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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

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Pushing back against Whitman

Posted: Monday, June 25, 2007 11:14 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:

hFrom NBC's Mark Murray

As we mentioned earlier this morning, former EPA chief Christie Whitman -- who testifies on Capitol Hill today -- has charged that Giuliani blocked her efforts to force World Trade Center workers to wear respirators, and that city officials didn't want EPA workers wearing hazmat suits.

On Saturday, the Giuliani campaign pushed back against Whitman's claims with a three-page "setting the record straight" research document, calling them "baseless" and "revisionist."

“Every effort was made by Mayor Giuliani and his staff to ensure the safety of all workers at Ground Zero in the aftermath of this unprecedented act of terror," said former deputy mayor Joe Lhota in the press release. "All workers at Ground Zero were instructed repeatedly to wear their respirators. This is well-documented and indisputable. No one from the City ever tried to block the Environmental Protection Agency. Any statement or suggestion to the contrary is simply baseless. Administrator Whitman never voiced any of these concerns at the time – not at the daily meetings which included federal, state and local officials, not at any press conferences. Doing so now is revisionist at best.”

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Rudy, you reap what you sow. Your biggest concern after 9/11 was not the welfare of the people who elected you or the firemen who protected them, but the need to jumpstart the city's economy again. You know, get those asses in the city's theaters and restaurants again. Play that delicate balancing act of keeping New Yorkers scared enough to keep needing your 'divine intervention' while at the same time encouraging out-of-towners to come back with their wallets to the big apple. And you were sleazy enough to pull it off for a while, but now the wheels of your campaign are starting to wobble. I look forward to your failure.
Which one is lying? If they are both Republicans, that could present quite a problem, i.e., they can't both be lying. That's a physical impossibility. But if they're both Republicans, neither can be telling the truth. Repubs' need to lie trumps the laws of physics, Peter Principle, Murphy's Law, the whole shebang. Maybe the Bush Supreme Court can tell us. That's a joke, son.
Rudy is a big lier, always has been, always will be.
the slime is slowly sticking to gigolo Rudy. To call this man America's mayor is disgusting. This man only cares about absolute power at the expense of New Yorker's including N.Y'S police,fireman,and emt volunteer's who risked their lives and hlth and are now paying for it. All so this meglomaniac can call  himself an expert on conterterrorist.      
Anyone know what her motivation for lying might be? Is she just covering herself about some tough questioning she expects from congress? Is it a circular firing squad? Did anyone have culpability other than the workers who refused to wear the respirators because it was too hot?
If only a democrat had been in charge. They could have stopped all those people from rushing in there to rescue people. Maybe that's what really happened in New Orleans.
"This is well-documented and indisputable." Hey Rudy! The greatest part about having things well documented is that you... oh, I don't know... PRODUCE THOSE DOCUMENTS! But then again, he's a Reuplican so he's probably not too good at preserving documents...
And people said the Obama's answer to the, "two cities bombed by AQ, what would you do" and his first response would be to take care of the citizens first and "first responders" was week on defense.  These problems would not have happened this way under an Obama's administration.
Well said, Juan. I couldn't agree more.
I find this interesting, nobody cared in the first few days whether they had a mouthpiece on or not, they just dug looking for survivors.  Now 6 years later, she comes out with this story.  Sounds like she is getting ready to jump ship.  Dave, I agree, maybe that is what happened in New Orleans.  Of course the difference between New York and New Orleans was that that democrat mayor had plenty of time to get all his people out, at least three days worth and left all those buses sitting there to ruin because he didn't know what to do.  Rudy, it was no warning and no time to think, you just jumped in there to do what you could.
"All workers at Ground Zero were instructed repeatedly to wear their respirators. This is well-documented and indisputable. "

I'm not defending Whitman by any stretch of the imagination, but that statement is simply a lie.
Actually, I was a safety professional and I worked at Ground Zero and I was absolutely aghast at the refusal of the workers at ground zero to wear the personal protective equipment. All of my efforts to convince these guys to wear the masks was for naught. They basically laughed in my face and continued on as they were.

