Rudy's in. McCain's twin?

Add another hat to the '08 race - Rudy's in. "America's Mayor" has officially thrown his hat into the wide-open 2008 presidential race. This announcement really didn't come as much of a surprise to many, and certainly not to me.

In many ways, Rudolph William Louis Giuliani III's candidacy will be good for the political discourse over the next 18 or so months. At first glance, Rudy brings a buffet of good things to the table to launch a presidential campaign.

For starters, I love his roots - he made his bones as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Cigar Aficionado did a piece on Rudy following 9-11, and the piece sums up his legal résumé in part much more eloquently and succinctly than I can:

Giuliani's convictions read like a lawyer's dream come true. He successfully prosecuted and won 100-year sentences against the heads of the major Mafia crime families in New York, including "Fat Tony" Salerno, of the Genovese family, "Tony Ducks" Corallo, of the Lucchese family, and Carmine "The Snake" Persico, of the Colombo organization; the Bonnano family boss, Rusty Rastelli, was indicted but actually sentenced for another crime and Paul Castellano, of the Gambino family, was assassinated before the sentencing hearing. Giuliani also helped break up the Pizza Connection, a $1 billion heroin drug smuggling ring. The investigation led to the arrests of more than a dozen people around the country. He prosecuted very-high profile corruption charges against top politicians in New York. He sent Stanley Friedman, a former deputy mayor and head of the Bronx Democratic Party, to prison for 12 years for acting as a middleman in a bribery scheme. And, he convicted Mario Biaggi, a U.S. congressman from the Bronx, on bribery charges.

He also had other victories, too; most notably launching the investigation that eventually put Michael Milkin in the slammer and winning a conviction against Wall Street financier Ivan Boesky.

Pretty impressive.

His two terms as mayor are a study in contrasts. Putting 9-11 aside for a moment, he had many other victories - most notably cleaning up the sex and sleaze in Times Square and dramatically lowering crime in the city. For instance, according to the Cigar Aficionado piece, felony crimes declined 57 percent during his term as mayor, and the murder rate during the same period declined by 68 percent. Some say he doesn't deserve all of the credit for those statistics, but they occurred while he was mayor, so he deserves at least part of but not all of the credit.

But, as with all candidates, he's not without his warts, either.

He has a Bill Clinton-like reputation for adultery. (And, as a Clinton supporter, I don't mean to soft-shoe either man's indescretions - both are inexcusable.) My favorite example of Rudy in deep doody is when he called a press conference to announce his intentions to separate from his second wife, Donna Hanover, before Hanover knew of his plans. This all happened because the press in New York broke the story that Rudy was having an affair with Judith Giuliani neé Nathan (now his third wife). That's classy. Hey, at least Democrats didn't try to impeach him for the offense.

Other controversies during his mayoral reign include: his 1999 attempt to censor the Brooklyn Museum if the museum did not remove a number of works in an exhibit entitled "Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection." (a battle his administration later lost in court); his defense of the NYPD over a number of brutal assaults and scandals during his administration (and in every case, he always rushed to the defense of the NYPD, critics be damned); his attempt end-run around New York City's charter limiting its mayor to two terms, by trying to stay beyond his mayoral term in the wake of 9-11, a proposal sharply rejected by the mayoral candidates, most notably future Mayor Michael Bloomberg; his handling of the air quality issue at Ground Zero and surrounding areas following 9-11; and New York City's lack of preparedness prior to 9-11.

That last criticism I'd like to take a moment to elaborate on. By writing that I believe Rudy has to shoulder some of the blame for NYC's lack of preparedness for 9-11, I don't mean that the city under his leadership could have prevented 9-11. What I am saying is that the city, specifically the World Trade Center, was attacked in 1993. It's amazing to me that eight years later, the city still had basic communication difficulties during the chaotic moments following the towers' being attacked, and the aftermath of the collapse.

For instance, why in the world did Giuliani maintain the city's Office of Emergency Management headquarters (believed by many to be a terrorist target) inside the World Trade Center? Many accounts have the Giuliani Administration more interested in fighting turf wars than taking much-needed steps to protect the city.

I certainly give Giuliani much deserved credit for his handling of 9-11 in the hours, days and weeks following the attacks. It's not a stretch to say that she displayed a lot more courage and derring-do than President Bush did in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. But, and this is probably politically incorrect to write (and I couldn't possibly care less), but didn't Rudy do what any mayor would do who had even mediocre leadership skills? Rudy did what any good and decent American would do as mayor in that position - he rallied the city, attended the funerals, and went to the extra mile to reassure, revive and restore America's largest city. For that he deserves credit, but I dunno about all of the praise that's unquestionably heaped on him. He also mishandled a lot of things in the aftermath of the attacks, but that's gets short shrift in the media. To be fair, any mayor would have made mistakes in that mayhem, but he's constantly being portrayed as the mayor on the white horse following 9-11. Puh-lease.

Anyway, it's a question I know that won't get asked in the mainstream media, which is already sharpening its skills at routinely giving Rudy a tongue bath.

Besides 9-11, one of the most recent Rudy-love fests the press have given Rudy since 9-11 was at the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he gave a well-publicized speech. In it, he let fly a few whoppers about his reaction immediately following the attacks. Take a read:

At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and I said to him, "Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president."

I say it again tonight. I say it again tonight: Thank God that George Bush is our president, and thank God...

And thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background is our vice president.

Al Franken, on the floor of Madison Square Garden during Giuliani's speech, grabbed the arm of an acquaintence and said, "He just made that up." Spot on as usual, Al. Funny how there was no mention of Giuliani's having said that in his bestselling book, Leadership, according to Franken. I freely admit I haven't read the book, but I'll take Franken's word on it, since he has read the book.

And honestly, does anyone really believe that Giuliani's first thought after two jumbo jets slammed into the World Trade Center towers was "Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president"?!? What a steaming, smelly load. Of course, we'll never have any way in knowing, because only Giuliani, Kerik and God know of Rudy made up the quote for the GOP sychophants at the convention, and the first two aren't talking.

Anyway, so far, what I know about his political views says to me that he's a study of contrasts. He's for abortion and stem cell research, but against civil unions and a hard line on immigration. He's also pro gun control.

These stances, when viewed as a whole, would paint him as a moderate Republican, and one I'd faintly consider voting for if the Democratic Nominee were to be a disaster (with the field of strong candidates, I rate the chances of that happening at next to zero).

However, therein lies the drawback - Rudy the moderate can't possibly hope to get the nomination from a religiously hijacked Republican Party. As politically astute as he is, surely he realizes this.

As of late, some cracks are starting to appear in the foundation of Rudy the Moderate.

Above, Giuliani appears on college drop-out Sean Insanity's show, kissing up to the Fox State TV crowd. Note to Rudy: This is NOT the way to court the moderates you are going to need if you hope not only to secure your party's nomination, but also the presidency.

Predictably, Rudy's historical stance on abortion is also changing. Recently on Insanity's show, he was quoted as saying, "I hate [abortion] ... However, I believe in a woman's right to choose." Regarding Roe v. Wade, "That's up to the court to decide," he said.

Rudy will be a formidable candidate, no doubt, but, like every other candidate in the field, he has some obstacles to overcome.

Hopefully, he won't veer far to the right to try and win his party's nomination. I fear that any candidate with any hopes of capturing the GOP nomination will have to do just that. I just hope he doesn't sell out to do it, thereby becoming John McCain's twin.