Don't Believe the Truth

Were you wondering how Rudy Giuliani would answer the charges of his delinquency managing the city's fire department before 9/11? How he'd fend off allegations researched by Wayne Barrett and part of a national campaign by the International Association of Firefighters?

A campaign aide told The Hill yesterday they are not concerned these attacks will fester, adding that the images most people have seen and remember are those of Giuliani in the streets of Manhattan in a leadership role immediately after the terrorist attacks.

"No one can take away the power of those images," the aide said.

In other words we will use and re-use 9/11 some groteque Cronenbergian mash-up of a forcefield and a crying baby—impenetrable to force, impervious to criticism, guaranteed only to backfire and render sterile those who come up against it.

Sort of related, Glenn Reynolds on the Rudy stuff and Fred Thompson:

Between this and the silly stuff about Fred Thompson, Democrats are looking more nervous about 2008 than you'd expect.

Unless you transpose "Democrats" and "journalists"—something I've never, ever heard a pundit do before—that isn't true. Hillary's scandals are old and boring, Barack Obama's only produced one small beer financial scandal, John Edwards is a walking punchline whose scandals are also old and boring. But Rudy's coming to the end of a six-year honeymoon and Thompson has never been worked over by the national political press. Since Thompson has, so far, come off sort of dopey and defensive, we can expect the beatings to continue.