Competition is fierce for dumbest statement of the week. Our finalists:

Rudy Giuliani, working-class hero: "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers...I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to."

Philly columnist Stu Bykofsky, who wrote "another 9/11 would help America."

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin on his city's high murder rate: "It's not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring this community back. So, it is kind of a two-edged sword."

Each comment gets bonus points for being callous as well as dumb.

Nagin's is special, because it shows such disregard for specific individuals in his own city.

Rudy (who has backed away from his statement) gets points for using a national tragedy to undermine the core issue of his own campaign.

But I've got to go with Bykofsky, who roots for a bloodbath to unite people against bloodbaths.

Comments

[Gate]

Guiliani was done politically before 9/11.

[eric]

Just about everything Giuliani says about 9/11 is a lie, including (as a clever woman once said) "and" and "the".