GIULIANI ON RACE: The New York Times was right to condemn, in an editorial today, Rudy Giuliani's recent statement in Alabama that it should be up to the state's voters whether to fly the confederate flag over their capitol. But I think they are making quite a leap in automatically accusing Giuliani of pandering to win over southern conservatives. How do they know that Giuliani doesn't really believe what he says? As I've noted before, Giuliani had a terrible reputation before 9/11 in the African-American community in New York City for being unresponsive to their concerns on a range of issues, most notably police brutality. Giuliani's initial political ascendence in New York is widely attributed to a white backlash against crime. He has always made coded racial appeals. Maybe it's pandering, but when he's been doing it for this long, the distinction between pandering and a sincere position begins to lose meaning. Just as you rarely hear complaints that George W. Bush is pandering to anti-choice voters, even though many suspect he may be personally pro-choice, what Giuliani should be condemned for is the fact that his position on the confederate flag is wrong, not his presumed disingenuousness.
--Ben Adler
