Run For Your Lives!

I know Samuel Johnson said that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, but I think he meant to replace "patriotism" with "Rudy Giuliani's New Hampshire ad." He just wasn't alive to see it. (Also, he wouldn't have had a chance unless he was living on the island of Guam, which I believe is central to Rudy's new "Win Guam and race to the nomination!" strategy.)

Never mind the fact that all of these challenges have grown worse under the tenure of George W. Bush, whose warmongering, imperialist foreign policy matches up best with Rudy's blood-red neocon vision. Never mind that the part where Osama bin Laden shows up only reminds you of the fact that he's still alive. But the ultimate chutzpah is that somehow, New York City's mayor is the guy who's "tested" and "ready" to deal with such a thing. Happening to be in a particular city on 9/11 does not a foreign policy résumé make, as the public is beginning to figure out.

Josh Marshall is thankful that Rudy's tanking in the polls is almost complete, and I agree with him. A country with this 30-second spot as the template for foreign policy is almost too horrific to contemplate, particularly when you consider the advisers (hello, Norman Podhoretz) ready to realize this nightmare. Apparently, you have to promise to exterminate the brutes in a nicer, more maverick-y way, like John McCain (who I agree is most likely to win by default at this point).

...oh, and just to comment on these new favorability ratings on St. McCain, he was lucky enough to be pummeled into dust early on, which means he hasn't had to withstand the same attacks and scrutiny recently as the rest of the GOP field. Plus the media has a hard-on for him. But there's still a year to the election, and plenty of time to recall "Bomb Bomb Iran" and hugging George Bush and all these ties to K Street, etc. Favorables have a way of fluctuating.