NYT: For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall...Perhaps he was living an illusion all along.

[laststeamtrain]

For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall
By MICHAEL POWELL and MICHAEL COOPER

Perhaps he was living an illusion all along.

Rudolph W. Giuliani’s campaign for the Republican nomination for president took impressive wing last year, as the former mayor wove the pain experienced by his city on Sept. 11, 2001, and his leadership that followed into national celebrity. Like a best-selling author, he basked in praise for his narrative and issued ominous and often-repeated warnings about the terrorist strike next time.

Voters seemed to embrace a man so comfortable wielding power, and his poll numbers edged higher to where he held a broad lead over his opponents last summer. Just three months ago, Anthony V. Carbonetti, Mr. Giuliani’s affable senior policy adviser, surveyed that field and told The New York Observer: “I don’t believe this can be taken from us. Now that I have that locked up, I can go do battle elsewhere.”

In fact, Mr. Giuliani’s campaign was about to begin a free fall so precipitous as to be breathtaking. Mr. Giuliani finished third in the Florida primary on Tuesday night; only a few months earlier, he had talked about the state as his leaping-off point to winning the nomination.

As Mr. Giuliani ponders his political mortality, many advisers and political observers point to the hubris and strategic miscalculations that plagued his campaign. He allowed a tight coterie of New York aides, none with national political experience, to run much of his campaign.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30giuliani.html?ex=1359435600&en=e33b506e48d9559f&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
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I love every article like this I read.

[NanceGreggs]

1. "Perhaps he was living an illusion all along."

"Perhumps, but to no avague."

And :toast: to those who know what that means ...

[donheld]

3. Perhaps he was living a delusion all along

Delusions of Grandeur. I think he's had those delusions for many many years

[Lucinda]

4. I'm partial to:

"Ah! why did I not insult you sooner?"
:D

[Richard Steele]

2. That "illusion" let him launder 50 million dollars through an alleged "Presidential campaign".

He's created the appearance of such a total "pathetic loser"
that no one is even gonna bother to spend a hundred thousand hours
tracking down the pockets that Fifty Mil eventually ended up in.

Rudi and his "business connections" are crying all the way to the bank
over his "failed candidacy", KnowhutImean?

[Hardrada]

5. He came into Iowa with a big security bubble around him

his first trip to Des Moines. We thought not much of that and if he had actually campaigned here we would have shown him our disregard.