The anti-democratic logic of Rudy Giuliani

I hate statements like this one from Rudy Giuliani, who was reacting to the "Fox News Sunday" interview with President Clinton:

"The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don't think he deserves it," Giuliani said in response to a question after an appearance with fellow Republican Charlie Crist, who is running for governor. "I don't think President Bush deserves it. The people who deserve blame for Sept. 11, I think we should remind ourselves, are the terrorists - the Islamic fanatics - who came here and killed us and want to come here again and do it."

The suggestion that we shouldn't point fingers because the terrorists are the ones at fault is the same one Republicans used in 2002 to try to silence criticism of President Bush. Here's what Trent Lott said then: "For us to be talking like our enemy is George W. Bush and not Osama bin Laden, that's not right."

This idea is blatantly anti-democratic. Of course it's legitimate to ask whether President Clinton and President Bush did enough to protect the American people. Such a question does not imply that they, rather than the terrorists, are the ones responsible for the attacks. Consider how absurd this idea is. By Giuliani's logic, should we refuse to criticize the police for failing to prevent crime because that "the people who deserve blame" are the criminals? In a democracy, elected officials should be held accountable if they fail to uphold their responsibilities, and one of the president's responsibilities is to protect the public from terrorism.

Comments

[Joe Angell]

Anti-Democratic? I love spinsanity and your columns, but calling his statement anti-democratic is absurd. I commend Gulliani for not playing the partisan game that a lot of politicians are playing right now. I do not beleive he was suggesting that we should not question the foreign policy or the judgements made by recent presidents, he was rather adressing the fact that some people are blamming the attacks on soley on the Clinton or Bush administration, which is a hardly an un-democratic statement.