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Given that both men deviate from the Republican base on salient issues, why is that many conservatives seem to want to give Rudolph Giuliani the benefit of the doubt but not John McCain? At The Corner, Jonah Goldberg posts a reader e-mail offering an answer: McCain frequently emphasizes and takes the lead on issues where he goes off the reservation while Giuliani's core issues tend to be areas where he is conservative.

Eleven years ago, things might have been different. In 1996, McCain was endorsing Phil Gramm and Giuliani -- not long after his endorsement of Mario Cuomo -- was wondering if he would be able to back the eventual GOP nominee (he ultimately did). But since the late 1990s, Giuliani has played the loyal Republican more often than McCain.

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John McCain