9/11 health worries follow Giuliani

Shirleypal · Post by **Shirleypal** » 08-15-2007 03:07 PM

9/11 health worries follow Giuliani By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer
59 minutes ago

Rudy Giuliani's experience on Sept. 11 and at ground zero propelled him into presidential politics, yet by his own admission, it may also weaken his health — a key issue for any candidate seeking the White House.

Just last week, Giuliani was criticized by some firefighter unions for suggesting he was at ground zero as much, if not more, than many rescue workers and exposed to the same health risks. He quickly backed off that statement, saying he misspoke.

"I empathize with them, because I feel like I have that same risk," said Giuliani, who was at the World Trade Center almost immediately on Sept. 11, 2001, and was onsite many times a day after that.

That assertion — made repeatedly by the former mayor over the years — could pose a different challenge in his quest for the White House, by suggesting he may not stay healthy through a presidential term that would begin in 2009.

Giuliani, a 63-year-old cancer survivor, clearly wonders about his long-term health and that of his close aides who worked with him on Sept. 11, 2001 and after.

"I'm sure that some of these people are going to have symptoms, and maybe it's not now. They're going to have them five years from now or 10 years from now," Giuliani said last year on the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Dr. Joan Reibman, who heads a city-funded program at Bellevue Hospital in New York to study the health effects of ground zero exposure, said she had no knowledge of Giuliani's health history or exposure, but that given his public presence at the site, he should probably be enrolled in the health monitoring program for ground zero workers and lower Manhattan residents.

"I think he would have fit the criteria," said Reibman.

Asked about his health, Giuliani said in a statement that he is not enrolled in one of the 9/11 related health program but does get regular medical checkups.

"Today, I am fortunate that my health remains excellent, but I will continue to get regular checkups as I urge everyone to do," he said, and repeated a pledge to work for ground zero workers if elected president.

"No one will be a stronger supporter for those brave men and woman in the White House than me. They need and deserve our full support," said Giuliani.

Reibman, the ground zero doctor, said some trends have emerged among ground zero workers and nearby residents, but that much remains a mystery.

"I suspect that if one didn't have respiratory illnesses that one probably won't develop them now," said Reibman. "But what about late emergent diseases? I don't think we have the answer to that. I think it's very important to monitor for those. There's a lot we still don't know."

A major study by Mount Sinai Medical Center last year found 70 percent of ground zero workers suffered some form of lung problems — and experts there predicted thousands will either remain sick or get sick in coming years.

Those statistics have already struck close to home for Giuliani: two deputy mayors were made sick by ground zero exposure, one so severely that he now receives workers compensation health benefits.

Reibman said a number of factors determine whether the toxic soup at the World Trade Center site would make an individual sick: the specific contaminants around a person, the length of exposure, the intensity of the exposure, the amount of protective breathing apparatus worn by the individual, and an individual's pre-existing susceptibility to disease.

"The amount of exposure is going to differ within the recovery and rescue workers, with residents, and with the people who worked downtown," said Reibman.

For Giuliani, talking about his potential for future illness carries some political risks.

"For a presidential candidate to say that he might be sick is obviously a mixed message," said Steven Cohen, a public affairs professor at Columbia University.

"We want our presidential candidates to be healthy for at least eight more years, if not longer," said Cohen.

Cohen argued that Giuliani's rhetoric has wandered from the original source of his Sept. 11-related popularity.

"After 9/11 it really wasn't his work at the pit or anything that was the main positive aspect of his leadership, but the fact that he gave people confidence that they could resume normal life. That was unambiguous leadership at a time when it was really needed."

Even that opinion is challenged by Giuliani's critics within the New York fire and police departments, some of whom never forgave him for pushing an ambitious cleanup schedule that, they charge, ignored the ongoing recovery of bodies at the site.

Jimmy Riches, a deputy fire chief who spent months digging at ground zero for his firefighter son, scoffs at the very notion that Giuliani was at ground zero long enough to risk his health.

"The longest time I saw him down there was when President Bush came to the site," said Riches. "He doesn't care about the first responders, he did nothing to help them when he was in office or after. He didn't give us respirators until November."

Yeah right, tell the truth Giuliani

joequinn · Post by **joequinn** » 08-20-2007 08:26 PM

Yep, Shirleypal, and it's a monkey that Rudy is not going to shake off his back.

Check this article out...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mog ... 61052.html

Miles Mogulescu, "The Beginning of the Self-Destruction of the Ghouliani Presidential Campaign."

Shirleypal · Post by **Shirleypal** » 08-20-2007 08:42 PM

For anyone who has watched the career of the angry, egomaniacal, authoritarian, thin-skinned, Nixonian, thrice divorced, former Mayor of New York City, it was just a matter of time before the carefully painted facial mask of the hero of 9/11 would start to slip away -- revealing the real face of the ghoul beneath.

From your link Joe, just a matter of time, don't see how anyone could take him seriously, he is an embarrassment.

joequinn · Post by **joequinn** » 08-20-2007 08:49 PM

Shirleypal, this country is so terminally bankrupt --- spiritually above and beyond financially --- that Ghouliani may well survive his way to the Rethuglikan nomination next summer. He then will face the equally bankrupt Demokrat candidate, Klinton, in the 2008 election, and while the two of them are pandering shamelessly to their bases, the long-anticipated-with-terror bottom will fall out of the Amerikan economy. Klinton will win electorially, but we will live in Ghouliani's Amerika. For a while...

But you just wait. 2010 is gonna be one hell of a wild year! You just wait...

