Thursday, January 24, 2008

Goodbye Rudy, Tuesday

Spot couldn't resist ripping off that headline. It is from an opinion piece by Timothy Egan of the New York Times about, of course Rudy Giuliani. The article is as good as the headline:

Yet, the more they [Florida Republicans] see of him here, the more his poll numbers tank. Even with ol’ Fred Thompson shuffling off the stage for a life of longer naps and witless homilies to more appreciative audiences, Rudy’s campaign is in a meltdown.

It’s worth stepping back for a moment to recall how far and how quickly Giuliani has fallen. For most of the summer and well into the fall, he was the Republican frontrunner. His campaign consisted of a hagiography: the hero of 9/11. His fundraising was strong. Now the campaign is all but broke and he’s getting his clock cleaned in some states by Ron Paul – Ron Paul! – the 97-pound libertarian who thinks the war on terror is bogus.

What happened? I saw Giuliani four years ago at a rally in Henderson, Nev. He was on fire, the Elvis of Republicans. George W. Bush was the president who said things like, “You’re working hard to put food on your family.” By contrast, people emerged from that Giuliani speech in Nevada saying, “I wish he were running.”

And then there is this:

More broadly, you can summarize Giuliani’s problems in the line he no longer uses. When the World Trade Center towers came down, he turned to his loyal sidekick Bernie Kerik, and said he was glad George Bush was president.

Now, that line is a triple loser. Kerik, his police commissioner, is under federal indictment, in a sea of troubles. Bush is despised by two-thirds of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans want to go in a different direction. As for the big scare, give Senator Joe Biden credit for writing what may be Giuliani’s obit: “There are only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11.”

Yet Giuliani still wants to frighten people into voting for him. Maybe that’s why he hired the gothic-faced actor Jon Voight to stump for him in Florida. What, Christopher Walken wasn’t available?

To which Spot will only add this photograph of Rudy's grave:

Daniel Barry/Getty Images via Dependable Renegade

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