The Rundown...

• Bob Novak keeps it real on Fred Thompson – “[people believe that Thompson] did such a good job as the district attorney of New York City that he deserves a chance to be president.” [Y & N]
• Rudy enjoys George Steinbrenner’s [Village Voice] but rips American farm workers for not being millionaires. [Talking Points]
• Romney solidifies ever-changing stance on abortions. [Chippewa Valley]
• Ron Paul scores one for the B-Team [Conservative Voice]
• McCain makes final push for NASCAR fans [AP] and blames Bush for lack of appeal. [AP]

So Which Is It Rudy???

....Seems like the 9/11 "hero" is confused.

He says he supports abortion rights to the New York Times but wouldn't directly answer the question about it to the Newsday.

Sounds like someone is flip-flopping to me.

Meanwhile Mitt Romney can't even keep his own house in order on the issue after some news organizations found his wife (which one?) contributed money to Planned Parenthood. If Romney can't keep his women in line, what's he going to do about Congress?

Rudy: Vote for Me or Die!

In case Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Guiliani hadn't exploited the 9/11 tragedy to bolster his profile enough, he returns with this zinger.

"If any Republican is elected president —- and I think obviously I would be the best at this —- we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it," Giuliani said.

The former New York City mayor, currently leading in all national polls for the Republican nomination for president, said Tuesday night that America would ultimately defeat terrorism no matter which party gains the White House.

"But the question is how long will it take and how many casualties will we have?" Giuliani said. "If we are on defense [with a Democratic president], we will have more losses and it will go on longer."

Unfortunately Guiliani failed to mention who holding both national and New York City offices during the last terrorist attack. Probably a wise idea.

Rudy Says Yes to Abortion Funding...

...Sure the film is from 1989 but do you think the conservatives are going to mention that.

Who's more "liberal" Rudy or Hillary? It's a close race.

Guiliani Deserts NYC Firefighters?

One would think that despite Guiliani's stance on family values he would appreciate those who helped him ascend to "hero" status after the 9/11 tragedy, namely New York City's wonderful and brave firefighters

Not true.

And here's why

In November 2001, our members were continuing the painful, but necessary, task of searching Ground Zero for the remains of our fallen brothers and the thousands of innocent citizens that were killed, because precious few of those who died in the terrorist attacks had been recovered at that point.

Prior to November 2001, 101 bodies or remains of fire fighters had been recovered. And those on the horrible pile at Ground Zero believed they had just found a spot in the rubble where they would find countless more that could be given proper burial.

Nevertheless, Giuliani, with the full support of his Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, decided on November 2, 2001, to sharply reduce the number of those who could search for remains at any one time. There had been as many as 300 fire fighters at a time involved in search and recovery, but Giuliani cut that number to no more than 25 who could be there at once.

In conjunction with the cut in fire fighters allowed to search, Giuliani also made a conscious decision to institute a "scoop-and-dump" operation to expedite the clean-up of Ground Zero in lieu of the more time-consuming, but respectful, process of removing debris piece by piece in hope of uncovering more remains.

Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

That's just horrible and when things like that go public they really start to tear away at one's reputation (see Swiftboat; Kerry, John). Something tells me that Rudy's problems will begin to build and fester into a giant mess before too long.

Guiliani: Leave My Peeps Alone

...Already the former NYC mayor is annoyed by the press and has asked them to stop reporting on him and his "blended" family.

"I believe that these problems with blended families, you know, are challenges _ sometimes they are," he said. "The more privacy I can have for my family, the better we are going to be able to deal with all these difficulties."

Meanwhile others suggest the Republicans will ditch the 9/11 "hero" as soon as they find out who he really is. According to Zogby, over 50% of Republican voters have no knowledge of his standing on social issues.