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Rudy: Tough on Crime, Tough on Liberals

FactCheck.org always does a great job of laying bare the bull of national candidates. Their most recent post takes on Rudy Giuliani and his most recent ad, which states that Rudy is both responsible for the drop in crime rates in NYC and also a Conservative sheep among the Liberal wolves in Hippie Town:

FactCheck.org: The Not-Quite Truth About NYC

Rudy Giuliani’s latest TV ad falsely claims New York City experienced “record crime … until Rudy.” In fact, the city recorded its highest rates of both violent crime and property crime years before he took office. The downward trend was well established before he was sworn in.The ad also claims New York is “America’s most liberal city,” but his campaign offers no evidence showing that the city is more liberal than, say, San Francisco; Berkeley; Washington, D.C.; or Detroit, all of which rank as more liberal in a study of voting behavior in the 2004 elections. In that study, New York ranked 21st among cities with populations of more than 100,000.

But of course, NYC as the “Most Liberal City in America” fits well into the Conservative fantasy of the northern Liberal cabal that is New York. After all, the idea of Gary, Indiana as the most Liberal city just doesn’t fit the stereotype. It works well because it gives the impression that Rudy has tackled flaming Liberals in the past and so is qualified to take on Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic candidate.

But of course, like his entire campaign and his entire mythos, that’s all crap.

By Tommy Belknap

Owner, developer, editor of DragonFlyEye.Net, Tom Belknap is also a freelance journalist for The 585 lifestyle magazine. He lives in the Rochester area with his wife and son.