In John Tabin's fine column on our main site about when an AK47 is not an AK47, he cites this piece from Seattle's alternative newspaper the Stranger. In the piece, linked to approvingly by Andrew Sullivan, Josh Feit accuses Rudy Giuliani of flip-flopping by stumping for anti-gun control candidate Mike McGavick even though Giuliani supported the assault weapons ban and criticized politicians who didn't. But I don't see Giuliani as having flip-flopped, at least based on the quotes that Feit cites. According to Feit, Giuliani said:

"I don't think [the assault-weapons ban] is one of the most critical issues right now"

"The assault-weapons ban is something I supported in the past."

 "We need senators who understand that we have to be on offense against terrorism," he said. "Cantwell's ambiguous support for the effort against terrorism probably concerns me more than anything else."

It's clear that what Giuliani was saying was that the terrorism issue is more important than other political differences he may have had with McGavick in the past. By Feit's logic, any politician who stumps for a candidate with whom he has disagreed is a flip-flopper.

To be sure, I think that Giuliani's stance on the Second Ammendment may prove the toughest hurdle for him in pursuit of the Republican nomination, so he may eventually end up doing some flip-flopping on the issue. I just don't see him campaigning for McGavick as an indication that such flip-flopping has already taken place.

Meanwhile, it's worth pointing out that Mitt Romney will face the same problem on the Second Ammendment, because he also supported the assault weapons ban.