consolidating the base

Rudy Giuliani takes the bull by the horns and names a bunch of brilliant hawkish strategists as his foreign policy team:

Giuliani’s adroit choices for his foreign policy team are likely to enhance his popularity among members of the Republican Party. His campaign has announced the lineup (appropriately enough on the day of the All-Star game - because they are certainly stars) and will likely win praise from the right. Many of the foreign policy members come from the Hoover Institution, the esteemed think-tank located in on the campus of Stanford University. This will play well with many of the influential members of the Republican Party base.

Meanwhile, in Gotham City, some firefighters try to puncture the myth:

In a video being released today, New York City firefighters and their families criticize former mayor Rudy Giuliani for his handling of the Sept. 11 , 2001, terrorist attacks.

Many firefighters have a history of animosity toward Giuliani, now a leading Republican presidential candidate.

They argue that Giuliani’s administration failed to provide adequate radios for first-responders at the World Trade Center. And they remain angry at his decision to speed the removal of the enormous pile of rubble at ground zero, cutting back the size of the group searching for remains.

Which narrative will win—Rudy as Churchill or Rudy as mean-spirited, dysfunctional fascist? Tune in to find out!

And don’t forget that this is but the first attempt, and that Al Sharpton hasn’t even begun to fight Rudy yet.

CROWLEY: … By the way, I spoke about Giuliani’s increasingly likely White House bid with another former presidential candidate, the Reverend Al Sharpton, just a little while ago, and he had some very sharp criticism for the former mayor. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You were quoted in “The Times”, “The New York Times” on Sunday as saying so right now he can lead all the media and the national pundits on the yellow brick road. He better never let us get near that veil. I know what’s back there. I’ve pierced it before. What are you alluding to?

REV. AL SHARPTON, PRES., NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: Well I think that Rudy Giuliani had one of the most polarizing and divisive terms of mayor in the history of the city of New York. Anyone knows that. His confrontations with the communities of African Americans and Latinos, his problems in terms of dividing this city, and many other issues will come to light. I think that as soon as the honeymoon is over with the media and he jumps in the ring, he becomes fair game, and I think that a lot of the title of America’s mayor, people are going to have to examine what that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was, and it will not be as flattering as it has been up until now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The Reverend Al Sharpton. We asked Giuliani’s office for comments. So far we have not received a specific comment to that charge by the Reverend Al Sharpton.

That was in February. As far as I know, Giuliani hasn’t answered yet. As I said: Stay tuned!