Rudy Giuliani must be kidding. He's boasting that he would have squashed Occupy Wall Street on day one. He called the protesters "disgruntled bums" and "leftover hippies from the '60s and '70s."

Ah yes, the former mayor of New York City invoking law and order. Let’s pause to recall that Giuliani’s police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, is now serving a four-year prison sentence on corruption charges.

But that’s not the worst of it. Giuliani reportedly delivered a speech at an economic conference in China last week. He said the first question he was asked was about Occupy Wall Street.

“This thing has gone around the globe, and it’s beginning to characterize us,” he said. “This is what they think we’re about.”

God forbid China should think we’re a country that allows protests without mowing down people in the streets.

Yes, Rudy Giuliani, the whole world is watching. But what they see is a city’s legacy of political openness and tolerance in tatters.