Did you know that Rudy Giuliani's father was a convicted felon?

[Poiuyt]

While Barrett's book--"Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani"--is a reporting tour de force filled with revelations about Giuliani, TSG will focus here on explosive details about the politician's father (currently the subject of a riveting book excerpt in The Village Voice). Giuliani has long described papa Harold as a hard-working Brooklyn tavern owner, a "complete man" who taught him the "lesson of being honest."

However, in examining Rudy's family tree, Barrett discovered that Giuliani the Elder wasn't such a sweetheart. In fact, Harold was a convicted felon, an armed stickup man who once spent time in Sing Sing after pleading guilty to robbing a milkman. Sentenced to 2-5 years, Harold spent 18 months in the stir before being paroled (Rudy, ironically, is a leading proponent of abolishing parole). Barrett also learned that Harold, whose rap sheet included a couple of other busts, worked as an enforcer for a relative's loan sharking operation, using a baseball bat as his enforcement tool of choice.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/rudy/rudy.html

I guess we don't have a choice who are fathers are. Still, we've got one president with a fucked up family life and criminals in his ancestry. I don't want to test another.

[azurnoir]

1. The difference is that

Rudy's dad went to prison, none of the Bushes have ever been charged, let alone convicted as far as Georgie knows the law applies differently to the rich, hopefully he will learn different soon.
This is not support for Giuliani, but there are better reasons than his father not to support him. Keep in mind Joe Kennedy was not much better.

[Porcupine]

2. Can we drop this line of criticism. It reeks.

Your average Dem voter has a family member who has been in trouble with the law. Unless we are going to advocate a wholesale estrangement in the US this is a STFU issue in my book.

[JVS]

3. I hate Rudy, but such a thing is beyond his control and not good form to use as ammo

[mykpart]

4. Ordinarily I would say this is a non-issue.

As others have stated here, many of us have relatives who are less than sterling citizens. But the right is making such a big deal out of the fact that Obama's father was a Muslim and his mother was an atheist. So if they think that your parentage affects who you are, then they must also take into account Giuliani's parentage. Why can't Dems be as vicious as Republicans?

[Az]

5. Because we are not Republicans

Act like a thug and you are a thug.

[bananarepublican]

8. Great point. Fight fire with fire! I'd challenge his '911 image' myself.

Why was he hell bent on destroying the WTC crime scene?

[Richard Steele]

6. Remember the TV show "Cheers"? Did you know that Woody Harrelson's father was a Mafia hit man?

Not being silly- he really was. Sentenced to LIFE for it.

And I only point out that apples sometimes roll FAR from the tree
because Guliani has SOOOO many very real objectionable qualities
that there should be no need to talk about anything his FATHER did.

GULIANI makes Guliani unelectable- dragging his dad into it can only
dilute the message, at best. At worst, it could generate some serious
SYMPATHY for him.

ONE properly-worded press release would turn this issue into a PLUS for him.
Best to leave it alone.

[RB TexLa]

7. Is Rudy's father running for something?

[951-Riverside]

9. Did you know Antonio Villaraigosa's father is a convicted sex offender?

http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/cgi/prosoma.dll?zoomAction=Box&zoomAction=clickcenter&zoomAction=clickoffender&lastName=Villar&firstName=Antonio&Address=&City=&zipcode=&searchDistance=.75&City2=&countyLocation=&zipcode2=&SelectCounty=&ParkName=&searchDistance2=.75&City3=&zipcode3=&countyLocation3=&schoolName=&searchDistance3=.75&City4=&zipcode4=&countyLocation4=&refineID=&pan=&distacross=107211¢erlat=38409907¢erlon=-121514242&starlat=&starlon=&startext=&x1=&y1=&x2=&y2=&mapwidth=525&mapheight=400&zoom=&searchBy=namelist&id=&docountycitylist=2&OFDTYPE=&lang=ENGLISH