In addressing “evangelicals and social conservatives,” the article is referring to that something-on-the-order-of-one-third of the American public that actually approves of George W. Bush. Not those who merely distrust the Democrats, or hate high taxes, or are worried about terrorism, or dislike the government for a myriad of other reasons. No; these are the members of the elctorate who – let me repeat for emphasis – actually approve of George Bush. In other words, these are people who applaud the use of torture; are delighted the CIA is reading their mail and tapping their phones; take pride in the operation of Guantanamo Bay and the worldwide network of secret prisons; and are thankful that we are no longer burdened by habeas corpus and judicial oversight of the executive branch.

It’s difficult to imagine a single member of the hardcore Republican base that doesn’t fall into at least one of three (often overlapping) constituencies:

1. Nigger-haters;

2. Religious fanatics; and

3. Authoritarian warmongers

Needless to say, no member of the Stenographic Media is about to explain the real meaning behind such ludicrous euphemisms as “strong on terrorism.” Are we supposed to seriously entertain that members of the Republican base in Alabama and Kansas and Utah are worried about Muslim suicide bombers blowing up the local Rotary Club and Chevy dealership? Let’s not be absurd. “Strong on terrorism” is the new “law and order," popularized with a wink and a nudge by Nixon as part of the Republicans’ loathsome (and profoundly successful) Southern Strategy.

In this context, support for Giuliani among the Republican base becomes entirely comprehensible, notwithstanding his position on abortion or his history of tolerance for gay rights. Differences with respect to such specific issues can be easily overlooked because the base is fully aware that Giuliani shares their bigotry, as well as their contempt for democracy and the rule of law. There’s another euphemism that explains the base’s admiration for Giuliani’s even more effectively than his terrorism credentials; to wit, no standard paean to Giuliani is complete without a reference to how he “cleaned up New York.” This partially refers to his authoritarian tactics and thuggish contempt for dissent: his criminalization of homelessness; his bizarre campaign to ban jaywalking; his bullying of taxi drivers, squeegee men and hot dog vendors, while he sucked off bankers and real estate developers in a spare toilet at City Hall. But - most of all - "cleaned up" refers to how he kept “the blacks” in line; how every time an African-American – suspect or bystander – was murdered by the cops, his immediate response was to smear the dead man, spit on his family, and tell community leaders to go fuck themselves. While the Republican base may care about abortion, adultery, and the like, they can forgive anybody who ostracizes and humiliates African-Americans, and expresses his hatred for Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson with sufficient intensity. Quite simply, that makes him one of their own, someone they know they can trust.

In short, with the possible exception of the Snarling Savage, Giuliani is the closest thing to a bona fide fascist this country has ever had. That makes him someone with whom the Republican base can fall in love, and for whom they'll be perfectly happy to take their heretofore inviolate moral values and flush them down the toilet.

This article explains so perfectly the intensity of my loathing for the Democrats, and why I hate them just infinitesimally less than the goddamn Republico-fascists. Could someone please explain to me why there hasn’t been a daily parade of torture victims testifying before Congress, describing their rendition and imprisonment at the hands of the CIA? Or how the hell the Democrats have been in power for six months without having served a single subpoena on Karl Rove? Or even, for that matter, what possible reason there was to give the Republicans political cover by including more goddamn tax breaks in the minimum wage bill?

It seems nothing terrifies the Democrats more than the prospect of uncovering some actual, concrete evidence of Republican criminality, compelling them to take a public stand and DO something about it, like, say, impeachment, God forbid. Thus, we have the phenomenon of Congressional hearings and ongoing investigations proceeding at a pace to be completed sometime around 2037. Quite simply, the Democrats would love nothing better than to keep their heads under the line of fire and wait out the clock until the 2008 elections, which they’re virtually assured to win absent some extraordinary scandal or other unforeseeable fuck-up. It’s disgusting. Sure, a Democratic administration will be great for healthcare, and stem cell research, and global warming, and a hundred other issues; but there is nothing – absolutely nothing – that comes close in importance to restoring our fundamental Constitutional liberties and cleansing the stink of rightwing Republicanism from the United States political process. That means not only warrantless spying, but torture, and habeas, and the Guantanamo gulag, and secret rendition. And the way that happens is not as a result of cooperation, or compromise, or, most execrable of all, “bipartisanship.” It happens as a result of prosecution, confrontation, and public denunciations of criminality. Those things will never happen unless progressives aggressively and credibly threaten to withhold their support or take it elsewhere, and that is exactly what we should do.

Well, well, so Nosferatu Giuliani is as eloquent and articulate as he is good looking, a regular silver-tongued son-of-a-bitch. Of course, maybe the sideshow freak was stuck on a flight from Europe after an extended money-grubbing trip, and hadn't had an opportunity to drink any human blood in the preceding 12 hours.

In any case, it's clear that not only is Giulini the most grotesquely ugly human being ever to run for president in U.S. history, but a worthy successor to the avatar of modern conservatism, George W. Bush. No wonder his own kids hate his fucking guts.