Rudy Giuliani is not fit to be President. Anyone who thinks so deserves to have their head checked. In fact, I’m not sure any of the 300 candidates running right now seems to have what it takes to lead this country. In the debate last week, one of “those” moments happened. It was a moment where people who watched got caught up in words and weren’t paying attention to what was actually said.

First, let’s watch a clip of the debate. It won’t be hard to see the obvious lack of knowledge of international affairs on the part of America’s Mayor^tm…

“That’s really an extraordinary statement. As someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11.”

Rudy, what the hell are you talking about? In six years you’ve never heard that explanation?

Jesus, as someone who lived through 9/11 (just like the rest of this city) I find that hard to believe, and I find it even harder to believe that the cheering schmucks in the audience believed it. I was bouncing through Reddit today and I saw a story on CNN that warranted a read, particularly for all the right wingers who sharpened their teeth and bit into Ron Paul…

Paul tried to explain the process known as “blowback” — which is the result of someone else’s action coming back to afflict you — but the audience drowned him out as the other candidates tried to pounce on him.

After watching all the network pundits laud Giuliani, it struck me that they must be the most clueless folks in the world.

First, Giuliani must be an idiot to not have heard Paul’s rationale before. That issue has been raised countless times in the last six years by any number of experts.

Second, when we finish with our emotional response, it would behoove us to actually think about what Paul said and make the effort to understand his rationale.

Granted, Americans were severely damaged by the hijacking of U.S. planes, and it has resulted in a worldwide fight against terror. Was it proper for the United States to respond to the attack? Of course! But should we, as a matter of policy, and moral decency, learn to think and comprehend that our actions in one part of the world could very well come back to hurt us, or, as Paul would say, blow back in our face? Absolutely. His real problem wasn’t his analysis, but how it came out of his mouth.

I would never try to justify what those scumbags did to people in those towers, in the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. That would be absolutely asinine. What’s even more asinine is the Mayor of New York City at the time never having heard that experts had included in their reasoning everything from Iraq to our support of Israel to the shows we watch on television.

That being said, Roland Martin is correct in one thing. Ron Paul’s problem was more one of delivery than one of facts, but of course in this age of sound-bite debating where the rules, conditions, and even questions are set forward before a candidate ever hits the stage, it comes as no surprise that style is more important than substance.

Our actions in Iraq in the early 90’s and even now don’t justify attacks on the US in the future, but they do potentially explain it. It’s called theory. You take the event, find any connected events, and draw together a theory. The theory that something we did may have been an instigator for 9/11, the truth of which is debatable, is not completely without any merit, and for the former Mayor to stand before a national television audience in a Presidential debate and dismiss it as “extraordinary” and “absurd” is laughable.

I look forward to future debates, so we can see what else Rudy finds absurd. For example saying you’re against the horrible act of abortion but giving money to Planned Parenthood and calling it “choice.”

And to the people that cheered what Rudy said and slammed Ron Paul… Did you look at the words, or did you look at their meaning, and if you did understand the meaning, how do you reconcile that with supporting Rudy?

Technorati Tags: roland martin, rudy giuliani, ron paul, elections, 2008