Rudy Giuliani is finally figuring out that you can’t be both “pro-choice” and “pro-life” at the same time, and has decided to simply admit he supports abortion rights.This will harm him with much of the GOP base, but it might be better than looking dishonest in trying to play it both ways. At least this might give Republicans something of substance to debate as opposed to a contest over who loves Ronald Reagan the most.
It might be possible to survive being a pro-choice candidate, but also being the pro-OxyContin candidate might not help, beyond increasing the chances at receiving endorsements from Oxy-Contin addicts such as Ruch Limbaugh. Giuliani, who has already had problems with his firm’s clients, now turns out to have worked for Purdue Frederick. That’s the company which sent reps into my office, and the offices of any physician who would let them in, claiming that OxyContin was preferable to short acting narcotics such as Vicodin as there is less potential for addiction. Apparently Rush Limbaugh’s doctor believed that line, as did many other doctors, resulting in an epidemic of addiction to the drug.
It gets worse for Rudy. If all he did was help a company present their side of the story, this might be forgiven. However, it also appears that Rudy tried to bribe the FDA:
According to the book “Painkiller,” by New York Times reporter Barry Meier, both Giuliani and his then-partner Bernard Kerik “were in direct contact with Asa Hutchinson, the administrator of DEA.”
Hutchinson told the Blotter on ABCNews.com today that Giuliani asked for a meeting, “and we gave him a meeting.” Hutchinson says he was aware the company was under investigation at the time, and “any time a company is under investigation I like to give them a chance to make their case.”
Kerik told New York Magazine at the time that Giuliani had raised $15,000 in donations for a “traveling museum operated by the DEA.”
Some officials told ABC News there were questions inside the agency of whether the donations were an attempt to influence the DEA.
Meier wrote that “with Giuliani now in the mix, the pace of DEA’s investigation into Purdue’s OxyContin plant in New Jersey slowed as Hutchinson repeatedly summoned division officials to his office to explain themselves and their reasons for continuing the inquiry.”
While Rudy tried to defend claims that OxyContin is safe, he has also been trying to prove a conservative fantasy. Republicans argue for elimination of inheritance taxes, while trying to hide fact that it is to benefit the ultra-wealthy, by claiming their goal is to protect small family farms which are torn apart by the “death tax.” Finding the farmers who are affected in this manner has been as elusive as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and Richard Nixon’s secret plan to end the Vietnam War. Rudy’s campaign staff thought they found this elusive farm family and requested that they host a rally for Giuliani. They subsequently found that the family wouldn’t be affected by the inheritance tax, and dumped them:
On Tuesday Deb received a call from Giuliani’s Des Moines office and was asked to call New York.
“They wanted to know our assets,” she revealed, and added that she and Jerry have a modest 80 acre farm and raise cattle.
Later she received a call from Tony Delgado at the Des Monies location.
“Tony said, ‘I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the Death Tax right now.’ then he said they weren’t going to be able to come,” Deb continued.
The Death Tax is a federal version of the Iowa Inheritance Tax.
The VonSpreckens then called Delgado back and told him how upset they were that the event had been cancelled, how much work they had done and that they had been expecting 75-100 people at their farm.
“I invited him into my home,” Deb said of Giuliani, fighting back tears.
It wasn’t a total loss for this family. The campaign offered to have Rudy pose for a picture with them, but they didn’t accept the offer:
She said she then got a call from New York later the same day asking her to introduce Giuliani at a rally in Cedar Rapids, also scheduled for May 4. They offered her one-on-one time with Giuliani and to have her photo taken with him.
“My feeling is that they’re trying to cover their butts,” said Jerry.
Maybe they are holding out for Rudy to pose with them in drag, which would make for a much more amusing picture.
