With his remarks questioning the patriotism of President Barack Obama former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani became like Mountain Rivera. Except there is no reason to feel sorrow for Giuliani.
"I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe the president loves America." With those words Rudy Giuliani created a firestorm and incidentally provided an early test for 2016 Republican contenders that is more telling than whether they believe in vaccinations or even evolution. But Giuliani immediately reminded me of Mountain Rivera.
Mountain Rivera was a fictional character played by Anthony Quinn in the 1962 movie Requiem for a Heavyweight. He’s a washed up former boxing contender who has just been defeated in seven rounds by none other than Cassius Clay. His longtime manager, Maish Rennick, had placed a bet with the wise guys that Rivera wouldn’t last four rounds and they want their money, or in the alternative, they’ll kill Maish. Rivera has limited options for a post-fight career and Maish ruins the ones he has. Instead, Maish urges Rivera to become a professional wrestler, a job that will play off his fame as a boxer and provide Maish the money he needs to save himself. In order to protect Maish’s life, Rivera agrees and enters the ring as “Big Chief Mountain Rivera.”
One feels sorrow for Rivera for the loss of his dignity. He did it though to save a friend, even a friend who had betrayed him. Giuliani, once an icon of September 11 has also forfeited his dignity, but for what?
It certainly couldn’t be for monetary incentives because Giuliani has made himself a wealthy man since 9/11 with legal work, strategic advice, and speaking engagements. It is possible that he has joined a certain chorus within his party and become seriously unhinged. This would not exclude the possible reason that he passionately objects to the president’s foreign policy. However one can do that without questioning whether the president loves America.
In some way though, it may be that he misses the limelight, being on Fox, having people listen to him. Like Mountain Rivera in boxing, Giuliani is washed up as a politician.
Giuliani has apparently absorbed the lessons Jeffrey Berry and Sarah Sobieraj set forth in their fine book The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility. There is an infinitesimally tiny market for reason in the media today. What sells is bombast, invective, ad hominem arguments. Indeed, one of the few people praising Giuliani for his remarks was Rush Limbaugh.
The political theorist Wilson Carey McWilliams often wrote of friendship, drawing on his reading of classic texts. The idea of political friendship now seems as farfetched as it is absent. John Steinbeck wrote “Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love.” Alas, there is no ratings magic in understanding.
Dignity is nothing to fame, not in 2015. We’ll likely hear more from Big Chief Rudy Giuliani.