Michael Gerson gets it right: Rudy is Tricky Dick.
Michael Gerson, much cleverer writing on politics than on religion, offers what I take to be the basic insight about the 2008 Republian field: Rudy Giuliani is the second coming of Richard Nixon. Gerson’s warning is directed at his fellow wingnuts, but they’re not the only ones who need to hear it.
Update Ed Kilgore at The Democratic Strategist thinks Gerson’s piece may be the opening salvo in a barrage by the religious and cultural right against the much-married mayor. I hope so.
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
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