As for the Mayor "loving a good brawl," check out the 1998 recording of Hizzoner intimidating a caller who was concerned about the police shooting of a water pistol-toting 17 year old. Giuiliani heaped scorn and condescension on the caller, saying the man was "prejudiced" against the police for voicing his concern. Giuliani bore down with all his cheap prosecutor tricks on this average citizen, who was clearly outmatched but refused to give into the O'Reilly-esque bullying. The caller characterized the gun as a "toy pistol"--Giuliani corrected him that it was a "toy submachine gun" and then dropped the "toy" altogether in subsequent references. The Mayor spun the pure hypothetical that the youth could only have been riding his bike at 2:30 am with a "submachine gun" because he wanted to "impress the gangs." Sounds good but where's the proof? The caller said a witness saw the boy trying to put the gun down. Hizzoner riposted that other witnesses said he wasn't putting the gun down, with no specifics offered. Instead of considering what the caller had to say, the Mayor bulldozed him, vociferously defending the murder of a minor. It was reminiscent of the Bush we saw bullying the Prime Minister of Spain in those recently surfaced tape transcripts. Another arrogant narcissist with the means to "win" arguments but nothing good to do with that power.

BTW, FYI, Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel has a son named Todd who is about 27 now, give or take. A few years ago she wrote about him in one of her diatribes saying what a remarkably good Republican he was becoming. I wrote her an email and asked her why "Todd" wasn't signing up for the military. Simple question.

She wrote back and called me an ass.

Well, OK. I can be an ass sometimes. But the question remains unanswered.

He didn't run Manhattan, he ran the whole City, including Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. Manhattan is not even the most populous borough.

they don't have a choice, the alternative to staying silent or stubbornly protesting a third party candidate, is a Democratic Presidency with the power of wide majorities of Congress. Dobson is merely in toe tapping disbelief that his party is deconstructing right before his eyes, but he'll jump in the sack with the Rudy, right after that coming weekend rendezvous when they hammer out all their differences.

The funny part of course, is that it won't make a bit of difference to the outcome. The press will likely give Rudy a pass, but years and years of raw material sit just waiting for bloggers or ad consultants to devise one of the most brilliant anti candidate ad campaigns in history.

To anyone who doesn't believe that, just visit the archives of the New Yorker magazine, a veritable gold mine of material awaiting discovery.

Joan, I saw you on Olbermann tonight. I have to take issue with something you said. You said that "nobody has complained about Hillary's laugh", or something to that effect. You're wrong. Here's a note I wrote to a friend a few days ago:

Did you see Hillary's laugh in the debate after Gravel lambasted her for voting "yes" on the iran-is-terrorst bill, effectively giving Bush congressional permission to attack Iran. Laughing? It's not funny. It's obscene. I just heard on Democracy Now that Hillary has among democrats a 52 to 20 lead over Obama. So we're probably fucked.

Hillary's vote to authorize Bush to attack Iran is a serious outrage, that Hillary ought to be held accountable for.

Joan, great to see you on Keith's show. Always look forward to banter between you and Pat Buchanan. Joan, when will the Demos understand that defunding the mayhem in Iraq, is the only way to get our service folks back home? Please keep doing the phenominal job you always do! Congratulations from the North Bay.

You know, I used to think once the rest of the country got an earful of Rudy's high-handed, frankly nasty and contemptuous manner, they'd be turned off.

But lately, after re-hearing (and re-living) excerpts from some of those radio shows, I changed my mind. In those call-ins, he's mostly bitch-slapping New Yorkers who are clearly to the left of him, people worried about civil liberties, parking, hospitals, pets, homeless people. He calls them Marxist, and well, crazy. He's categorizing them as liberal, and thus unbalanced in some way-- he's telling off bleeding heart New Yorkers in a way that I suspect a lot of the country might like to.

If the rest of the country admires his toughness and what I laughingly call his "decisiveness," they may just laugh at these broadcasts, and see him as a surrogate, telling off the liberals the way they would like to.

He's concerned about overincarceration. Giuliani's concern seems to be that we're not incarcerated enough.

I would like to endorse Joan Walsh for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Ms Walsh is certainly better qualified than any of the candidates who are currently running. Beyonce Welch - Peace Mother.

"The radio show also captures Giuliani's political evolution -- from a relative centrist who opposed the National Rifle Association's crusade on behalf of assault weapons, who supported Mario Cuomo over George Pataki in 1994 and praised Hillary Clinton's healthcare reform efforts, to a guy who suddenly tried to cast himself as a Ronald Reagan Republican..."

There's nothing wrong with evolving politically. If you'll recall, the Hildabeast started out as a Goldwater Republican. Don't underestimate Rudy. Polls say he'd beat Hillary. His bigger problem is winning the Republican nomination.

As far as the Christian right is concerned- Huckabee has it all except his support for the Fair Tax. Churches get so many benefits now under the current system- they don't want to rock the boat with the Fair Tax. If not for this "deal breaker" -the Christian Right would be on Huckabee like white on rice!

There may be a very good reason for Christian conservatives to distrust Romney's Morman faith: Joseph Smith's "Fist Vision."

As Christians believe in Christ's divinity, so Mormons believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that his "First Vision" is true.

But in the "First Vision", two "personages" appear to Joseph Smith surrounded by light. One "personage" introduces the second as "my son."

Joseph Smith asks which of all the religions he should join and is told none, for they are all wrong.

The implication is that Jesus Christ and God the Father tell Joseph Smith that Methodists are wrong, Baptists are wrong, Catholics are wrong, and all other faiths are wrong.

But, through Joseph Smith, Mormons are "right."

Now, I can tolerate one church calling other faiths "wrong", "in error", "misguided", etc. But none of them claim "Jesus Christ Himself said they are wrong."

So how can a practicing churchgoer vote for a President of the United States who would sit in the White House absolutely certain from his faith that the churchgoer's religion is "wrong"?