From the incomparable Johnny Buttrocket:
That seems to be the message of this Fox News Poll. By a 50% to 36% margin–a wide gap in today’s polarized climate–respondents say they would rather have Rudy Giuliani at the helm than Hillary Clinton if another terrorist strike were to happen in the U.S. Giuliani also leads his Republican contenders by a wide margin as a “strong leader.”
There is lots more interesting data in the poll, but the bottom line, I think, is that Giuliani’s ace in the hole is also his party’s, and that if Republicans are able to retain the White House in 2008, it will be largely because of the public’s concerns about national security.
There are three lessons here.
One, Fox News polls might be biased. Just a bit.
Two, somebody needs to tell Johnny that the only way the Republicans will retain the White House is through a combination of mass voter fraud and scaring the shit out of everyone, aided by “news outlets” like Fox screaming TERRA ATTACK TERRA ATTACK THE GREAT BETURBANED HORDE IS COMING FOR YOUR FAMILY ZOMG ELEVEN!1ONE!!
Finally, somebody also needs to tell Johnny there that another attack — the basis of the poll question — would in fact mean that the entire Bush (and therefore GOP) national security apparatus has failed, utterly. All of it. All the security procedures and “legislation” and signing statements and trashing of the quaint little Constitution will have resulted in a systemic failure. So, in case of a demonstrable systemic failure of the national security apparatus put in place by a GOP President, that the GOP Presidential candidate — especially one running primarily on his 9/11 national security credentials — would likely not benefit very much in an election from another attack, as Buttrocket there assumes.
There’s a number four here, and that number four issue is “even implying that you are wishing for another attack just so Hillary loses makes you an asshole.”