Stepping Up to the Plate

In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina...and the seeming vacuum of leadership, it makes Rudy Giuliana's example following the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York City all the more striking.

The following is from a speech that Rudy Giuliana gave at the 2004 Republican Convention.

"There are times when leadership is the most important."

"On September 11, this city and our nation faced the worst attack in our history. On that day, we had to confront reality. "

"For me, when I arrived there and I stood below the north tower and I looked up, and seeing the flames of hell emanating from those buildings, and realizing that what I was actually seeing was a human being on the 101st, 102nd floor that was jumping out of the building, I stood there, it probably took five or six seconds, it seemed to me that it took 20 or 30 minutes, and I was stunned. "

"And I realized, in that moment, in that instant, I realized we were facing something that we have never, ever faced before."

"We had never been confronted with anything like this before. We had to concentrate all of our energy and our faith and our hope to get through those first hours and days. And we needed all the help that we could get and all the support that we could get."