More on Rudy's bad press

We posted on this a while ago.

This time the bad news is from Tim Russert on Meet the Press (via thinkprogress):

The developments came on a day when the campaign was responding to a report in Newsday that Mr. Giuliani quit the Iraq Study Group last year after failing to show up for a single meeting. The report said Mr. Giuliani missed the meetings to give paid speeches and his absence has prompted the panel’s Republican co-chairman, James Baker, to ask him to either start showing up or leave the group.” The Giuliani campaign said part of the equation is he was considering to run for president at that time and his presence on the group may pose a potential conflict. several commission members said to me that presidential politics never entered the discussion, it was all about Giuliani’s schedule and commitments versus showing up for the iraq study group.

We posted on the ISG and the alleged coke dealer. Is there any more bad news for "America's Mayor"?

Why, yes. Yes, there is.

Via Salon, we learned that Rudy's loyalty trumps, well, you'll see:

Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, "Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests."

Five years after he was suspended from his duties because of the abuse allegations, Placa is currently listed as "priest in residence" at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, N.Y., where close friend Brendan Riordan serves as pastor, and officially lives at the rectory there with Riordan. [emphasis added.]

So he was suspended because of the allegations?

How can Rudy Giuliani's candidacy survive this? Somehow I think that if there were a big "D" next to his name, we'd be hearing about it 24 hours a day 7 days a week via the Republican Noise Machine.