GOSH, RUDY, THANKS FOR THAT SPECIAL INSIGHT GLEANED FROM YOUR UNIQUE EXPERTISE

Stop the presses, folks -- here's some breaking news: According to Maggie Haberman at Politico, Rudy Giuliani has determined that national political conventions are potential terrorist targets. Wow! Who knew?

Here's the complete Politico item:

Rudy Giuliani warns of convention terror risk

Rudy Giuliani warned that the major party national conventions are obvious terrorist targets during a stop in Charlotte on Tuesday.

The former New York mayor, who's contemplating another presidential run in 2012 and who has made national security a focus of his speeches for years, made the remarks as he spoke to a police foundation luncheon in the city that will host the Democratic National Convention next year.

According to WSCOTV.com, Giuliani said, "You want everyone to leave your city enjoying it, because the benefit to your city is people wanting to come back."

But he also raised the specter of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, and the logistical and security factors involved, given that the city had endured the 9/11 terror attacks just three years earlier.

"The conventions will always be targets," he said. "They always are. Not only because of the presence of the president and presidential candidates, but the presence of so many significant people. It's just a place for terrorists and would-be terrorists to make a statement."

Thanks, Rudy. You know, a lot of us have a vague sense that terrorists want to attack somebody, somewhere, but it takes a guy with your unprecedented level of experience to see the threat at this granular level of detail.

And thank you, Politico. Thank you for overcoming what I'm sure were serious questions about news judgment -- If we run this, will it look as if Giuliani's people have just begged us to keep his name in the press any way we possibly can? -- and recognizing that this was vital piece of information the public absolutely needed to know.

Oh, and I'm intrigued by the date stamp under the headline:

5/10/11 9:20 PM EDT Updated: 5/11/11 5:14 AM EDT

Thank you for recognizing that this was such an important story that it not only needed to be published, it needed to be revised and updated at the crack of dawn this morning.