Giuliani Takes Heat from Fire Fighters

Firefighters and other emergency workers who spent weeks in the toxic disaster that was Ground Zero were stunned and outraged last week to hear Rudy Giuliani compare his job and its risks to theirs.

"I was one of those workers," the former New York mayor and current Republican presidential candidate said, claiming he spent as much time at Ground Zero as rescuers and recovery teams. "I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to ... so in that sense I'm one of them."

Tell that to Marvin Bethea, an EMS worker who suffered a stroke and breathing problems after responding to the attack. "This is an absolute insult to all the people who are suffering from 9/11," Bethea said in media reports. "You weren't working on the pile. You weren't digging, so how do you compare yourself to one of us?"

FDNY batallion chief Jim Riches, who spent eight months at Ground Zero looking for the remains of his firefighter son and others who died, said Giulinia "would pass through for five minutes, so for him to say he was down there as much as the first responders is a disgrace."