RUDY, SENSITIVE GUY

Also on the subject of Giuliani (and Hillary Clinton), there's this Politico story by David Paul Kuhn, which seems awfully premature:

On its current trajectory, the race for president in 2008 may turn voters into children of divorce -- forced to choose between Mom and Dad.

... Many strategists expected that Hillary Rodham Clinton ... would decide to play down policies, rhetoric and campaign imagery that would remind voters -- especially skeptical male voters -- of traditionally feminine roles or issue priorities.

Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, was supposed to have the opposite gender challenge. His image as the crime-busting mayor who rallied his stricken city after Sept. 11 gave him plenty of credibility on strength. What he needed, the thinking went, was to show voters -- especially wary female voters -- a softer and more empathetic side.

As it happens, the expectation that Clinton and Giuliani would spend much of their time playing against type when it comes to gender politics has turned out to be mostly wrong....

But this is silly. Right now, both candidates are trying to win nominations. In the general election they're both going to sound different -- and anyone who assumes Giuliani can't tone down the bluster to win the votes of soccer moms (or at least security moms) is being naive.

Here's what Kuhn says about Giuliani:

...He will be running in the dusk of the Bush era, a time when the traditional masculine political archetype that benefited Republicans for decades may have lost credibility with some voters because of the current administration’s failures on Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

Giuliani, Faludi posited, may find that, "Maybe it was a mistake to bet on 10-gallon-hat politics."

But he won't be betting exclusively on 10-gallon hat politics. If you think that's all he's capable of, go here and listen to some clips of Giuliani talking to Oprah not long after 9/11. If you're pressed for time, go straight to the clip titled "It helps me to be needed by other people." (Or just consider the fact that he actually said, "It helps me to be needed by other people." To Oprah.)

Giuliani is nasty and snappish -- sometimes. People who know he has a temper are (unfortunately) disarmed when it doesn't manifest itself. In softball interviews, it won't manifest itself -- and voters who aren't looking for a blusterer will (unfortunately) respond. Democrats will really be making a huge mistake if they think he can't convincingly act like a sensitive guy.