In trying to prove his GOP bona fides, Rudy Giuliani said in a speech today that he “gave my blood” for the Republican Party in New York.

But ’twas not always so.

Greg Sargent has obtained a copy of a video showing Rudy back in 1996 telling Charlie Rose, “I’m really not” a Republican Mayor.

Take a look.

In his first book, The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America, Daniel Brook argues that income inequality between public and private interest careers perpetuates mass inequality by giving people the impossible choice of either being a “a sellout or a saint.”

Brook kicked off the Book Club discussion with a post describing how this particular inequality “routes professional talent in ways that, as progressives, we should be very worried about.” Though mostly in agreement with Brook, Dana Goldstein suggests that Brook overstates his case when he writes that careers in public service and the arts “have been relegated to a mix of moral giants, mental midgets, and trust fund babies.” Scott Winship is less impressed, still unconvinced that the problem Brook describes is either widespread or more pronounced that it was in the past.

At today’s White House briefing, Dana Perino covers the Dalai Lama . . . Gen. Sanchez’s condemnation of the Iraq War catastrophe . . . and the Mukasey confirmation hearings:

From the Post …

Giuliani’s spending was elevated at least in part because he traveled in style. He often stayed in luxury hotels, spending $2,010 at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, $4,034 at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., and $5,370 at the Fairmont in San Francisco. He also spent more than $565,000 reimbursing various corporate supporters for private jet travel and an additional $800,000 on charter jet travel.

Here I think we’re focusing down to some swirl of personalities, hypocrisy and general weirdness that will be the 2008 presidential battle. Last we met Bob Jones III he was feting then-candidate George W. Bush and identifying Mormons as members of a non-Christian “cult.” Today Jones endorsed Romney, the man he believes is a cultist, saying …

“This is all about beating Hillary. And I just believe that this man has the credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about what American government should be to best represent the rank and file of conservative Americans. If it turns out to be Guiliani and Hillary we’ve got two pro choice candidates, and that would be a disaster.”

Andrew Sullivan says this is an example of how Republicans will rally by uniting in opposition to Hillary. And I don’t doubt that is and will prove to be true. But I think the Grand Inquisitor protests too much.

Look at the simple logic of his statement and it’s clearly not “all about beating Hillary.” The polls, at least for the moment, show that, head to head, Rudy does much better against HIllary than Romney. Name recognition may be the big factor there; Romney may be able to catch up there. And polls that give GOP voters the choice, show a substantial minority opting for a spoiler third party candidate.

But I don’t think Jones is arguing for an electoral bank shot. He’s saying that Rudy vs. Hillary, in itself, would be a disaster. Not because Rudy would lose the GOP base and elect Hillary. I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that Rudy has to be beaten. He’s simply not acceptable as the Republican standard-bearer — which makes sense since he opposes the Fundamentalists on the key issues that make them Republicans.

It hasn’t gotten much attention outside of the Boston suburbs and truly hardcore political junkies. But there was a congressional election today. The topline is that the Democrat, Nikki Tsongas, wife of the late Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, won. But the details are much more interesting. As of 10:23 PM, with 88% of precincts reporting, Tsongas has only 51% vs 45% for the Republican Jim Ogonowski.

That is weird. This is Massachusetts, after all, specifically the rim of suburbs to the northwest of Boston, Marty Meehan’s (D) old seat, the 5th district. This is strong Democratic territory. At Openleft.com, Chris Bowers says it’s a +10 Dem district. (By the way, among many other things, this is one of the best sites to get smart and candid analyses and number-crunches of stuff like this.) One of many eye-popping numbers about this race was that the Republican, Ogonowski, was crushing Tsongas among voters under 35.

So what happened? Bowers had an interesting post yesterday evening analyzing Tsongas’ expected narrow victory. His basic verdict is that Tsongas was a lousy candidate, nominated largely on the basis of her husband’s reputation, and picked by an “ossifying” local political machine that hadn’t faced a real race in decades. But Chris isn’t putting that forward just as an excuse; he notes that the same probably applies to the machines that run numerous solidly Dem districts around the country.

There’s so much bad data out there for the Republicans today that I’m inclined to think that this is the issue — a really good Republican candidate, a really bad Democratic candidate. But only fools spin excuses and rationales for data that doesn’t square with their assumptions. So I’m not sure I’m ready to let go of this one yet.

Late Update: TPM Reader CL checks in from district …

This is my district.

Among progressives there was a lot of resentment that 1) Tsongas beat out a great progressive candidate in the primary and that she 2) was essentially crowned by the local Democratic machine, without having done anything whatsoever to deserve it.

Oganowski, it must be said, was also a far better candidate than the usual Republican types. Not when it cames to “ideas” of course, but rather when it came down to simple old style retail politics. He was everywhere and seemed to attend every dopey local town event possible. Tsongas on the other hand was virtually invisible.

Thus a lot of progressive folks stayed home. I almost did, but thought better of it, held my nose and then voted for her.

That’s my take. I may be wrong.

TPM Reader DP chimes in too …

As someone who volunteered on the Tsongas campaign way back when, I’m not surprised the widow is not the most charismatic of candidates. However, I think an important element of this election is the GOP candidate’s biography — his military background and the loss of his brother on 9/11. People still carry a soft spot for the victims and relatives of that day, and in a low information election I can imagine people using 9/11 as a tie-breaker. I don’t think this carries over to national campaigns, however, where the focus is more intense and the campaign is more high profile.

Four-plus years into the Iraq War, the Bush Administration starts considering how to oversee security contractors: Bob Gates wants them under DOD control.

Who’s Markos of Daily Kos think is running the best presidential primary race? Setting out the best positions? He isn’t endorsing a candidate in the Democratic field. But he gave us a detailed run-down of who’s running a flawless campaign, who’s not measuring up to expectations and who his favorites are at this stage of the campaign.

Check out his take in Part I of our TPMtv interview with Markos Moulitsas, Founder and Publisher of Daily Kos.

Embed code:

Watch this episode on Youtube.

The TPMmuckraker crew is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Michael Muksaey’s nomination to be attorney general.