From the Podium
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

EXCERPTS FROM THE PREPARED SPEECH OF RUDOLPH GIULIANI:
The horror, the shock, and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes. We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes but a religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to eradicating us and our way of life.
Terrorism did not start on September 11, 2001. It had been festering for many years. And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed. The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. And the pattern had already begun. The three surviving terrorists were arrested and within two months released by the German government.
Action like this became the rule, not the exception. Terrorists came to learn they could attack and often not face consequences. In 1985, terrorists attacked the Achille Lauro and murdered an American citizen who was in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer. They marked him for murder solely because he was Jewish.
Some of those terrorists were released and some of the remaining terrorists allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals. So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was “accommodation, appeasement, and compromise.”
And worse, the terrorists also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously, almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack.
Terrorist acts became a ticket to the international bargaining table. How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize when he was supporting a terrorist plague in the Middle East that undermined any chance of peace? Before September 11, we were living with an unrealistic view of the world much like our observing Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate ourselves to peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union through mutually assured destruction. President Bush decided that we could no longer be just on defense against global terrorism but we must also be on offense. On September 20, 2001, President Bush stood before a joint session of Congress, a still grieving and shocked nation and a confused world, and he did change the direction of our ship of state.
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In choosing a president, we really don’t choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal. We choose a leader. And in times of danger, as we are now in, Americans should put leadership at the core of their decision.
There are many qualities that make a great leader but having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader. Winston Churchill saw the dangers of Hitler while his opponents characterized him as a warmongering gadfly.
Ronald Reagan saw and described the Soviet Union as “the evil empire” while world opinion accepted it as inevitable and belittled Ronald Reagan’s intelligence. President Bush sees world terrorism for the evil that it is. John Kerry has no such clear, precise and consistent vision. This is not a personal criticism of John Kerry. I respect him for his service to our nation.
But it is important to see the contrast in approach between the two men; President Bush, a leader who is willing to stick with difficult decisions even as public opinion shifts, and John Kerry, whose record in elected office suggests a man who changes his position often even on important issues.
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President Bush has also focused on the correct long-term answer for the violence and hatred emerging from the Middle East. The hatred and anger in the Middle East arises from the lack of accountable governments.
Rather than trying to grant more freedom, create more income, improve education and basic health care, these governments deflect their own failures by pointing to America and Israel and other external scapegoats.
But blaming these scapegoats does not improve the life of a single person in the Arab world. It does not relieve the plight of even one woman in Iran. It does not give a decent living to a single soul in Syria. It certainly does not stop the slaughter of African Christians in the Sudan. The changes necessary in the Middle East involve encouraging accountable, lawful governments that can be role models.
This has also been an important part of the Bush Doctrine and the president’s vision for the future. Have faith in the power of freedom. People who live in freedom always prevail over people who live in oppression. That’s the story of the Old Testament. That’s the story of World War II and the Cold War.
That’s the story of the firefighters and police officers and rescue workers who courageously saved thousands of lives on September 11, 2001.
President Bush is the leader we need for the next four years because he sees beyond today and tomorrow. He has a vision of a peaceful Middle East and, therefore, a safer world. We will see an end to global terrorism. I can see it. I believe it. I know it will happen.
EXCERPTS FROM THE PREPARED SPEECH OF MAYOR BLOOMBERG:
Today it fills me with enormous pride – and gratitude – to tell everyone that New York City is back! Our economy is growing, with 45,000 private sector jobs created in the last 12 months alone. Our neighborhoods are humming, with a level of public and private construction not seen since the end of World War II. Our streets are bustling, with a three-year, 15% reduction in crime that has defied the odds and made the nation’s safest city even safer. Our schools are reviving. Our streets are cleaner. Our quality of life is better. And our future is brighter than ever.
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I want to thank President Bush for supporting New York City in changing the Homeland Security Funding formula and for leading the global war on terrorism. The President deserves our support. We are here to support him. I am here to support him. We all must recognize that Homeland Security funds should be allocated by threat and no other reason. I will repeat this message to my fellow Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, as many times as it takes, so we can keep New York safe and secure. …
And we owe you more than we can ever say. Your Police Officers and Firefighters volunteered for duty at Ground Zero. Your houses of worship sent blankets, food, and prayers. Your school children mailed us pictures and poems. That’s another reason that this Convention is our chance to say “thank you.” It’s why we’re making our town your town for the week.
We’re the World’s Second Home – the place where every religion is practiced and every culture is celebrated. It’s all there for you – from Brooklyn Heights to Bayside, and from Coney Island to Chelsea….And let me give you an insider’s tip – my own personal favorite thing to do in this city. At least one morning while you’re here, begin the day with a ride on the ferry to Staten Island. Out there in the harbor, you’ll glide past the Statue of Liberty, the beacon of freedom that America holds out to people everywhere. It’s guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat, because you’ll be looking at New York the way generations of new Americans have: As the place to make all your dreams come true.