To sit there and say it is a lie that these guys were asked to wear the masks is a cop-out.

You people have to stop playing partisan games. This isn't a Republican problem or a Democrat problem its an American problem.

We were attacked on 9/11, and the safety and health crisis on the ground was unprecedented in history, and as a safety professional - I am heartbroken at the carnage that continues - with good men becoming seriously ill and succumbing to all manners of insidious respiratory ailments.

Safety is considered inconvienient by workers, and all too many times - workers die.

Safety is everyone's responsibility - including the workers who refused to wear the equipment.

These weren't a bunch of dummies - these were smart, intelligent, experienced first responders.

Joe - With all due respect, if they were told that they needed to wear certain equipment to insure their safety and they refused to do so, I would in fact classify them as being "dummies"...
RAH, I agree with you.  Senator Obama's first priority is to take care of the citizens of our Country.  An Obama Administration would put the American people first.

Living proof that National Polls mean nothing, the wheels are coming off of Ruby's wagon and he is still leading the pack.
Rudy is the liar.
Go away Rudy GuiLIARni, We want Ron Paul.
If anybody tried to keep another fireman or police officer from rushing into the inferno when the towers collapsed, they probably would have been punched in the mouth.  These people did what they were trained to do.  They are paying a price for what they did, and frankly I would like the goverment to take a little more care of their problems.  But when you have a disaster that was spilt second, you don't think about the obvious, you do it because it was the right thing to do. of course I would expect a remark like our friend in Iowa.  Being in the country, you don't see that kind of disaster every day.  To hear the heroes of 9-11 being called dummies just shows you the liberal mindset in this country.  Would you call the firemen who ran into your blazing house to save your life dummies?
Jerry - First of all, I used the term "dummies" because, if you notice, that is what the previous post used.  

It has nothing to do with being liberal.  I don't know why you need to split everything into a liberal versus conservative thing.  But let's pursue that line of thinking,shall we?  Aren't Republicans all about personal responsibility?  Aren't they alwasy preaching about how people need to take responsibility for their lives and not rely on the government to help them, and all of those related propositions.  Well, these rescuers CHOSE not to wear the necessary equipment, knowing the risks involved.  If you choose to not take the proper precautions and then end up sick as a result, then I think the responsibility lies largely with you.  I do think that it is foolish to ignore the risks the way that they did, even if it was done with the best possible motives.  Of course they were noble in their desire to save lives, and in putting the rescue above their own safety; however, they do so knowingly, and must take some of the responsibility for that.

Jerry's narrow-mindedness never ceases to amaze me.  Now he's not only against liberals, he is against people who are not from metropolitan areas.  No shock that he is from TX.
Carrie, You forget that Jerry is in that bustling metropolis known as Corpus Christi where they apparently see 9/11-type disasters on a regular basis.  I guess the liberal media just isn't reporting all of the terrorist activities in Corpus Christi for some reason.  And as for Jerry's statement that 'these people did what they were trained to do', it's apparent that they didn't.  All emergency workers are trained to use proper PPE as a first line of defense.  If they chose not to protect themselves, then they bear the responsibility for the consequences of those actions.
Carrie, for the second time, please do not assume that the majority of Texans are like jerry.  Thank you, Ma'am.
I don't see why not Scott, we are a republican state, we got tired of the liberals down here real quick and now we are working on running Solomon Ortiz out of congress.  You forget you are in the minority and you better get used to it for awhile.  As we say, Austin is a island of liberalism surrounded by an ocean of conservatism.  Better get used to it Scott.  And as far as my friends to the north, just remember one thing.  The decisions you make in a split second will either save lives or lose lives.  There is no right or wrong.  You just do what you think is right and deal with the scorn or heroics later.
Once again, jerry, it went right over your head.  Everyone else knows I was not talking about party affiliation, but rather about other more important things, like intelligence, character, civility, etc.
While republicans are in the majority in Texas, very few of them are anything like you.


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