Exposed

Sure, but who were among the pols who most quickly forgave Imus and said they'd go back on the show? McCain and Giuliani, both Republicans.

Rudy is getting much more scrutiny these days, as this New Republic item by James Kirchick suggests:

"Rudy Giuliani, who recently said that he would have backed efforts to keep Terri Schiavo 'alive,' has now declared, before a swooning crowd at the Alabama state capitol, that he believes that the decision to fly the Confederate flag on state property ought be 'left to the states.'

"The Confederacy was, should Giuliani need any reminder, from the firing on Fort Sumter, an act of treason against the United States. Never mind the crime against humanity that the Confederacy was formed to protect or the lives that were lost in order to defeat that treason. Of course, an individual who wants to fly the Confederate flag or put its likeness on the back of his pick-up truck is perfectly permitted to do so, just as one can legally fly a Nazi flag outside his house or goose-step around his neighborhood wearing a swastika. But the same freedom of expression should not apply to government institutions (in this case, state legislators and the public property in which they conduct their legislative business).

"John McCain had the honesty to admit that his back-and-forth on the issue during the 2000 Republican presidential primary was 'worse than waffling' . . . Perhaps Giuliani will take a cue from his primary opponent and realize it's best to be unambiguously opposed to state governments expressing nostalgia for a symbol that represents human bondage and historic treason."

Even worse: Rudy doesn't know the price of a gallon of milk! Dick Polman deconstructs the episode:

"I first saw this pop quiz in action 11 years ago, at eight in the morning during a snowstorm in New Hampshire (yeah, it's a glamorous job). We stood in a town square, listening to a campaign pitch by Republican presidential candidate Lamar Alexander. Suddenly, a local reporter asked him whether he could correctly recite the price of milk and a dozen eggs. Alexander blanked. He quickly turned to an aide for help. The aide was no help. Then he told the aide, "I need to know the price of a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. I need to know right now." Alexander's rivals in the Bob Dole campaign were delighted; later that day, the Dole team put out a press release saying that the next time Alexander went stumping, 'he might want to stop in a supermarket' . . .

"Here's my pop quiz: Who cares?

"The price test is just a lazy journalistic gimmick which is designed to imply that a political candidate is out of touch with the lives of the masses. (Some political scientists refer to pop quizzes as 'degradation ceremonies.') Giuliani flunks the milk question, ergo he is an elitist . . .

"If I was asked to explain why any of this should matter, I'd flunk. Presidential candidates, and those few who actually make it to White House, are not like you and me. They tend to have people around them who buy the goods and pump the gas. They tend to focus on things like the Consumer Price Index, not the price at the local grocery."

There's a great deal of chatter about John McCain's speech at VMI. Andrew Sullivan is impressed but says McCain faces a huge obstacle:

"There is much in his speech to applaud, even while its historical poignancy remains. Unlike many of his fellow Republicans, he has exhibited patriotic candor about the appalling leadership that brought us into this mess. But his presidential ambitions prevent him from naming the truly guilty men: the duplicitous Cheney, the arrogant Rumsfeld, and the glib, clueless Bush. McCain says this: