What Everyone Should Know About Rudolph Giuliani

You have got to hand it to the Republicans for their ability to exercise damage control. In February of 2007, The Smoking Gun website released an incredible 27 page document purporting to be part of a confidential 450 page report, titled "Rudolph W. Giuliani Vulnerability Study." It was prepared in 1993, prior to Giuliani's successful bid for mayor of the City of New York. This study is indeed a smoking gun, yet it received but a fraction of the attention by the news media as the death of Anna Nicole Smith did. It is an important document that sheds some light on the man the nation's population knows relatively little about (other than the fact that, yes, he happened to be the mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001). Here are a few facts contained in the report. Here is what everyone should know about Rudolph Giuliani.

"The Weirdness Factor." The authors of the Vulnerability Study state in their report: "Giuliani's personal life raises questions about a 'weirdness factor.' Giuliani was married to his second cousin for fourteen years. Although the marriage lasted a long time, Giuliani had the union annulled on the grounds that he did not get proper dispensation from the church for the marriage. When asked about his personal life, Giuliani gives a wide array of conflicting answers. All of this brings the soundness of his judgement into question - and the veracity of his answers." (Emphasis added).

The woman Giuliani married after law school, Regina Peruggi, was in fact the daughter of his father's first cousin. Rudy had known her since childhood, and they had shared vacations together as small children. Giuliani admitted at first that he did know that Regina was his second cousin, then later claimed he didn't know. Giuliani also offered a wide range of answers when asked how long the marriage lasted. To some papers, he stated it lasted 6 years, to others 12 to 14. In addition, it appears that his courtship to his second wife, Donna Hanover, began well before his first marriage ended. And, of course, his courtship of Judith Nathan began well before the end of his marriage to Donna Hanover.