'Rudy's Roots'
Readers of our profile on how Rudy Giuliani's complicated upbringing helped shape him questioned his credibility and electability. "He comes across as a self-serving bully whose sense of loyalty is a one-way street. Haven't we stomached enough hypocrisy for one decade?" one wrote. "If this is who Republicans are pinning their hopes on, can you say 'Hello, Madam President'?" But another defended Giuliani as the "one man with the strength, determination, charisma, leadership ability and experience to defeat the Democratic opponent in 2008."
I graduated from Bishop Loughlin Memorial two years after Rudy Giuliani, and your cover story correctly notes that he has been smart and ambitious ever since high school ("Growing Up Giuliani," Dec. 3). But since when is brainpower the sole ingredient of leadership? Let's not forget the art of diplomacy, the skill of interpersonal relations and the power of good judgment. Giuliani has made a career of trampling on anyone who gets in his way to achieve power. Furthermore, his children and one of his former wives are alienated from him. Like the citizens of New York City, American voters will soon tire of his brash, abrasive and angry temperament. In the past seven years, haven't we had enough of the politics of fear and divisiveness?
Terrence Quinn
Bayside, N.Y.
Reading Rudy Giuliani's quote—"Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do"—sent chills down my spine. In the Oct. 15 issue I also read that Giuliani's ultra-neocon advisers Norman Podhoretz and Peter Berkowitz advocate invading Iran ("Rudy Giuliani: Would You Buy a Used Hawk From This Man?"). The thought of a Giuliani presidency is truly frightening.
Ray Swanson
Monument, Colo.
As a Christian Brothers-schooled, third-generation Italian-American who volunteered for and served in infantry combat in Vietnam, I find Rudy Giuliani's statement that Vietnam wasn't a "just war" to be a pretty lame excuse. America doesn't need another draft dodger in the White House, especially one whose code of ethics is even more hypocritical than our current president's.
Pasquale Cruciano
Virginia Beach, Va.
Like Rudy Giuliani, I grew up in Brooklyn during the 1950s. Whatever qualifications he may have don't really matter. While we were all Brooklyn Dodgers fans, he was (and still is) a Yankees fan. Definitely not to be trusted!
Alan Weiner
St. Catharines, Canada
Your Rudy Giuliani cover story is replete with unfortunate and not-so-subtle references to organized crime. "Growing Up Giuliani"? Where have I heard that before? And mentioning Bernard Kerik's "made man" ceremony? This is an unmistakable attempt to somehow, if only by innuendo, link Giuliani to the mob. The only valid link between the two is his remarkable effort to combat and prosecute crime of the organized, street and gang varieties. Insinuating that a fearless crimefighter like Giuliani is anything like organized-crime gangsters is a disservice to readers.
Anthony W. Fanale
Marblehead, Mass.
Your profile of Rudy Giuliani doesn't mention that he went to NYU School of Law during the turbulent war years from 1965 to 1968. NYU had a distinctly liberal bent, and surely it must have had some impact on the young Rudy. Your suggestion that he came from a "second- or third-tier law school" is in error. NYU Law has always been a top-tier law school.
Richard M. Bronstein
Setauket, N.Y.
On
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A Director Confronts Some Dark Material
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"Philip Pullman was so vocal about the anti-Christian nature of his books, I can only hypothesize that his new defensive posture has more to do with ticket sales for 'The Golden Compass' than his true beliefs."
Kelly Dolan, North Haven, Conn.
Giuliani's Complicated Moral Code
Scientific Fix for Climate Change?
Sharon Begley's Dec. 3 "The 'Geo-Engineering' Scenario" is scary for three reasons. First: if the public comes to think that there are scientific fixes to the problem of global climate change, then it will have even less interest in supporting comprehensive and costly global programs to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. The second is that scientists tend to ignore Eric Sevareid's Law: "The chief source of problems is solutions." Geo-engineering could produce unimagined problems. Finally, global climate change is the direct consequence of overpopulation, and none of the offered solutions, including geo-engineering, addresses overpopulation. "Solutions" that fail to address the fundamental cause of the problem have little chance of success.
Albert A. Bartlett
Professor Emeritus of Physics
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colo.
