You'll be warm in the arms of the mayor of simpleton

(Image by The Heretik)

America's Mayor is starting to look like the mayor of some 3rd world country:

As Rudy Giuliani campaigned in the Palmetto State today, he faced tough new questions about Arthur Ravenel, the new co-chair of his South Carolina campaign. Arthur Ravenel was appointed to replace his son Thomas Ravenel, who was indicted several weeks ago on federal cocaine charges.

This press release from the Democratic Party details many of Arthur Ravenel's racist public statements, such as:

Arthur Ravenel Jr. called the NAACP the "the National Association for Retarded People" twice in 2001, first at a pro-Confederate flag rally at the Statehouse and then, according to The Post and Courier, "repeated the offending remark during an interview outside the Senate chamber with four print reporters, three of whom had tape recorders running." Ravenel apologized only to people with mental and physical disabilities, saying "No apologies to the NAACP or the national NAACP." Speaking to a New York Times reporter, Ravenel said "they [the NAACP] are the enemy."

Ravenel headlined an event for a white supremacist hate group. On October 9, 1993, Ravenel headlined an event in South Carolina sponsored by the now-defunct Confederate Heritage Preservation Society and the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), described by The Nation as "America's largest white nationalist organization..[that] represents the reincarnation of the White Citizens Councils that battled integration in the Jim Crow South."

According to the New York Post, "Earlier in his career, he drew fire when he said that white congressmen were operating on 'black time'-- meaning fashionably late."

Nice. Retarded People.

Of course, Rudy has a growing list of questionable issues and friends:

Bernard Kerik:

Giuliani then pushed President Bush to nominate Kerik to be secretary of Homeland Security, at which point multiple scandals derailed the nomination and Kerik's career; subsequently Kerik pled guilty to corruption charges dating from his Corrections days.^[131] In March of 2007, The New York Times reported that Kerik was likely to also be indicted for tax fraud and illegal eavesdropping, and also disclosed that Giuliani had testified under oath in April 2006 that he had in fact been briefed on Kerik's mob links in 2000 — prior to his appointment of Kerik as Corrections Commissioner. Giuliani had previously denied knowing of these connections until years later.^[132]

Monsignor Alan Placa:

Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, "Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests."

Aw, heck, just go read the Wikipedia entry on Giuliani. He sounds like a swell guy.