I find it somewhat interesting how fascinated Democrats are in terms of watching Rudy Giuliani get blasted from the right on the issue of abortion. It would seem to me that for pro-choice activists, the best thing in the world would be a Rudy candidacy, because barring a third party candidate, we would have a pro-choice president.

I also find wording of the statistics about Republican primary voters opinion on abortion interesting. The two choices that Mr. Shapiro gives are "abortion with no limits" or the more vague "that would be classified as antiabortion" (classified by whom?) It would seem to me, based on my own readings, that most people in this country are seeking some middle ground between abortion with no restrictions, and no abortions at all. Giuliani seems to fall in there.

Just one final note, Mr. Shapiro claims that Republicans have litmus tests on all manner of issues, abortion being his only example, and it is certainly true that they do, but when was the last time the Democrats fielded a pro-life candidate for president?

Selecting Rudy as their candidate would be the biggest gift that the GOP could give to the Democrats. I'm just hoping he doesn't self-destruct before then. I'm even thinking of contributing to his campaign. His antics are well known in NYC, but the rest of the country doesn't know about his cross dressing and other colorful behavior. If he's the candidate the opposition will have a field day. And the conservative base will not vote - they'll stay home.

As a fan of "Trouble with Tribbles," I just wanted to let JeffM23 know that I've rewritten my maladroitly worded polling sentence.

I guess Rudy's ignorance on Sunni-Shia-Iraq-Iran, and North Korea, don't matter to mouth-breathers who want another Daddy to yell at the bad guys. As long as you hate liberals and swarthy overseas types, you have a shot at the GOP nomination. He should just change like Romney has and let ythe chips fall; where they may. Republicans have no principles apart from retention of power and being rich, so why pretend?

People, this is something to rejoice. If word of mouth is to be believed, we may see Guiliani proudly and vehemently defend a woman's right to choose. He might just have the balls to do it. Suck it, anti-choicers!!! (My words, not Guiliani's.) (Well, in my dreams, those are his words.)

"A multiple-choice question in a CBS News poll conducted in January found that only 21 percent of Republicans favor abortion in all cases..."

"favor abortion in all cases"?

Uh, Walt, as Scotty said to the Klingon in "Trouble with Tribbles", would you like to rephrase that, Laddie?

You're making my native state look bad. Get out of the race while Wisconsin still has a shred of dignity!

I usually avoid listening to any wingnut on any subject, because even three seconds of that is an inexcusable waste of precious brain cells.

However, the inclusion of repug flame-thrower Ron Paul persuaded me to watch the first GOP debate in hopes of seeing some fireworks, and I was not sorry.

Really, how often do we get to see a major political party self-destruct live on national television? It's Must See Tee-Vee!

Buffalonian: I know how you feel, but just the distant prospect of that choice has me surfing the 'net for Canadian real estate.

Who is going to vote for a repulican in this country? I can't think of anybody willing to vote for someone who is against abortion, gay rights, and who is a supporter of an imaginary winning strategy in Iraq. Even McCain had to allign him slef with the administration after his trip to Iraq by saying that it was ALL GOOD!

The GOP is battling dillusions of grandeur, and the "bonheur" of the last elections is way gone. The republican presidential hopefuls have nothing to debate about, and are tip toeing on each other's turfs, and I can't wait for the passive jabs to start coming out, and you can count on Ann Coulter to lead the herd when the time is right.

Instead of debating about the state of the war and what can be done to get out of Iraq, or the state of the economy and the issues related to healthcare, the republicans are immersed into abortion, and gay rights, which are far from being decision drivers. They are certainly important issues, but they don't weigh as much as the war or healthcare do. And that's exactly what they call rallying the base in Red America, which is stuck in a mudslide of Who will Jesus vote for.

No really I hope they turn this 'debate' into an argument about which one of them is the True deTorquemada.

Made new york into his own personal fiefdom. Say what you want about Daley (and I've said plenty), but Giuliani used the cops to spy on reporters who wrote bad stories about him.

He's irrespsonsible with power. And he'd do more damage than good.

He is a menace to our constitution and our Republic. Do not let his social issue stances fool you. He is, in fact, the only possible person in the world who would lead me to cast a vote for Hillary.