Stuck on 9/11

The Rudy Giuliani campaign speech can be summarized in just three digits: 9-1-1.

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In a speech in Chicago, the former New York mayor takes only eight seconds to get from "Thank you for having me here" to his first mention of the 2001 terrorist attacks on his city.

"I have a special fondness for Chicago because of all the help you've given us on and after September 11th," he inveighs. The applause is instant.

From there, he moves on to frame the election ("It's about who can offer the leadership to make sure we're safe against Islamic terrorism") and his policy priorities ("The most important thing we have to fix is make sure we remain on offense against Islamic terrorists").

Almost everything, it seems, can be viewed through the 9/11 lens. Immigration? "Just one person has to sneak in, and you have a horrible tragedy, you have a terrorist."

Iraq? "The strategic objective that would be best for America is a stable Iraq that will act as an ally for the United States in the ongoing Islamic terrorist war against us."

Military spending? "We have to rebuild it to a level where we can deal with the challenges of the Islamic terrorists."

Giuliani may be a one-trick pony in the 2008 presidential race, but in national opinion polls he has ridden the issue to a lead that has only recently begun to erode. The message -- that the crime-fighting mayor will protect us from the terrorists -- works well with his no-nonsense style and his confident presentation. The candidate, in a gray suit against a black backdrop, is severe -- so much so that he feels it necessary to provide a disclaimer before a joke. "I'm gonna leave you with . . . a story that has some humor to it so you'll remember," he discloses, "but then it has a punch line to it that isn't so humorous."

Giuliani's gravity allows him to get away with some curious claims that might draw skepticism if uttered by a less serious man. He argues that "if we hadn't removed Saddam Hussein, we'd have to worry about him becoming a nuclear power right now" -- even though no evidence was found of an Iraqi nuclear program. He breezily submits that, under his health plan, "you would see the price of health insurance come down, I'm gonna say, 50 percent" -- even though FactCheck.org calls that "a statement unsupported by any evidence he's offered."

Then, with a certainty that echoes that of President Bush, Giuliani boasts: "My position on Iraq is the same today as it was in 2003, the same as it was six months ago." But this requires a bit of a detour around his remarks in July that "America is too consumed by Iraq" and should focus more on Pakistan and Afghanistan. In his stump speech, Pakistan and Afghanistan get one sentence, combined.

Giuliani devotes the last third of his speech to domestic issues such as spending, tax cuts and, oddly, the man who sued his dry cleaner for millions over his lost trousers. But the thrust of Giuliani's presentation is about his terrorist-fighting abilities. "This next election for president of the United States can be about leadership. . . . It's about leadership and results. . . . It's also gonna require someone who's gotten results in the area of safety and security before." His audience, a group of Italian Americans, has no trouble getting the message. "Mr. Mayor," says one of the first questioners, "I believe I'm speaking on behalf of all of us. In the wake of 9/11, we all admired your tenacity and the leadership you provided."

The candidate nods modestly, then accepts with thanks the raucous applause that inevitably follows.