Giuliani to be keynoter at GOP convention

5 comments August 20th, 2008

As this video suggests, Rudy Giuliani’s keynote address is likely to follow his patented formula of noun-verb-September 11th-noun-verb-September 11th:

I don’t know about you, but I miss Rudy

3 comments June 18th, 2008

I saw something the other day about Rudy Giuliani trying to boost John McCain’s presidential candidacy (lots of luck with that stuff, pal), and it reminded me of how I sometimes miss Rudy’s insanely incessant invocations of Sept. 11.

Through the magic of YouTube, however, we’ll always have mementoes like these:

Gay GOP club endorses McCain

Add comment February 2nd, 2008

Wait’ll Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson hear about THIS.

Oh, man, I need a 9/11 fix

Add comment January 30th, 2008

It’s only been a few hours since Rudy Giuliani quit the campaign trail, and I already miss him.

But I’ll always have this to remind me of Mr. September Eleventh:

Poor Rudy never had a chance

8 comments January 30th, 2008

Rudy Giuliani, who finished third in Tuesday’s Florida primary, is expected to DROP OUT of the race for the Republican presidential nomination today and endorse John McCain.

The pundits will have their post-mortems on Giuliani’s candidacy, but let none of them say he ever had the slightest chance of becoming the GOP standard bearer.

Even during Rudy’s 10-month ride as the front-runner, anybody with half a brain should have recognized that I was more likely to win the Nobel Prize for Physics than “America’s mayor” was to become the Republican nominee.

Giuliani’s early lead in the polls owed to the fact that most rank-and-file Republicans knew little about him other than his having got some ashes on his suit when the World Trade Center was attacked.

The more people learned of his three marriages (one of them to his cousin), his pro-choice position on abortion, his favor for gay rights, his anti-gun rhetoric, his colorful lifestyle and numerous other elements of his story, the more his political star faded.

Nor did he help his own cause when he way, way, way overplayed the Sept. 11 thing. He so overdid it that he turned a national tragedy into a joke, the butt of which was him.

POSTSCRIPT: The demise of Giuliani’s candidacy and the gradual fade of George W. Bush’s unpopular presidency are factors in the DECLINE of the Republican Party’s semi-official propaganda machine, the Fox News Channel.

McCain wins Fla.; donnybrook looms

2 comments January 29th, 2008

For John McCain, the Republican presidential primary in Florida was a do-or-die situation, and HE DID IT, defeating Mitt Romney and the rest of the field by a respectable margin.

The victory makes McCain the front-runner for the nomination, but much of the party’s conservative base still despises him and likely will redouble efforts to stop him.

That end would be well-served if Mike Huckabee got out of the race, but he said tonight that he’s in for the long haul, even though he, too, dislikes McCain.

Huckabee’s candidacy is a lost cause, to be sure, but the votes he  garnered in Florida apparently helped McCain stave off Romney.

Rudy Giuliani, who predictably finished a distant third in Florida,  likely will drop out soon and endorse McCain.

The Republican race remains, if not wide open, still competitive as the campaign moves forward to Feb. 5. It’s going to be fun to watch the fur fly.

Florida prediction

Add comment January 29th, 2008

Today’s Republican presidential primary in Florida is fraught with suspense and implications.

The winner will become the clear front-runner for the nomination, and Rudy Giuliani will have to do well or fold his tent.

I’m not terribly confident of this prediction, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitt Romney  prevails over John McCain by 4 or 5 percentage points.

Romney’s momentum going into Feb. 5 will be greater than McCain would enjoy if he were the winner in Florida.  Understand, McCain still has a big problem with the party’s right-wing establishment, and he’s constantly demonized  on talk radio.

This crowd sees Romney as the only guy who can stop McCain.  Yes, some of them would have preferred Fred Thompson, but he’s out of the race. Can’t Huckabee do it?  He’s out of the question because he scares the hell out of the party’s economic and foreign policy conservatives. And the even the social conservatives are a little nervous about his bleeding-heart populism.

So, if Mitt wins today, he’ll be the presumptive nominee, with McCain demoted to long-shot status.

And Rudy will be gone before the weekend.

It’s been a fun month, hasn’t it?  All this winnowing in both parties.  All these sudden swings from week to week. The record turnouts of voters.  No wonder the cable TV ratings for political news are soaring.

Mitt’s rivals think he’s a jerk

Add comment January 24th, 2008

Mitt Romney (shown above grimacing as Rudy Giuliani justifiably slaps his face) is STRONGLY DISLIKED by his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

John McCain even likens Romney to a pig.

These guys make Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton look like the best of friends.

What happens when Rudy drops out?

Add comment January 24th, 2008

It’s becoming INCREASINGLY LIKELY that Rudy Giuliani will come in third or fourth in the Republican primary in Florida next Tuesday and will be finished as a presidential hopeful.

So where will his supporters go?

I think most of them would be naturally inclined to go with John McCain, whose image as something of a maverick is closest to Rudy’s.

But if Mitt Romney wins in Florida, he’ll have a momentum — a seeming inevitability — that could draw a lot of erstwhile Giuliani people.

In short, the bulk of the Giuliani crowd will gravitate to the side of whoever wins in Florida.  (And that winner won’t be Mike Huckabee.  He’s history.)

As I said here last week, I  expect Romney to be the nominee.  McCain’s problem is that he needs independent voters to prevail.  But some of the upcoming primaries are open only to registered Republicans, many of whom aren’t too keen on McCain.

Moreover, in some of the states where independents will be allowed to participate in the Republican primaries, McCain will find himself in competition with Democrat Barack Obama for those voters.

We need a new name for the big day

Add comment January 23rd, 2008

As you know, Feb. 5, 2008,  looms as the most momentous date in the history of presidential primaries, with balloting scheduled in 22 states, including some big ones (California, New York, Illinois).

The occasion is made all the more important by the fact that the nominations in  both parties will still be up for grabs when that day dawns. (Who knows? Maybe Rudy Giuliani will still be in the race.  Not that it will matter, of course.)

What should we call such a portentous day?

 ”Super Tuesday” doesn’t suffice.  That’s so 1990s.

“Super Duper Tuesday”? Not much better.

“Tsunami Tuesday”?  Too insensitive.  Tsunamis are deadly disasters.

I ran across this one today: “Super Duper Mega Awesome Orgasmic Tuesday.” I like it, but it’s too long.  Doesn’t fit nicely into headlines.

Help me here, people.

Whoever sends me the best idea will win two tickets to Ron Paul’s Inaugural Ball next January (if he’s elected president).  Good luck.