Rudy Gets the MSM's Attack Dogs Rolling

March 8th, 2007 5:43 AM

As has been well detailed here at Newsbusters, Mitt Romney has recently been the object of the MSMs attack dogs (see here, here, here... and many others.). But it seems that, with the recent polls showing it is Rudy Giuliani, rather than Mitt, who leads in the polls, the MSM attack dogs have turned their attention to the nation's Mayor.

For just two recent examples over the last week or so, the MSM has jumped on Rudy's perhaps strained relationship with his children, and scolded Rudy for not facing the tough crowds they think he should face so early in his campaign. And the attack articles are mounting.

Apparently it isn't enough to just go after Rudy, though. Now the Boston Herald is going after his bigoted and obviously stupid potential Conservative voters -- stupid at least as far as the Herald is concerned.

Three marriages is hardly the end of his political troubles. As Giuliani woos conservative Republicans in search of his party’s presidential nomination, he will have to deal with his pro-choice position on abortion, his cheerleading for gun control, his amenability to gay marriage and a soft stance on illegal immigration. And don’t forget Marilyn Monroe.

According to the Boston Herald, Conservative voters will be too stupid to understand that Rudy was just goofing around when he did a turn as Marilyn Monroe at a satiric stage show put on by journalists in 1997.

Of course, to put the real and substantive issues of abortion and gay "marriage" together with dressing up as a woman for a joke, reveals more about how the Boston Herald feels about the issues than it does about how any Conservative voters would feel about Rudy. But it is the Herald's focus on the voters that is the most egregious insult in this piece.

With a wonderful example of an inability to understand politics, the Herald went on to contrast the famous "tank shot" of Michael Dukakis, the single photo that caused the Dukakis campaign to become the butt of jokes for decades now, to Rudy's funnin' as a woman in a funny stage show as if they were somehow one and the same.

Marilyn Monroe? Well, yes. Giuliani dressed up like Marilyn for a satire put on by journalists in 1997. You can bet that photos and maybe videos of the skit will be all over the Internet at some point - I found a couple of photos in about five minutes - and you can bet it will do him no good. Remember Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis being photographed wearing an Army helmet in 1988 - just a helmet, not a blond wig, lipstick, mascara and a dress - and what that did to his campaign?

The Herald doesn't get it at all. Dukakis wasn't putting on the tank commander's helmet to be funny. He was trying to be serious. The juxtaposition of a candidate that wanted to gut the military and was otherwise soft on defense to the same one riding around in a tank as if he was serious about defense is what caused him to be ridiculed, NOT the funny hat!

On the other hand, Rudy wasn't pretending to be something he is not. He was just being funny -- even if it was misguided. Certainly it might seem a tad less dignified for a serious politician like Rudy to dress like a woman, even for a silly stage show, but it WAS just a silly stage show! He was not trying to be serious like Dukakis was.

Rudy was NOT pretending to be a woman, he was just making a joke. By contrast Dukakis made a serious issue into a joke.

The inability of the Herald to understand past political campaigns aside, the fact is writer Jay Ambrose obviously feels that the Conservative voting public is too stupid to see Rudy's silly stage show as anything other than a silly stage show. Ambrose seems convinced that all Conservatives will see photos of Rudy's clowning around and will assume he is some kind of whacked out transvestite.

According to the Herald, Conservatives just cannot separate clowning around from Rudy's seriousness as a viable candidate.

I guess we are all jess too stoopit ta git it, Boston Herald. Good thing you're there to help us dummies along.

As to Rudy, I can imagine the MSM are worried. They are attacking him more and more as each day passes. They must fear he could actually win.