Busted

So, is Giuliani running or isn't he?  And, if so, what does the camera have to say about it?

Assuming he is, the NYT offers us a video report accompanying an update of Rudy in New Hampshire.  The quick opening section, with the Star Spangled Banner, is almost too saccharine to bear. In the middle portion, we encounter "America's Mayor" speaking in a hall, doing his schtick, followed by feedback from party locals.

Finally, we come to Rudy as his more gregarious self, entering a local lunch spot and chatting up potential voters.  In the voice-over, however, the reporter seems to have a specific intent, calling out how Judith Nathan, Rudy's wife, is by his side, and how (in contrast to Rudy's solo style) she's been visibly apparent throughout the trip.

What's interesting, if brief, is what happens next.  Following Rudy joking with some diners, there is a quick snippet capturing the Mayor and his wife -- from long distance, through a glass partition -- sitting for lunch.  Set up by the reporter's comments, this footage plays like the ethical opposite of a "gotcha photo."  Candidate Rudy, who has made a disaster of his relationships, and (as we're reminded) hardly ever appears with his wife, seems busted for being with her.

If today's camera lens is particularly trained for truth-telling, what is happening here, I believe (playing off the visual norm of capturing a man for infidelity), is that a mundane picture of fidelity is now significant for the reverse, this time trapping the guilty man out of character.

(image still: new york times multimedia. Manchester, New Hampshire.  January 27, 2007. nytimes.com)

Comments

[margaret]

Guiliani was a great mayor, and an even greater prosecuting attorney. But the manner in which he treated his previous wife and the announcement that he was divorcing her was unconscionable. He has no busness even thinking of running for President!

[demit]

I don't think Giuliani will be able to run far enough away from blaming the troops for not searching carefully enough for the 400 tons of missing explosives in Iraq in 2004. His opponents will be cueing up that Today show clip in all its "it wasn't the president's fault" glory.

[tina]

Forget the ex-mistress who's what, maybe a quarter century younger than he is. He supports abortion and gun control. As a national Republican candidate he has no chance. Look for him to drop out early.

[Ernest Tomlinson]

In any case, as mayor of New York, he has a bad precedent that tells against any presidential aspirations.

[charlietuna]

The only thing that makes rudy a viable candidate is that he is the only person in America that will be able to constantly stand up on a little soapbox and scream "But 9/11 changed everything.. but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything... but 9/11 changed everything

IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB - don't put it past the folks that brought us the criminality of the chimperor to get another tool into the white house.

Currently, we have an AWOL alcoholic/cocaine addict as a self-proclaimed "war pResident".

While you raise some good point, failing to acknowledge the crimes that got the U.S. into this mess overlooks some of the major dynamics that are shaping the political landscape.

[Margaret]

She looks like his granddaughter. That can't be a good move.

[kebmodee]

Were it not for 9/11, Rudy would have been leaving the mayorship under a very dark cloud. Some of the people touched on it above, but most New Yorkers were sick and tired of his schtick. That said, what he did post 9/11 attending probably at least one hundred funerals for cops and firemen was admirable. I will give him that. Bush has not been to one funeral for a soldier now has he?