I know I spend way too much time thinking about Giuliani, but this is weird: Philip Klein points out at The American Spectator's blog that Rudy has the highest ratings among religious-right voters of all the politicians measured in that new Quinnipiac "thermometer" poll.

Among self-described "white evangelical/born again Christians," Giuliani has a 66.3 rating, ... the highest in the survey. That puts him ahead of Condoleezza Rice (64.4), President Bush (58.1), John McCain (57.1) and Newt Gingrich (47.8). Mitt Romney's rating among evangelicals/born again Christians was 46.4....

I realize I just got through telling you that unswerving absolutism is a hallmark of religious-right thinking -- but maybe anger is what's important, and absolutism is just the usual (but not the only) means to that end, rather than the end itself. Anyone who lived in New York during Rudy's years as mayor knows that he divides the world into two groups: people who agree with him and mortal enemies. I think that's coming through in the appearances Rudy has made in recent years (it certainly came through in his '04 convention speech, which hit self-righteousness notes that rivaled Zell Miller's). Maybe, if you draw enough lines in the sand that make religious-conservative voters feel good, they don't care whether you cross some of their other lines in the sand.