GIULIANI: CANCELING CONVENTION SPEECHES IS THE KIND OF BRILLIANT, COURAGEOUS DECISION PRESIDENT McCAIN WILL MAKE UNDER PRESSURE

How do we know John McCain can make quick, tough, agonizing decisions when he's under the gun? According to Rudy Giuliani, it's because ... he made the quick, tough, agonizing decision to cancel the prime-time speeches on day one of the convention!

Well, that's not exactly what Giuliani says, but that's the implication. I'm not sure how long it'll stay up, but go here, click "Latest WNYC Newscast," and hear Karen DeWitt's report:

KAREN DeWITT, WNYC: ...Giuliani says what he likes most about McCain is his maverick independence and the ability to make quick decisions, like postponing the start of the convention in the face of the storm.

RUDY GIULIANI: That was a very difficult decision that he made quickly. Most other political candidates would have agonized over that for weeks.

(I don't know how it's even possible to agonize over such a decision "for weeks" without actually stopping time, but there you are.)

Giuliani said this after a speech in Missouri. According to this local news report, he ascribed "great courage" to McCain for canceling the speeches.

No, really.

And this isn't just a gaffe -- it's a talking point. Here's what Giuliani said on CNN yesterday (emphasis mine):

I think, tonight -- I think, tonight, you are going to see a kind of a transition. You're going to see a focus on John McCain, who he is, what he's all about, how service means everything to him, and how he puts the country before self-interests, like he did at the -- when he was in the Hanoi Hilton, like he did with the surge, where he put his whole campaign at risk, and like he did with this convention, by putting it off, because focusing on the people that might be having some difficulties in this country was more important.

John McCain: courageous maverick plan-alterer!

*****

Here's something else Giuliani said on CNN:

We have the ticket in the right order. We have got the most experienced candidate on the top. They have got a candidate with -- all right, no experience or little experience on the top.

We've got the younger candidate of the next generation on the bottom of the ticket. Someone that can learn, someone that can develop, someone that's already accomplished a lot, but hasn't accomplished as much as at the top of the ticket. They've got it kind of reversed.

They got the guy with all the experience at the bottom of the ticket.

So I guess Giuliani thinks his own party screwed up the ticket in 2000 and 2004, and the correct vote was for the Democrats.