Group Apologizes for Giuliani’s ‘Unscripted’ Remarks at Awards Dinner

[Suburban Warrior]

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was invited to a financial services trade group’s award dinner last week to speak about leadership—but instead delivered a political speech that strayed so far from that topic the group felt it necessary to apologize to its guests.

On Monday, the Commercial Finance Association sent out an email apologizing for the “unscripted personal opinions” that Giuliani, a prominent supporter and close adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, shared with the crowd at their 40 Under 40 dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

“At CFA’s 40 Under 40 Awards last Thursday night, keynote speaker Rudolph Giuliani veered sharply off course from the leadership message he agreed to deliver and presented unscripted personal opinions which were independent of CFA’s political position or core values,” Bob Trojan, the group’s CEO, wrote in an email sent to attendees and forwarded to the Observer. “While we, the event organizers, made every attempt to direct Mr. Giuliani’s remarks ahead of time to focus on leadership, for which he is renowned and has authored a book, there is always the possibility of such a surprise at a live event.”

The note continued: “For those of you who were offended by Mr. Giuliani’s remarks, please accept my sincere apology.”

http://observer.com/2016/09/group-apologizes-for-giulianis-unscripted-remarks-at-awards-dinner/

[LiberalFighter]

1. Never should had invited him.

[radical noodle]

2. Giuliani seems unhinged to me

He was obnoxious before but recently he's been much worse as though he has the early stages of dementia.

[uponit7771]

3. So they knew nothing about how fuckin stupid Giuiliani is?!?

[grossproffit]

5. Maybe they'll invite Alex Jones next?

[grossproffit]

4. Giuliani should be placed on a 5150 hold for the safety of others. He's obviously lost his mind.

[Historic NY]

6. Trumps son-in-law owns the Observer.

[riversedge]

11. Yes, and it is one of many sites I will not click to.

[orwell]

7. Want to be a leader?

Don't act like me!

[murielm99]

8. Rudy could learn a thing or two about leadership

from the honorees at that dinner. They are people who have already shown real leadership.

[world wide wally]

9. What did they expect from Nosferatu?

Enlightening?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Josh Marshall commentary on this at TPM: "Rudy Stumbles Outside the Race War Bubble"

For a couple weeks I've been picking away at a piece on the radicalization of Donald Trump. Yes, Trump's racism and sexism go back decades. He literally launched his campaign with a tirade against Mexicans as rapists and killers. But he's not the guy he started out as eighteen months ago. We've heard many times how - before his teleprompter phase - he seldom went into speeches with any particular idea of what he was going to say. He casted about, got a feel for what the audience liked and then gave them more of it. He fed of the crowd's frenzy and in turn fed it. We can see this pattern in the campaign writ large. In a sense I believe that is the Trump campaign write large. Trump has been in a feedback loop with his most radical backers, intuiting their hunger for transgression and aggression and then reaching to satisfy it. The cycle of radicalization and affirmation has been addictive like a drug. He and his supporters have been in a feedback loop of radicalization.

I think Rudy's incident at The Waldorf is an emanation of this. I've seen some of Rudy's speeches on the stump with Trump. And he's not the same guy. He's been swept into the same Trumpian frenzy. Rudy was always a divider. But there are different varieties of racism and grievance politics. Rudy's from the 1980s and 90s is akin to the revolt against busing in Boston chronicled by J. Anthony Lucas in Common Ground. It may be neither better nor worse. But it's different from Trumpism. To put it bluntly, he's been out there on the campaign trail talking to feral Trumpers, riffing on the racist jokes and taunts call and response. Then he brings it back into Manhattan with the Wall Street richies and like the anonymous attendee put it you could here a pin drop. Remember that one line: “It was bad. You could hear a pin drop. I think he was looking for applause.”

That last part is the key. He was expecting an ovation but everyone was aghast. Now, this is not to idealize New York's money barons. They are sinners in a million ways. But this is not how they roll. They don't like hearing angry rants about Mexican hordes pouring over the border with devious plans to wash your dishes or nanny your children. Immigrants, documented or not are at home, caring for their children. But that's not where Rudy lives anymore. He's gone full Trumper. Damn the Torpedoes, Stormfront ahead.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/in-the-bubble--2

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. K & R