The American Spectator

If you did not catch it live the Rudy Giuliani interview with Charlie Rose is worth watching. He makes no earth shattering policy revelations but he does do several things well. First, he doesn't seem like John Kerry. In other words, he obviously reads and thinks about big issues, but he doesn't condescend and treat his listeners with the pretense that he is smarter and more clever than they are. Second, he comes across if not humble, at least as humbled, by 9-11 and his bout with prostrate cancer. When he says he's learned lessons, made mistakes and acquired a sense of perspective and his own mortality it rings true. Finally, he makes his own case, one which subordinates do frequently, that he understands and has experience fixing government "messes" (my word, not his). Facing two opponents with no executive experience of course let's him differentiate himself on this basis but it also happens to be true and is potentially a key selling point in the general election when he would have to explain to a very unhappy electorate how he would be different than the current administration. His message-- I know how to be competent and fix things-- certainly has its appeal after an administration which even its friends concede suffers from bouts of ineptitude and incompetence. It's worth watching and thinking about how well his opponents would do in a similar setting. (And yes, I know it's very annoying when Charlie interrupts so much but the interview is still very fun to watch.)