Alterman explains Rudy
Giuliani and the fear card:
... Given the fact that Thompson, who alone among the candidates nearly matches him in the polls, appeared to be asleep for the entire week, Rudy was able to remind everyone both that he is the front-runner and also why he is the front-runner. By so vocally attacking the Democratic front-runner he is assuming the mantle of the Republican party in a manner that gives (admittedly crazy) credence to his notion that he is the only candidate in the race who can a) take it to the Democrats on their own turf, and b) protect America from the conspiracy of liberals, Clintonites and terrorists that would like to turn the nation over to al-Qaida just for the fun of it.
Keep that level of fear and anger going, and perhaps nobody's going to notice or care much about the gay/abortion/immigration/six marriages stuff. (The return of the terrifying "Hillarycare" proposal is actually another useful prop in this production.)
Apparently this kind of thing goes over with enough Republican primary voters and campaign contributors to keep the entire circus rolling toward what will be the strangest and in some ways scariest American presidential election in anyone's memory.
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