Better News From Iraq
In Charles Peters's Dec. 3 opinion piece, "The Case for Facing Facts," he writes about liberals' not being able to acknowledge the progress that has been made in Iraq due to the change in tactics of American troops. In the process, however, he repeats one of the errors of the Bush administration that he condemns, which is to report only half-truths. While engaging enemies like the Sunni tribal leaders is a good idea, arming them adds to the long-term militarization of the country. Additionally, by now a good part of Baghdad has already been ethnically cleansed; hence there is less sectarian conflict. What processes does Peters offer when refugees return home to find their houses and communities occupied by another group that now has more weapons? In praising a strategy, let's be honest about its shortcomings as well. If the Bush administration could try that strategy in addition to providing greater accountability for grievous errors and wrongdoings, maybe it would get a fairer analysis from us liberals.
Mary Dudek
Chicago, Ill.
Charles Peters is troubled by the reluctance of liberals to acknowledge the progress made in the past six months in Iraq. The quiet brought to the villages of Darfur is the result of racial cleansing. The quiet brought to the neighborhoods of Iraq is due to religious cleansing. As a progressive, I find it a great contradiction to applaud the quiet gained as a result of aggression in the neighborhoods of Iraq while condemning the quiet in the villages of Darfur.
D. Kent Lloyd
Gladstone, Ore.
A copy of Charles Peters's "The Case For Facing Facts" should hang on the wall of every congressional member's office. We all need to face facts and not dismiss them immediately because they were quoted by the other side. We need understanding, acceptance and compromise by all to continue our way of government.
Richard Hoy
Lewisburg, Pa.
When Choosing a Running Mate
George Will states that vice presidential nominees have had little influence on general elections ("How No. 1s Pick No. 2s," Dec. 3). He bypassed, however, a glaring exception to his rule: John Kennedy's choice of Lyndon Johnson as his running mate in 1960 is credited with his winning Texas in what turned out to be a real squeaker of an election.
Joel Fram
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
So George Will has never met anyone who voted for a presidential candidate because of his running mate? Gee, at least twice in our recent memory, tens of thousands—surely more—did just that: Walter Mondale no doubt garnered a lot of women's votes because of Geraldine Ferraro (and probably lost a bunch because of her, too). And how many older Jews in Florida and New York, for example, cast their votes with pride for Al Gore—not necessarily because he was a Democrat but because he had Joe Lieberman on the ticket? True, it's not always a big deal, but to say never is to ignore history at your own peril.
Steve Fenton
New York, N.Y.
George Will asks, "seriously, now: Have you ever met anyone who voted for a presidential candidate because of his running mate?" Well, good to meet ya, George! In the 1992 Democratic campaign, I supported Al Gore. When Bill Clinton won the nomination—and tapped Gore for his ticket—he locked up my vote. And I suspect I'm not the only one.
Steve Hutchison
Placerville, Colo.
The Unbearable Loss of a Child
We lost our first child when she WAS 17 months old in an in-home accident, and have never parted company with that death ("Love, Loss—And Love," Dec. 3). We have her pictures up with those of our other four kids, and each year, during the weeks when she was born and died, we find ourselves somewhat depressed. Assuming that anyone ever gets over losing a child is a mistake. Another child cannot make up for the loss, but it helps. I cannot even guess the number of times my mind tracks back to the horrible second the accident happened. The loss of a child makes a person appreciate the importance of pregnancy, birth and life.
Dale Hill
Anadarko, Okla.
Alternatives to Holiday Shopping
Daniel Gross has it right when he says, "American consumers have clearly conditioned themselves to shop till they drop," referring to the Christmas-season buying spree ("The Sermon on the Mall," Dec. 3). But he has it wrong when he says that all the buying is compulsory at some level. Americans remain prisoners of the Great American Economic (Christmas) Engine merely by not refusing to participate in it. That's not hard: tell close friends and family you will make a donation in their name to a charity; bake cookies or make jam for other gifts; get together with the people you love, and eat, drink, listen to music, play games, be merry. Just jump off the consumer treadmill. It's simple, and it returns to the season the wonder and joy of family, friends and giving.
Kathie Aberman
Liberty, N.Y.
For the Record
In "In God They Trust" (May 7), Evan Thomas writes, "The God of Abraham is and has always been a martial God." When I challenged Thomas for the source of such a sweeping, unqualified generalization, he replied disingenuously that he did not intend the sentence to mean what it means, but rather what he wanted it to mean. Such an all-inclusive, indiscriminate assertion has no place in NEWSWEEK, a magazine renowned for its commitment to objectivity and impartiality in reporting.
Shalom Dinerstein
Jerusalem, Israel