Not to Harp On This, But...

This weekend, the New York Times told us that Rudy Giuliani isn't getting along so great with his kids:

Andrew Giuliani has been at his father’s side in campaign commercials and inaugurations since he was a toddler, famously bounding across the stage in a rambunctious manner and mimicking his father’s rhetorical flourishes during Mr. Giuliani’s 1994 mayoral inauguration.

But Mr. Giuliani’s relationship with Andrew has grown strained and distant since his very public and bitter divorce from Andrew’s mother, Donna Hanover, and his marriage to Judith Nathan, according to Andrew and others familiar with the relationship.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Andrew, a sophomore and member of the golf team at Duke University, acknowledged having had difficulties with Ms. Nathan, and said that he and his father had recently tried to reconcile after not speaking “for a decent amount of time.”

“There’s obviously a little problem that exists between me and his wife,” the younger Mr. Giuliani said. “And we’re trying to figure that out. But as of right now it’s not working as well as we would like.”

And now, Giuliani offers his explanation:

“My wife, Judith, is a very loving and caring and good mother and grandmother, good mother and stepmother,” Mr. Giuliani said in response to a a barrage of questions from dozens of journalists about his relationship with his children. “She has done everything she can. The responsibility is mine. And I believe that these problems with blended families are challenges. Sometimes they are. And the challenges are best worked on privately. In other words, the more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties. And the best way to kind of handle that is to make as little comment about this as possible.”

An aide then interjected “Last question!” though Mr. Giuliani had only answered one. The next one, too, was about his son’s comments.

America's Mayor, getting tough questions from reporters? Shocking!

The point is, if I was Andrew Giuliani, I'd be pretty pissed at my dad, too. Let's not forget just what Rudy did to Andrew's mother. While Donna Hanover was back in Gracie Mansion, Rudy paraded down a Manhattan street in front of photographers with his mistress, so all the world could see he was cheating on his wife. He then informed her that he was leaving her via that most tender and understanding means, the press conference. Yes, a press conference. I'm guessing Andrew thought that was kind of a cruel thing to do. Who knows, maybe Andrew was sitting with his mom watching television when they heard the news. And let's remember that at the time Rudy was acting out this little opera of sadism, Andrew was 14 years old.