GIULIANI'S FIREBREAKS?

Hmm, let's see ... polls are showing that Fred Thompson has put a serious dent in Rudy Giuliani's lead, and what do you know: George Will -- who lavished praise on Giuliani while introducing him at the CPAC conference last March -- just published a hit piece on Thompson. Coincidence?

Also, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post -- which, during Giuliani's mayoralty, served as City Hall's second press office -- is parroting remarks Rudy is making about Hillary Clinton's response to the Petraeus dog-and-pony show. Giuliani and the Post are working in tandem to sustain the dissipating outrage about the MoveOn ad, and are desperately trying to tie it to Hillary:

Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday found herself positioned firmly to the left of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding that disgusting New York Times/MoveOn "General Betray Us" attack on Gen. David Petraeus' integrity.

That's not an enviable position for a woman who's trying to convince the American people that she's fit to be president of the United States.

Further complicating her life was the position former Mayor Rudy Giuliani took yesterday on the general, the importance of victory in Iraq and ... the truth. You couldn't ask for a more stark contrast at this stage in a possible Giuliani-Clinton presidential face-off....

Clinton not only couldn't bring herself to criticize it, she also attacked Petraeus' honesty: "The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief," she huffed to the general Tuesday....

Giuliani, by contrast, had it exactly right.

He called the MoveOn ad "one of the more disgusting things that has happened in American politics."

Added America's Mayor: "The failure of the Democratic candidates to really condemn that, given how much money MoveOn.org spends on behalf of Democratic candidates, is unfortunate."...

If you think Thompson-mania is spreading like wildfire, notice that Giuliani's influential pals in the media, Murdoch and Will, are trying to act as firebreaks.

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(Oh, and Hillary, I know you think Rupert Murdoch is your friend. So when's the last time the New York Post published an editorial praising you?)

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By the way, note what Clinton said to Petraeus:

"The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief."

Here was Giuliani's response:

"I don't know what she's trying to say when she's accusing a general of the 'willing suspension of disbelief,'" Giuliani said Wednesday on the "Randy and Spiff" show, a radio program which airs in Atlanta.

... "I really do think to accuse a general of the 'willing suspension of disbelief,' particular in the atmosphere that Moveon.org has created with these terrible attacks, I don’t know, I mean I think that's not the way in a responsible way to go about, you know, forging the foreign policy of the United States and the military policy of the United States," said Giuliani....

Er, Rudy, she wasn't accusing Petraeus of a suspension of disbelief. She was saying we need to suspend disbelief in order to believe him.

Hey, Rudy, don't you think you should actually try to understand the words of your attacks before you utter them? Wouldn't an ability to comprehend plain English be considered a qualification for the job you're seeking?

No? You don't think so? Well, in that case, maybe you are the true heir to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.