RTIF · Post by **RTIF** » 08-21-2007 09:38 AM

Anyone who used 'thrice' in their vocabulary can't be taken seriously.

racehorse · Post by **racehorse** » 08-21-2007 11:14 AM

From the "Huffington Post" opinion article portion Originally posted by Shirleypal

Nixonian

joequinn · Post by **joequinn** » 08-29-2007 12:00 PM

Ghouliani's decision to speak at this year's 9/11 ceremonies is sparking outrage among New York police and firemen:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyo ... _headlines

Part of the article:

"I think it's a horrible decision and I'm outraged," said Jim Riches of Brooklyn, whose son died in the attacks on the World Trade Center and who is also a deputy chief with the fire department. "Seventy percent of us are now sick because he lied about the air quality down at Ground Zero, and he was too busy raising money and going to the World Series to pay attention to what was happening down there. He should just go to a Yankees baseball game instead."

Rave on, Horsey, rave on! Your man is toast!

racehorse · Post by **racehorse** » 08-29-2007 12:59 PM

joequinn wrote:

Rave on, Horsey, rave on! Your man is toast!

Toast? The evidence is to the contrary; I don't have to rave.

____

http://www.tiny.cc/tNDob

In Surge, Giuliani Now Tops Clinton by Seven Points

Thursday, August 16, 2007

After being virtually tied with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for several months, Republican contender Rudy Giuliani now leads Clinton up 47% to 40% in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

In the match-up of the frontrunners, this result marks a significant shift. For the last three months the two frontrunners have never been further apart than three percentage points. Last month, Giuliani and Clinton were separated by just a single point.

Senator Clinton fares modestly better against former Senator Fred Thompson. Clinton now has a three point edge over him, 46% to 43%. All four previous Clinton-Thompson have also been toss-ups.

Rasmussen Reports has recently released match-ups between Clinton and the leading GOP candidates in Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Oregon, and New Hampshire. Over the coming weeks, we will release data for other potential battleground states.

Democratic Senators John Edwards and Barack Obama have often done better than Clinton in match-ups with Giuliani. But recent polls show the former mayor improving against these adversaries as well.

The slide in Mayor Giuliani's favorable rating seems to have bottomed out for now. After hitting a low of 50% favorable for two weeks in a row, he's now viewed favorably by 52%. Thompson is viewed favorably by 43%, bringing him back up to where he was in late July.

In contrast, Clinton's favorable numbers have dropped a bit. She is now viewed favorably by 45%. That’s the first time all year her ratings have dipped below the 47% mark. Clinton's unfavorables have always been high and are currently at 52%.

Despite rough patches in their presidential bids, both Clinton and Giuliani are currently leading their respective nomination races—Clinton more comfortably so, however.

Clinton is still the default Democratic candidate. And the GOP race still looks much more fluid. Thompson surged to frontrunner status for a while and now only narrowly lags behind Giuliani, and a lot still depends on how Thompson fares once he fully plunges into the race. Meanwhile, third-ranking former Governor Mitt Romney seems to have gotten a boost from his "win" of the Iowa straw poll.

joequinn · Post by **joequinn** » 08-29-2007 01:35 PM

The story is going on two weeks old, Horsey, and the poll (whatever its results might have been) is probably a stage-managed fraud, just like all of the others.

As you know very well, I have already proclaimed that there is not going to be an election in 2008. There isn't a spit's worth of difference among the candidates, with the exception of Kuchinich and, possibly, Edwards. It doesn't matter to me whether Klinton or Ghouliani are nominated, run and/or are elected. It's all the same old manure...

But let me go further. A part of me would like Ghouliani to win. And do you know why? Because he would move, super-fast, to try to keep the lid on the 9/11 conspiracy, in which he was involved up to his eyeballs. His attempt to do that might be the spark that is needed to get the peasantry to storm the Bastille.

But, seriously, I don't really care, Horsey. You're gonna continue to make money hand over fist even if Hillary becomes Queen (perhaps especially because Hillary comes Queen). So why do you care what happens, huh? (At least until some systematic attempt is made to put an end to the ABA...)

P.S. Another reason why I want Ghouliani to be nominated for President is so I can watch a 9/11 mother splatter him with blood at the First Presidential Debate. Of course, she wouldn't dare to do that with Hillary. Hillary would just pull out a gun and do a Vince Foster on her ass!

Psychicwolf · Post by **Psychicwolf** » 08-29-2007 02:28 PM

, Joe.
I am in total agreement. I still believe we won't have an election in 2008, and if by some miracle we do, it doesn't matter who wins between Billary and Ghouliani (great name for him). They both have the same marching orders, only the packaging is different and which ever Madison Avenue garbage the American people buy will determine the race.
Hope all that moola you're making is being held in cash. I got out of the American market, for the most part, right before the dotcom bust. I was riding the European and Asian markets but I am cashing out there too.

SquidInk · Post by **SquidInk** » 08-29-2007 02:54 PM

Psychicwolf wrote: Hope all that moola you're making is being held in cash...

Cash? Really? I suggest converting to nickel ingots yesterday... or at least far ahead of the '08 elections!:eek:

Psychicwolf · Post by **Psychicwolf** » 08-29-2007 03:01 PM

SquidInk wrote: Cash? Really? I suggest converting to nickel ingots yesterday... or at least far ahead of the '08 elections!:eek:

Well, SquidInk when I say cash I mean a variety of vehicles. Gold, silver, local credit unions (that keep my $$ working locally and won't be attractive to the big boys for purchase), and some cooperative ventures in my community.

Tell me about the ingots