Political Skullduggery

It remains a mystery why anyone considers Giuliani to be an authority on national security matters. Much less a viable candidate for president.

Inconspicuous incontinence under pressure doesn't ordinarily qualify someone for the highest office in the land.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani on Tuesday called the Democratic-controlled Congress' challenge to President Bush's policy in Iraq "a terrible mistake" and equated it with waving a white flag in the war against terrorism.

"I can't imagine in the history of war anybody announcing a timetable to run out and retreat," he said at an appearance at a delicatessen in this suburb just over the George Washington Bridge from New York City. "I think it's a terrible mistake. To put up the white flag and announce a timetable for retreat seems like a very bad strategy to me."

Giuliani's remarks came on the heels of the U.S. Senate narrowly passing a nonbinding timeline that would have U.S. combat troops home by next March. President Bush is likely to veto the resolution.

"I hope that the president vetoes it," Giuliani said. "The full focus of our energies should be on supporting the troops that are there and trying to act against terrorism, trying to create an Iraq that acts as a bulwark against terrorism instead of a headquarters for terrorism."

Listen to this kook:

He also didn't mince words when asked what he would do as president if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued to flirt with developing nuclear weapons.

"What I would do is make clear to him that he's not going to have nuclear weapons. That's not an option. Containment may have worked with the Soviets, but as far as I can recall, the Soviets weren't planning to come here and kill us. They didn't blow up the World Trade Center twice. We've got a different kind of enemy here. Ahmadinejad has to be clear that we're not going to let him move to the stage where he can have nuclear weapons."