Darth Rudy -- Return of the Empire

If you like Dick Cheney, you'll love Rudy Giuliani. He's got the tough guy image down. He doesn't care what you think. If you disagree with him, well just shut up. He may be pro-choice, pro-gay, but he's also pro-war and possibly even pro-torture.

Oh, no he's not for torture, but instead "aggressive questioning." And what is "aggressive questioning"? What techniques can be used? Is waterboarding one of those techniques -- well it would seem that it depends on how you use it. From a New York Times report we hear him say:

“Well, I’m not sure it is either. I’m not sure it is either. It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it. I think the way it’s been defined in the media, it shouldn’t be done. The way in which they have described it, particularly in the liberal media. So I would say, if that’s the description of it, then I can agree, that it shouldn’t be done. But I have to see what the real description of it is. Because I’ve learned something being in public life as long as I have. And I hate to shock anybody with this, but the newspapers don’t always describe it accurately.”

But on to Rudy's mentality. In an article in the LA Times -- one of those bastions of what Rudy likes to call the "liberal media" -- we're treated to observations of Rudy on the stump. We see him cutting off questioners, berating them, etc.

With most Republican voters seeing Giuliani from a more distant view, that same combativeness is playing well. "When Rudy Giuliani basically says, 'I'm going to shoot first and ask questions later,' that's something that is completely credible coming from him," said Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. "

And that's a good thing with Republican audiences, that's for sure."Giuliani's success has exposed an unusual dynamic in the GOP primary race: National security and electability are trumping cultural issues. It is a dynamic that few anticipated last year, when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona began their aggressive courtships of evangelical leaders, such as the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.

The primacy of national security was on display Wednesday, when Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson endorsed Giuliani, citing Islamic terrorists' "blood lust" as the top issue facing the country and calling Giuliani the best equipped to handle it.

Rudy is the tough guy. If George Bush has taken down the American image to unseen levels, what will Rudy do? If we have become increasingly isolated under GW, what will happen under Rudy? Will he make us safer -- as he's suggesting -- or make us more vulnerable because we have fewer allies and more enemies? These are questions the American people must answer!