More on Rudy from TPM Reader JH from Michigan ...

I think your reader from Illinois is spot on: the right has made the war on terror into a moral crusade, yes crusade, on par with abortion. That will be sufficient for most to get behind Rudy.

I spent the weekend with two old college friends who are movement conservatives (Focus on the Family was on the coffee table). They love Rudy. Sure, he is off on abortion, BUT he is right in their minds about the other great defining issue of our time... the GWOT: global war on terror.

Just as some Catholics (paging E.J. Dionne) argue that liberal social welfare policies are "life" issues, these guys see the war on terror in the same way. Remember, these are people who see in black and white and casting the war on terror as a war against evil provides a religious patina to Rudy's efforts.

These guys also think that the right will force President Giuliani to pick pro-life judges so the abortion issue is further neutralized.

Running against Hillary would only enable the right to further suppress any questions they had about Rudy.

Rudy is a buffoon who has plenty of warts, but if those factors were a bar to the Oval Office we wouldnt have had the last 8 years now would we?