Rudy Carpes the Diem, Dems Cry Foul

The New York Daily News reports that onetime candidate for President of Florida (TM Ken Rudin) Rudy Giuliani is setting himself up to make a killing off the potential federal bailout of Wall Street

Even as the nation's $700 billion, taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout was still being hashed out, the former mayor announced Thursday his high-powered law firm has set up a task force.

Its mission: to help corporate clients get a piece of the action - or keep the federal wolves from the door.

"Our team of former government officials and experienced attorneys in the fields of legislation, enforcement and finance are equipped to guide institutions in this quickly evolving and complex environment," Giuliani noted in a press release from his law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani.

Giuliani is not the only one poised to profit from opportunities created by the mega-meltdown, but he is the most politically famous.

Giuliani is a prime surrogate for Republican McCain, who has called the economic meltdown "the greatest crisis since the end of World War II" and has assailed Wall Street for "unbridled greed."

The move has ginned up scathing criticism from Democrats -- a DNC spokesman is quoted accusing Giuliani of "crass opportunism" and saying the former mayor is trying to "cash in" on the crisis. In response, RNC officials called the Dems' criticisms "hypocritical and ridiculous."

Now, it was certainly indiscreet of the RNC keynote speaker to get so aggressively entrepreneurial in the midst of a huge economic crisis, especially as his ally John McCain is in the final weeks of his presidential campaign. And there's a real PR stickiness to publicly raking in the chips when so many people face financial ruin. But on the other hand, hey, this is capitalism! As Mom is fond of saying, it's an ill wind that blows nobody good. So...props to Rudy Giuliani for figuring out a personal upside to this mess, we guess?

-- Evie Stone

3:08 PM ET | 09-26-2008 | permalink

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