Guiliani

Three things about Guiliani, who, according to polls, and IMHO, would be the President of the United States if an election was held today.

a. Will Guiliani's racism (his tolerance for racism) make up for his perceived stands on abortion and gay rights in the minds of Red State voters? While those of us who live here -- Democrat and Republican -- know that New York is a cleaner and safer city now than then -- it is also true he went out of his way to be racially divisive in doing it. I don't know what the rest of the country knows about Abner Louima and Amidou Diallo. I don't think that the racism behind the Brooklyn Museum issue has ever been explored fully. I fear that when the nation finds out the racial issues surrounding Guiliani it will get him some votes and cost him some others. Personally, I bet the number of voters who vote for him because he knows how to keep certain people in their place is greater than those who won't vote for him because of his so-called tolerance on certain other issues.

There will be no starker election possible than a Guiliani/ Obama race.

b. Are the Bushies going to really let the whole Bernie Kerik fiasco go unanswered? Will the Democrats be able to convince the country that Kerik is just the tip of the iceberg -- that Guiliani has the same mind set regarding cronyism and looting the government fisc that Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld have. Only Guiliani is about a billion times more ruthless and more intelligent than Cheney and Rumsfeld combined.

c. On abortion. Specifically, I bet Guiliani says that he has lived in New York all his life. As a New Yorker, he grew up immersed in a certain mind set on abortion. Now, he has travelled all over the country. Now, due to his travels, he sees the other side of the abortion story/ (the other side of the gay rights story?) more clearly. Maybe he has changed his mind.

Generally (and this is just me riding a personal hobby horse). Why does everyone think that if and when Roe v Wade is overturned that the issue of abortion will go back to the states? Do you really think that the anti-abortion movement has labored this hard -- almost 40 years -- to get Roe v Wade overturned one fine day, only to discover that Vermont or some other state has decided, as a matter of states rights, to have easy access to abortion the next day? I suggest that when Roe v Wade is overturned, it will be overturned on the basis that the fetus is a person, under the 14th Amendment, and that no state may make a law curtailing its right to personhood. Of course, this destroys the rights of women under the 13th Amendment. But hey. I'm not a woman, or a follower of Justice Alito.

I think that Guiliani is formidable, electable, and really, really scary.