That last bit is lovely and accurate. Mayor Giuliani, fellow citizens will recall, actually cracked down on dancing in bars, availing a disused Prohibition-era law. There is some dispute as to whether he did this as part of a crusade against underage drinking, or just because he's a miserable son of a bitch. But yeah, Giuliani does indeed seem to believe that what he doesn't like should be banned. That's why he would be a disastrous President.Lowry's description of the authoritarian Giuliani, given such charming views as his belief in arbitrary executive power (which he wouldn't abuse, trust him!), seems accurate. That this is supposed to make him more appealing to NRO readers is another question; perhaps Jonah Goldberg can take some time off his project comparing Hillary Clinton to Mussolini to shed some light on the subject.
Meanwhile, I also enjoyed this from Lowry: "So far what Rudy has most effectively communicated is his distaste for people who actually hate abortion. He says pro-lifers want to throw women in jail, the canard that pro-choicers always throw at them." Yes, I can't imagine why Giuliani would have contempt for people who simultaneously argue that abortion is a grave offense against human life that the state requires the unlimited power to regulate but that it should be a less severe offense than littering when it comes time to apply legal sanctions against women who obtain them! The fact that Giuliani thinks that the arguments of elite American "pro-lifers" might have the slightest shred of logical consistency, however, makes it pretty clear that he lacks the judgment to be president.
--Scott Lemieux
