Irrational

In the long love note that the NY Times sent Rudy! Giuliani this morning, comes this delightful passage,

As Mr. Giuliani told an appreciative audience in Alabama, “I’m tough, I’m strong, but I’m rational.”

And yet the reporter, Michael Powell, doesn't question the "rational" former mayor when he says this,

He has not sanded down all his edges. At Oglethorpe University here, where he met with 200 voters, he does not hesitate to challenge that woman who asks about jihad. But he does so in a fashion that leaves her ambulatory.

“They hate you,” he says of the Islamic terrorists, bringing his hands up to his chest. “They don’t want you to be in this college, or you, or you — —.”

Mr. Giuliani wheels around and points toward another middle-aged woman in the front row, who looks momentarily startled. “And you can’t wear that outfit because you’re showing your arms.”

“This is reality, ma’am,” he continues, his voice streaked with just a touch of exasperation. “This isn’t me making it up. I saw reality after 9/11. You’ve got to clear your head.”

That's just ol' Rudy! talkin' tough and applying his rough hewn edges to jihadifascicommies!.

But, um...who's "they?"

As Paul Krugman in the pages of the same newspaper just last week,

Here’s the way it ought to be: When Rudy Giuliani says that Iran, which had nothing to do with 9/11, is part of a “movement” that “has already displayed more aggressive tendencies by coming here and killing us,” he should be treated as a lunatic.

Rational, he's not. Stupid? Maybe. More Bush ideology over reason? Definitely.

Bob Somerby promises more on the display of Giuliani pandering from the Times in tomorrow's Howler.