“Dangerously stupid”
“Batsh*t insane”
“Either a charlatan or a simpleton”
“This is beyond ideology; it’s just dumb“
No, that’s not me talking about Rudy Giuliani; that’s conservative James Joyner … talking about Rudy Giuliani’s foreign policy.
This is truly excellent news. It means that some pieces of Red Blogistan won’t just salute whatever the GOP decides to run up the flagpole.
Of the current leaders, even including Huckabee, Giuliani is the one I’d most fear in the White House, mostly because of how plain mean he is. But he’s also the one with the largest potential crossover appeal, if he can get the press to ignore the fact that he’s a dangerous sociopath. I have been seriously worried that he might pull it off. In that context, Joyner’s reaction is reassuring.
Kudos to Joyner for refusing the Kool-Aid.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman