Matt Yglesias

Join Rudy 2012?

It’s not hard to register a domain name, but JoinRudy2012 has a look of authenticity about it.

Meanwhile, I agree with Ambinder that I think Sarah Palin should be understood as the frontrunner for the 2012 nomination. I would also further note that the McCain campaign’s idiosyncratic ideas about which states are the battleground states in this election has taken her to Iowa and New Hampshire.

McCain and Crime

The heavy use of Rudy Giuliani as a national security surrogate for conservatives has been baffling me for years. He could have been the greatest mayor of any city throughout American history and that still wouldn’t have anything to do with foreign policy or the military. Using him as a crime control policy surrogate, by contrast, makes sense. Crime went down by a lot under his watch, and his policies had something to do with that. Unfortunately, the basis for his attack on Barack Obama has something to do with mandatory minimum sentencing which had nothing to do with the New York City crime drop. Meanwhile, Robert Gordon observes that John McCain opposes many policies that really did contribute to reducing crime in New York City. Maybe if McCain becomes president, Rudy can talk McCain into changing his mind about some of that stuff.