Where’s The Bust? Hannity & Colmes Ignores Giuliani’s Troubles

Reported by Ellen - June 21, 2007 - 18 comments

There were four segments about the presidential campaign on Hannity & Colmes last night (6/20/07), including one about Hillary Clinton getting booed at the Take Back America conference but there has yet to be a discussion of any of Rudy Giuliani’s notable troubles in the past few days, including the indictment of the South Carolina chairman of his campaign on federal cocaine charges.

As CNN reports, "South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a former real estate developer who became a rising political star after his election last year, was indicted Tuesday on federal cocaine charges… Ravenel, 44, is charged with distribution of cocaine, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison." As Crooks and Liars wrote, This “bad boy buddy getting in trouble” is becoming a regular thing with Rudy…

But Giuliani’s recent headaches didn’t end there.

On June 18, 2007, Newsday reported that Giuliani’s fundraising activities took priority over participating in the blue-ribbon Baker-Hamilton Commission, also known as the Iraq Study Group. Newsday said:

Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

…Giuliani's campaign said that the former New York mayor did participate in Iraq Study Group activities but refused Newsday's repeated requests to explain how.

…By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation.

Not only that, but the 10-member group -- also called the Baker-Hamilton commission -- was no ordinary blue-ribbon panel, instead chartered by Congress and encouraged by the president to find a way forward in Iraq.

And earlier in the week, The New York Times published an account of NYC firefighters who have been actively campaigning against Giuliani and his image as a 9/11 hero.

So much for "We report, you decide."