The Priest in Giuliani's Closet

Okay, so only a few days ago, I speculated about the race for the Republican presidential nomination, predicting that hizonner Rudolph Giuliani would probably take the thing only to lose in the general. But, not being a complete fool I threw in the old caveat that anything can happen with so much time left to go. A story I learned about this very day demonstrates the wisdom of that cliche.

Turns out that Giuliani is bosom buddies with a defrocked priest accused of multiple counts of child molestation. And when I say bosom buddies, it's not an exaggeration. The guy, one Monsignor Alan Placa, was apparently the best man at Giuliani's first wedding, and then officiated at his second one. They were in high school and a college frat together, and when Placa was forced to give up his priestly duties, Giuliani promptly gave him a job with his consulting firm.

But let's get a bit more specific. The ABC report says that the Suffolk County grand jury that looked into the allegations against Placa (along with slew of others against other priests in his diocese) believed the accusers, and that Placa only escaped a criminal trial because the statute of limitations had run out. Perhaps even more disturbingly, for both Catholics and Giuliani supporters, it turns out that Placa was for years one of the church's main officials charged with dealing with allegations of abuse against priests, which he did, according to the grand jury, by means of "deception and intimidation." And so, even if one were to doubt the abuse allegations against Placa (and I personally see little reason to do so), it seems clear that he was, at the very least, a protector of clerical abusers, cut from the same mold as Bernard Law and Roger Mahoney. And that, as far as I'm concerned, is just about as despicable.

What is most bizarre about this story, however, is that Giuliani has apparently known about these allegations for some time now and yet has done nothing to distance himself from Placa. Indeed, he defended the man in a campaign appearance just last week.

Well, Giuliani apparently has a reputation for being deeply loyal to his cronies (remind you of anyone?), but I'd say he runs the risk of destroying the whole enterprise if he doesn't throw Placa under the campaign bus (ala Romney with Larry Craig) as quickly as he can. Only a couple weeks ago I explained how it was already apparent that Giuliani surrounds himself with some real dirtbags, but I was only talking about belligerent, racist neocons then -- most Republican voters wouldn't have a problem with that. But a pedophile priest?! Good luck with that one, Rudy. Or wait, not good luck. Only a f****** idiot and complete a****** would defend and pay a guy when there are credible allegations of child abuse against him. So you stick with him, Mr. Mayor, and watch your f****** campaign implode...

Only problem with that would be that it would kinda mess up my predictions. Maybe the Huckster's odds aren't looking so bad, after all.

But, then, I doubt Giuliani is that much of an idiot. I imagine this Placa guy will be persona non grata tout suite if the mayor's advisers have even half a brain among them. Even still, this will be another black mark (and rightly so, in this case) against Giuilani in the minds of far right primary voters. He probably shouldn't get too comfortable, then, with his front-runner status.