Desperate Giuliani Panders His Way Through Florida

Desperate to win Florida, Rudy Giuliani is pandering his way across the state. Rudy had no choice--poor strategy has painted him into a corner where the only hope for a foundering campaign is to come in first (not second) in Florida.

Furthermore, Giuliani's poll numbers in the Sunshine State remain weak--in most polls reported this week he's a relatively distant third behind McCain and Romney. Even in New York and New Jersey--voting on Feb. 5--the Rudester is trailing McCain in polls. Which raises a question about Romney: does he need Giuliani to be strong enough through Super Duper Tuesday to siphon support from McCain, or with the G-man out will anti-McCain forces coalesce around the Mittster?

But back to pandering. On the one hand, Giuliani is pushing a massive tax cut, disguised as tax simplification, without any indication of how he would pay for it. Inflation, we guess. Or maybe through one of those magical Laffer curves, where lower taxes miraculously turn into higher revenue. Mind you, Giuliani is not talking about an economic stimulus--his tax cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the rich, and they aren't temporary.

On the other hand, far from cutting government spending, Rudy G. proposes that the government subsidize Florida homeowners' hurricane insurance costs. One reason you gotta like McCain is that despite the huge benefit he'd get from winning Florida, he opposes such government largesse. (For more on the hurricane insurance issue, see today's WSJ: "The Panhandle Pander.")

Giuliani epitomizes borrow and spend Republicanism--borrow from the poor and spend it on the rich.

It's not likely he can win Florida, unless he has a fabulous debate performance tonight at McCain's expense. In any event, Giuliani shouldn't win: all he's proven so far is that he is a poor strategizer, a poor manager of consultants spewing bad strategy (reminds you of how the neocons got W Bush into a protracted war in Iraq), and a fiscally reckless big government Republican. We've had all that for the past eight years, without success, so no need to try it again.