Wudy Will Decware!

Schadenfreude, my friends, is about to commence:

WASHINGTON - Rudolph Giuliani all but announced he is running for president last night, saying "I'm in this to win" and suggesting the only thing left to make it official is a formal declaration.

"We still have to formally announce it and do a few more things, but this is about as close as you're going to get," Giuliani said on Fox News Channel.

This is going to be great. First off, it knocks George Pataki right out of the race. He can't run against Rudy, because he and Rudy draw from the same money trough: well-heeled Republicans who abandoned the city and/or state a long time ago, but who hold fond memories of New York. Of fifty years ago.

Second. Well, let's let the Republicans talk that one out:

"Hannity & Colmes" host Sean Hannity pressed Giuliani on those positions [on social issues], leading Giuliani to reiterate his support for abortion rights but edge away from his earlier support of a procedure known by opponents as partial-birth abortion. He also said he supported gun control in certain situations and a path to legalized immigration.

Now, imagine a tough race between John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. Say it's the second primary round, and Giuliani has New Hampshire in his column, but McCain has Iowa in his. McCain's been this route before (and remember, he's hired many of Bush's campaign strateregists). How long before the push polling starts? "Would you be more likely to vote for Giuliani or less, given that he believes in allowing a fetus to be partially born and then killed?"

Or of course, his personal life: "John McCain's been married to his wife since 1981. In that time, Rudy Giuliani has gone through three wives and at least two known mistresses. Would you be more likely to support McCain or Giuliani?"

Nevermind Giuliani's eerie resemblance to a certain villian of prime time television...If it hadn't been for 9/11, Rudy wouldn't even be a minor blip on the radar of the GOP. He ran New York City badly, as if blacks and Latinos didn't exist for anything more than grooming lawns and picking up trash. He was a bully, a scene-stealing egomaniac, an incompassionate ruthless heartless bastard who would sooner blame the victim (cf Patrick Dorismond) than find out the truth of a matter that flew in the face of his ideal of a perfect world.

In short, another Republican "magical child." I doubt he'll win. I doubt he'll make it past New Hampshire, in fact, but should he win, I hope he doesn't do to this country what this last "magical child" has done: