The Rudy and Judy Marital Mess

March 27, 2007 — -- "Judy, Judy, Judy."

So you've been married three times, not two as you've previously reported. Judy Giuliani's new revelation puts her in fine company: nine marriages between her, hubby Rudy and his 2008 presidential challenger Newt Gingrich. Maybe I'm missing something here, but this is the sacred institution that their party is trying to keep homosexuals from destroying?

It's this embarrassing hypocrisy that could have a very interesting impact on the next election.

Rudy Giuliani wants to be president. He wants it so bad he practically drools like a Pavlovian pup every time he talks about it. But is the country ready for him? More important, are conservatives ready for a thrice-married, cross-dressing, pro-abortion candidate who shacked up with his gay pal after he cheated on his wife and left her for Judy, Judy, Judy? And the fact that his kids won't talk with him because of it doesn't help his image any.

While Rudy continues to maintain his front-runner status among Republicans, there is growing concern in GOP circles that his personal life is going to impede his political aspirations; that his campaign could implode as more juicy tidbits surface about his dysfunctional past (and present, if you count his penchant for Bob Mackey-type gowns and poorly applied makeup). His marital track record, his philandering, his estrangement from his kids and his strange dressing habits do not jive with the base and what it stands for. And his positions on the war don't jive with the rest of the country. The only card he plays well, unjustifiably, is the terror card.

Let's go back in time a bit. On Sept. 10, 2001 Rudy Giuliani was a highly unpopular mayor of New York City with an abysmal 40 percent approval rating. He was viewed as an arrogant, stubborn bully insensitive to the plight of minorities and the poor, and with a weak record on everything except fighting crime. And somehow, by the sheer virtue that he was in office the following day, he has infuriatingly claimed the mantle of hero; the tough guy who can kick terror's ass. And what did he actually do that day to merit such reverential status?

He simply had the misfortune, like thousands of others, to be at the World Trade site that morning, only unlike thousands, he was lucky to run from the carnage and spare his own life … for all to see on the 6 o'clock news.

It made for great political theater, and it allowed a pretty crappy mayor to instantly gain the national currency necessary to further his dream of one day becoming a pretty crappy U.S. president.

Andy Ostroy is editor and publisher of The Ostroy Report, a New York-based blog that aggressively combats the powerful right-wing spin machine, taking on Bush, the Republican Party and the conservative media.