Phil Klein is more than a little irked with Fred Thompson for meeting with Steve Cassidy, President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association who appears in that attack video against Rudy Giuliani.
I wondered if there was a marginal defense is that Cassidy’s comments are among the milder on that video; he didn’t seem to be the one floating the most outrageous or unfair attacks. But he’s not a shrinking violet, either.
Cassidy begins, “This image of Rudy as America’s mayor is a myth.” And then during the discussion of removing debris, and whether it should have been done slower to ensure further searches for human remains, Cassidy says, “Scoop up the debris, don’t put it in a landfill. To heck with the fact that it was firefighters, or others, who would never have a funeral for their family.”
He also charges, “We did need radios that worked, we didn’t have ‘em. We did need proper respiratory protection, he didn’t give it to us. The things that we needed to do our jobs even better, we didn’t have, because of his administration.”
He concludes, “On the heroic memory of 343 dead firefighters, he wants to run for President of the United States? It’s a disgrace.”
His separate commentary indicates his union supported George W. Bush in the last election, and so should not be seen as a partisan screed.
Does Thompson really want to be associated with this line of criticism? These types of attacks? Bad move and bad timing on Thompson’s part.