Okay, so Iran is not currently developing nukes. Looks bad for our intelligence services, doesn't it, but that's no shocker, am I right? We sort of take that for the granted. Here's what the Iran news really does, however; it knocks Rudy Giuliani right out of the race.
Think about it. He's got some big negatives, in some ways combining the most negative aspects of both Bill Clinton and Bush the Younger. Giuliani is a pro-choice hawk with a penchant for keeping his fly open. He favors a generation of warfare to defeat Islamo-fascism and has been all over the map on gay marriage/union. His one abiding strength, however, has been as American's Mayor, America's Air Raid Warren, the man on the street with the bullhorn calling the all clear.
What propelled him into the future was clearly not domestic policy. Aside from the Republican boilerplate that all taxation is evil and the government is your enemy, he has no domestic policy. What he has is 9/11 and all future 9/11s. He was the guy to bump off Bin Laden and then knock on Ahmadinejad's door. But if they're not on the verge of nukes, then what the hell do we need Rudy for? He's been tarred with Bernie Kerik's very shmutzig brush and the good folks of Iowa will receive plenty of reminders that his second wife and children learned he was leaving their home forever via a televised news conference.
No, all he had was that bullhorn and the air raid helmet. I think the Iranians just pulled the magic carpet out from under him.
"What did Mayor Rudy Guiliani do to safeguard NYC and the WTC AFTER the 1993 WTC BOMBING?"
"What escape plans were instituted for WTC employees and NYC citizens?"
NONE!!! I keep hearing the recording telling the WTC employees "stay in your offices, all is AOK" after the first plane attack on the first Tower. This haunts me every day since 9/11. How many lives could have been saved if Rudy Guiliani had truly been proactive and a "Mayor-in-Charge" by creating a plan post-'93 WTC attack?
This man failed NYC as a Mayor as I see it.
In today's Global world, Rudy Guiliani has none of the critical skills to manage the US Presidency with strategic visions, actions and choices of the "right stuff" persons in key spots.
I fear for our citizens' lives if he is elected.
I know for fact that Muslims are not in any way,shape or form,fascists-the term is invented and promoted by racists and Islam bashers to divert attention from the attrocities of israel against the dispossessed Palestinians.
The President of Iran, now has more creditability, internationally than the president of the United States!
As a registered Democrat for fifty three years, almost as long as you have been alive, I wouldn't count Rudy Giuliani out, not yet. Although I am not a fan of his, I question why you bring his personal life into any discussion as to his ability to lead our nation? The reference to his zipper was a cheap shot, since you failed to spell it out to your readers that Bill Clinton's zipper has been up and down more than an elevator and his personal infidelity has made a mockery of his marital oath to Hillary. I wonder if his oath of office was taken with the same tongue in cheek approach, don't you? I weary of members of my Party thinking that everything a Republican does is open to criticism but if we do the same thing, it's perfectly fine. I wonder about those people who make these distinctions, don't you?
The question is this: Which candidate has chosen the most popular divisive issue? Rudy (Mr. 9-11), Tancredo (the xenophobic anti-alien all-American, the grandson of Italian immigrants, who, were it not for the sake of Ellis Island, would have been just as "illegal" as the Latino illegals whom he villifies), McCain (embracer of Bush and his Iraq War, even after Bush/Rove campaign machine smeared his name, insulting his little adopted daughter in the process), Thompson (back-to-the-basics, right-wing, conservative traditionalist, just don't expect him to expend much energy seeking office -- not his style), etc. etc.
Sad thing about it is, this type of strategy often works in America's elections.