Rudy Scares Me

Wow. I never was a big Giuliani fan, but I am less of one every day. Apparently, the problem with George Bush’s foreign policy is that it hasn’t gone far enough. As Yglesias says:

Rudy, though, has another problem. He’s got a kinda unconservative record on God, guns, and gays, to say nothing of the baby-killing or his past stances on immigration. Can he really afford wiggle room? Maybe not. That kind of political calculation combined with a gut-level love of confrontation and years of association with the strange faction that is New York City-based conservative intellectual life has produced a striking decision to double down on neoconservative foreign policy.

Wow. Heaven help us all if we elect this man.

UPDATE: Slate’s Fred Kaplan discusses the piece. I blow a fuse in my brain every time I try to think hard enough about it to write anything, but he does a better job than I would have anyway.

The Rundown

• Rove resigns. What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
• RCP has a lengthy Foreign Affairs essay/conversation on the role of the generals in the Iraq debacle.
• This fantastic NYT recap of the War in Afghanistan to date from Sunday New York Times is a must-read. It does not paint a pretty picture.
• Greg Mankiw summarizes a summary of a current study of the realities of the work/leisure trade-off in modern America. Good stuff.

The Rundown

• Fred Kaplan breaks down the parallels between the British withdrawal from India and a future US withdrawal from Iraq over at Slate.
• Peter Carlson pens a pretty entertaining farewell to the absurdist tabloid that was the Weekly World News.
• The quotes in this article from Idaho Rep. Bill Sali need to be read to be believed. Honestly.
• Atul Gawande has some words of wisdom on medical malpractice (via Overlawyered).
• Daniel Gross rips Rudy Giuliani’s health care plan to shreds. And rightly so. This thing is awful.