While the hecking/abuse heaped on Ashcroft, Rice, etc., during the Washington portion of the hearings from both in front and in back of them had considerable support from the mainstream media, they had already "softened up" the public in general for attacks like that through previous stories that slanted the table against the administration. But today's heckling of Giuliani, combined with Tuesday's assault on the NYC Police and Fire Department operations (on an problem that was well-publicized within 24 hours after 9/11) may have been the "jump the shark" moment for both the commission and for the famlies who have used the hearings to try and force their own pre-determined outcome.

I would guess the secnario that will come out of this in the media will basically be: Ignore the attacks on Giuliani today, because the public won't buy those and they delegitimize the hearings, while focusing on Lehman's Republican connections and making it sound as if his verbal assault on Tuesday was the only time a commission member has gone beyond the pale with a statement during the hearings.

...and then drop the whole thing and go back to focusing on the Abu Ghiriab prison abuses until the commission's report comes out during the DNC convention in late July.

This is just what happens when you confer special status on those whose only connection to a tragedy is to have been a relative of someone who dies in a spectacular and public manner. Not just special privileges, financial rewards, unlimited publicity and speaking tours on the causes of the tragedy, but also an exemption from all responsibility, rationality and even simple decency. The latest examples being Nick Berg's father and now these clowns.

When did this start? The earliest cases that come to mind are Lockerbie bombing and the Challenger launch failure. (In the latter case, it was more of NASA using the families as an all purpose excuse to keep information suppressed until no one cared anymore.)

Unbecoming and outrageous. Policy by anecdote taken to the extreme.

"Asked afterward about the outbursts, Giuliani said: "I knew that that would happen. ... I attribute it to the stress and the trauma that they're going through."

If only.

"My son was murdered because of your incompetence!'' Is there any reason for embarrassing statements like this to be reported? Think they would have quoted someone who said "Hey Rudy, let's kill all the ragheads!"?

Their embarrassing victimhood denigrates the sacrifices their loved ones made. They should feel shame. Damn few if any of the service men and women who gave their full measure were so denigrated by their families and they received a mere fraction of the compensation provided the 9/11 families.

Their behavior was shameful. Where is their personal dignity?

Anyone remember the movies Mrs. Miniver ... or Saving Private Ryan.

This is an indicator of the entitlement mindset that pervades our society. Somehow the fact that they pay taxes entitles them to expect their public servants to be able to protect them from every possible danger and contingency, whether imaginable or not. The politicians shamelessly cater to this selfish outrage by pointing fingers and asking "What went wrong? Who is to blame?"

No good deed goes unpunished.

Guliani showed them more grace and forebearance than they deserve.

It's a tough situation. You have to know how to stand up for yourself without attacking those who are grieving, even if they may be using their position inappropriately.

It's a fine line, and most of us aren't able to walk it.

Giuliani is a class act.

Firefighters die in the line of duty all the time; it's part of the risk they understand when they sign up for that career. The rewards, though, are pretty good too.

It would be great if the radios always worked, and nobody made mistakes in planning or execution, and communication never got garbled in the confusion, but sh*t happens. So brave men didn't hesitate to fight through smoke and horror to save people, despite it all. They attempted to climb up 70-80 floors, carrying heavy equipment in hot smoke filled stairwells, to grab people they didn't even know and carry them down those 70-80 floors again. The task is stupendous and awe-inspiring; my hat is off to them, and my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in selfless service to others. Bravery doesn't come in any finer form.

But, I don't believe for a minute that this poor lady who lost her son represents the views of the actual NYPD of FDNY, or any other departments throughout the country.

I heard on the radio this morning that Newsday (Long Island) reported that at least one of the "family members" was a professional agitator, not a relation to any victim at all.

>We're all grieved that they lost loved ones, but
>now they've made this about themselves. We've
>developed a disturbing tendency to do that with
>tragedy in the modern world. It's unbecoming.

And the fact that their Grief (TM) is still in full rage-mode OVER TWO YEARS LATER!

Don't they have lives?

"But I've been shot!"
"Everybody's been shot -- get in and drive!"
-- Black Hawk Down

I was in NY this morning and picked up the Times and the Post. The Post, naturally, praised Rudy's performance. The A-1 Times story spoke of how he was gently questioned and how he managed to "preserve his reputation"...the clear, but unstated assertion was that he didn't deserve the acclaim he's received for how he handeled himself and managed the City. The problem is, neither the lead story nor the Editorial page could actually list anything he did wrong.