Firefighter Video Blasts Giuliani

(AP) - More than 6 years before Sarah Palin visited ground zero as the Republican VP nominee, her parents were there as part of the response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks—trapping rats. Chuck and Sally Heath have been part-time Department of Agriculture wildlife specialists for 15 years, trapping or killing animals in Alaska. In January 2002, they went to New York for 2 weeks to make sure birds and rats did not disturb the World Trade Center debris in a Staten Island landfill. More»

But whether either candidate could find advantage remains uncertain

(NEWSER) - If everything goes right, the trial of the five Guantanamo Bay detainees charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks could begin within days of their seventh anniversary—and just as the presidential campaign begins its most heated stretch, Politico reports. Such a development would usually be a gift to Republicans, but this year it could help—or devastate—either candidate. More»

Minister prone to provocative statements will no longer advise the Illinois senator

(NEWSER) - Jeremiah Wright, the militant Chicago minister and spiritual adviser to Barack Obama, is off the senator’s campaign, CNN reports. Wright will no longer sit on the senator’s African-American Religious Leadership Committee, the campaign announced. Obama has often said he rejects the reverend’s more incendiary opinions, especially his comment that the US deserved the 9/11 attacks. But yesterday the candidate went further, calling some old sermons that have come to light this week "inflammatory and appalling." More»

America's Mayor is oddly absent on the campaign trail

(NEWSER) - Rudy Giuliani holds a nice lead in the pack of GOP presidential candidates, but it's not a result of anything he's doing on the campaign trail, Peter Boyer reports in a profile in the New Yorker. The Rudy who's winning in the polls is America's Mayor, the guy who cleaned up New York and carried the ball after 9/11, the feisty father-figure for whom, as George Will described it, "pugnacity is a political philosophy." More»

The pros and cons of having terror as your touchstone

(NEWSER) - The Los Angeles Times tracks Rudy Giuliani's rhetoric on the stump, and marvels at the way he manages to bring just about any topic around to the threat of terror. Fourteen seconds into in a speech in Des Moines called "Restoring Fiscal Discipline and Cutting Wasteful Washington Spending" the mayor's already stressing the importance of being on offense against terror. More»