Breslin--"No Thanks on the Kool-Aid"

In Newsday:

"...yesterday [former mayor Guiliani] sat before the 9/11 commissioners and they collapsed in awe. They listened to him give a walking tour of how he tried to find a command center. Not once did anybody ask him about the stupid idea he had had for his first bunker, the one that fell out of the sky. They asked no questions of a mayor whose fire department had no radios that worked when a police helicopter said the north tower was going to fall. And 343 firefighters died. They wanted to hear nothing of blood on Giuliani's hands. They only wanted to hear whatever he had to say and they regarded his words as those of a hero. They had no idea that the guy was a flop who got lucky with an air raid."

The New York Times, in contrast, opts for fawning coverage:

The matter of whether he and his administration had indeed performed wisely and heroically is central to his reputation and to his seemingly bountiful business and political future. Since leaving office, he has positioned himself as the man for corporations, cities and even countries to consult in order to feel secure.

Sure, eventually they got around to noting some of the protests by people who lost family members in the attacks or in the aftermath. Some wanted the former mayor questioned on the problems with police radios--problems that had been noted in 1993, but never dealt with.

At this point, unfortunately, the fire is gone from the hearings. Thanks to the sheer number of scandals, the 9/11 Commission will release a report that's likely to be greeted with a collective yawn. I'll give the Bush administration a little bit of credit: the level of corruption, sleaziness, and overall incompetence is SO high that the public simply can't keep up. Indeed, there's barely enough time to chronicle it all.