Live from China, James Fallows smacks Rudy Giuliani down on Iraq. However, he uses the trope that "one can't understand" why Giuliani would be so grotesquely mendacious and wrongheaded, when he clearly knows better and is wildly out of step with the populace. Of course you can. Giuliani wants to win the Republican primary, and is already mistrusted by the base for a record of decent governance and social tolerance. He thus needs a separate signaling device to prove he's "one of them." Pretending it's still March 2003 and all your information on Iraq comes from the Powerline Blog is just the thing. And nobody questions him because this mayor of a large American city who didn't prevent a major terrorist attack but seemed emotional in its aftermath has some special insight into the nature of terrorism and the Threats Facing the Nation. Blech.
