One of the things I found distasteful about last night’s convention was the emphasis on 9/11. While it’s fair to mention the attacks to set up a debate about the appropriate response, last night’s convention seemed to revel in the details of the attacks.

The 9/11 tribute was a good example of what I’m talking about. It consisted of three women telling intimate stories about the deaths of their loved ones. I kept expecting them to jump in with “Timmy last words were : ‘Don’t trust those Massachusetts liberals’.” or something like that. While the ladies stayed above the fray, the underlying message seemed to be that Republicans mourn better than Democrats.

The dirty work came from “America’s Mayor” in an anecdote that I feel safe in saying is 100% bullshit. Since Rudy went off-script quite a bit last night, I’m including the transcript of what he said, not the “prepared remarks”. Rudy’s ad-lib has been italicized, though I’m sure the fact that his addition was the grizzliest part of his speech is just a coincidence :

GIULIANI: On September 11, this city and our nation faced the worst attack in our history. On that day, we had to confront reality.

For me, when I arrived there and I stood below the north tower and I looked up, and seeing the flames of hell emanating from those buildings, and realizing that what I was actually seeing was a human being on the 101st, 102nd floor that was jumping out of the building, I stood there, it probably took five or six seconds, it seemed to me that it took 20 or 30 minutes, and I was stunned.

And I realized, in that moment, in that instant, I realized we were facing something that we have never, ever faced before.

We had never been confronted with anything like this before. We had to concentrate all of our energy and our faith and our hope to get through those first hours and days. And we needed all the help that we could get and all the support that we could get.

And I will always remember that moment as we escaped the building that we were trapped in at 75 Barclay Street, and I realized that things outside might actually be worse than inside the building.

We did the best we could to communicate a message of calm and hope, as we stood on the pavement watching a cloud come through the cavernous streets of lower Manhattan.

Our people were so brave in their response.

(APPLAUSE)

At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, “Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president.”

Well, I guess that’s all you need to know about Guiliani. Even at one of the worst moments in our nation’s history, he was a Republican hack.