TPM Reader MR on Rudy ...

Guiliani's continued #1 position can be broken down very simply, in my opinion. Lots and lots and lots of well-meaning, non-evil Americans voted for Bush in 2004. After 3 long years, they now know the man they voted for is incompetent. But because no one likes to admit they made a mistake, the self-examination stops there... many Bush voters don't think they voted for the wrong ideals, just the wrong person to carry them out. Enter Guiliani. He seems to them like the opposite of incompetent, in fact, he's the guy who gets things done. He's like Bush, only smart.

To you and I that seems like an obvious bad thing. But to them Guiliani allows an enormous saving of face for having voted for Bush.

I don't agree with this. My sense is that most polls now show that a clear majority of people think the Iraq War was a mistake. Not just poorly handled, but a bad idea in itself. So far at least I think the key to Rudy's strength in the Republican primaries is that he's offering to make up for aborted fetuses with more genuine dead people in the Middle East. And for many core Republican voters it's a very hard offer to pass up.