be appearing with gay Republicans
and with the pro-choice lobby at separate events.
It's these very liberal credentials that are the
attraction for the Bush-Cheney campaign.
"By showing Mike Bloomberg as the Republican, they are
showing a softer and kinder face of Republicanism," said
Sheinkopf adding that the Bush-Cheney campaign is "Trying
to get the rest of the world to see that they are not just
right wing kooks, which is what they are most afraid of
being in New York -- because that's what people in the
streets are going to call them."
But for all the political posturing at Madison Square
Garden this week, Mayor Bloomberg's only real focus will be
to make sure things go smoothly for both delegates and New
Yorkers alike - and it'll be a tough challenge to keep two
largely polarised sides happy.
With the promise of numerous daily protests,
heavily-congested traffic and frustrated residents,
Bloomberg is walking his own political tightrope. On the
one-hand, he must make the invited Republicans feel happy
and do his bit to cheerlead President Bush, but on the
other hand, be mindful of his own constituency (which goes
the mayoral polls once again in 2005) -- a highly Democrat
city which didn't really want the RNC in town in the first
place. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None