Guilt-Free with Ruu-dee !

Guiliani switched to the Republicans because they love the poor more? Is he as delusional as G.W. Bush?

Today's Republicans only care about the poor BEFORE they are born and Guiliani doesn't even go along with that.

But be careful when reaching into your pocket--you could get shot 41 times.

I think you left off the qualifier to the statement - after saying that Republicans care about the poor more, he followed that up by saying "We just choose to do nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to help them in any way."

Can you feel the love?

I don't know that you picked a good place to go sarcastic. That last bit is actually a pretty good pitch. What would you do if it was your friend? Sure, I'd help out with some money, but I wouldn't keep supporting him until the day he died. I'd help him help himself or, if he was just trying to live off me, I'd cut him off. To most people, that's common sense.

It's sophistry, of course. Taking collective action through government to help people is vastly different from an individual helping another individual out. But it sure sounds appealing, doesn't it?

People in America -- probably everywhere -- love to feel morally justified in keeping their money for themselves. And Republicans, the ostensible party of common sense, hard work and rational self-interest, are a credible source of that particular drug. That's one more reason for the Democrats to nominate someone with charisma, passion and vision, rather than another mealy-mouthed "centrist" trying to triangulate their way into the Presidency. If Rudy can put forth that message in a compelling manner, he'll eat a "Republican Lite" candidate for lunch.

You'd do it because they are more than just a number, they were a human being with a heart and a soul.

They were a human being with a heart and a soul. Now they're more than a number but less than a human being with a heart and a soul?

The sentence also makes grammatical sense if you stab them to death at the comma.

He's pro-gun control, pro-womens' right to choose, pro-gay rights, and he comes out with this bleeding-heart, reach-out-a-hand-to-the-least-among-us liberalism? Who is this guy's base?? Has he looked at his Republican Party membership card recently? If this is the real Rudy, then bring him on!

Cara dura - literally, "hard face".

The closest approximation in English is the expression "Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth". It conotes a person who can, with complete confidence and utter lack of self-reflection, turn around and assert something that's in total contradiction to his earlier stances. Chutzpah without honor. Balls without integrity. In other words, a hypocrite.

"'America's mayor' cracked jokes about the weather and smiled warmly at the lily-white crowd as they sipped wine and smeared butter on their French rolls."

I'm sorry, I didn't know Salon had a problem with white people now. Perhaps I should quit reading your site any more, then?

Look, Rudy Giuliani is a capable administrator, but he's a divisive, paranoid prick whose go-it-alone, "my way or the highway" leadership style and bullying demeanor is the last thing America needs right now in the White House.

Rudy is a guy who posted police snipers on the roof of City Hall during a gay rights protest on the street below.

He also has no problem breaking the law to suit his petty, vindictive political purposes. When Patrick Dorismond was killed by the now-defunct street crimes unit in a botched drug "sting" operation, Giuliani, illegally, unsealed Dorismond's juvenile criminal record in an effort to discredit the deceased. Slimeball behavior from Mr. Law and Order, plain and simple.

He also mocked a man suffering from Parkinson's disease who called in to his weekly radio show to complain about mayoral policies:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/24/rudy-giuliani-makes-fun-of-a-man-with-parkinsons/

And no disrespect intended to federal prosecutors, but the overly prosecutorial mindset that Rudy possesses is something to be very wary of in a man seeking national office.

Anyone who believes a word that comes out of Giuliani's mouth should talk to New Yorkers who had to put up with his insanity for eight years.

Giuliani is a thin-skinned, vainglorious, vindictive, petty, secretive, choleric, person. In other words, he is a bit of a psycho.

Giuliani managed to irk New Yorkers no end with his dictatorial, arrogant, and secretive ways.

He was also totally insensitive to racial relations in a city that is highly diverse. Giuliani never tried to have a decent relationship with African American community leaders. He also mishandled the Diallo shooting by refusing to speak with the African -American community. (For those of you who do not know, Amadou Diallo was shot 40+ times in the entranceway of his building, a victim of mistaken identity. He was no criminal: he was in the wrong place at the wrong time).

Giuliani's ego is such that he went to court to take down an ad that New York Magazine put in the subway: "one thing that Giuliani cannot take credit for".

He fired his extremely effective and competent police commissioner, Bratton, because Bratton was featured on the front page of Times Magazine as the man who brought down crime in New York.

But the day New Yorkers discovered that Giuliani was totally bat-shit crazy is the day when he called up a press conference to announce that he was divorcing his wife, Donna Holland. That would have been fine, except that he had not told her yet. We were then treated to a visibly distraught Donna Holland giving an impromptu press conference. That was really classy!

For those of you who think he is the 9/11 mayor, let me remind you that Giuliani located the Emergency and Rescue Center at 7 WTC even though the WTC was bombed in 1993. And that he never did anything to make sure that the police and the firefighters could communicate on radio with one another. On 9/11, he saw his moment of glory. He did the job he was paid for by marshalling and managing resources.

Shortly after 9/11, he joined the EPA chief, Christine Whitman, in alleging that downtown Manhattan's air was safe. As we know now, it was a lie.

Anyway, if Giuliani ever gets to be President of the US, you can be sure that you will regret the days of George W. Bush. He will manage to alienate everyone around him, and every country in the world. And he will run the country like a dictator. Giuliani will make Dubbya look like a Democrat.