RELATED: Bob Schieffer Confronts Gingrich: Some Say You Are Doing Obama’s Work For Him

Giuliani cited Newt Gingrich‘s attack on Mitt Romney over his time at Bain Capital, and Romney going after Gingrich on how he’s raised money as two prime examples of this. There could not be a starker contrast, Giuliani argued, between two candidates in a Republican race. He credited Gingrich with having a better tax plan than Romney, and admitted “it would be a much more interesting race” if it was just the moderate Romney against one conservative instead of both Gingrich and Rick Santorum splitting that constituency.

Bob Schieffer brought up statements Giuliani made in the past about both candidates, including his bewilderment at how much Romney has changed his positions over the years. Giuliani stuck by that argument, calling Romney a “traditional moderate Republican” and while normally the socially moderate Giuliani would get behind the more moderate candidate in the race, he’s not sure if he can support a candidate who’s made as many flip-flops as Romney.

When Schieffer asked if Giuliani had any regrets about not entering the race this time around, he just laughed and admitted his social views would not get him far in a current Republican contest. Then Schieffer went back to Giuliani’s self-description as a moderate and asked him a question about the state of the Republican party.

“Are there moderate Republicans out there anymore? Is there such a thing as what we used to see as the Republican establishment?”

RELATED: Rush Limbaugh Slams GOP Establishment: ‘We Nominate Milquetoast Moderates And We Lose’

Giuliani admitted he does not really care for the “moderate” self-description, but in order to distinguish himself from the rest of the party on social issues, he has to adopt that label.

Watch the video below, courtesy of CBS:

Host Joe Scarborough shared that he’s been told by doctors countless times that his children needed Ritalin or other drugs, but that, now, whenever his energetic three-year-old son Jack is bouncing off the walls at home, Scarborough simply tells his wife that the only “wrong with him” is that “he is a boy.”

RELATED: The Secret To TV Success: Shows With “Man” In Their Titles Fail, While “Girls” Succeed

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani agreed with Scarborough, telling a story about his own childhood experience with an “old-fashioned pediatrician” who had told his mother that little Rudy wasn’t sleeping through the night because he’d inherited her sleeping habits. But if he’d been a child today, he shared, he’s fairly certain he’d be “drugged up” to deal with his unusual sleeping pattern. “Boys are boys,” he declared, adding that his own son had been hospitalized three times, once for running into a wall. “That’s a low number” joked Mika Brzezinski, who is herself a mom to young kids.

Scarborough then turned the conversation over to Bennett’s latest book, The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood. “Where are the men?” he asked.

Well, I think they’re there. I mean, we certainly have a lot of good men in American society, but we’re not bringing out the best in them and we’re not encouraging the best in them.

Take a look at the fall TV series sitcoms. And the men in these sitcoms are not nobody you’d… not manly. The only one that is is Tim Allen, and the show is called Last Man Standing.

Have a look, via MSNBC:

The allegations in the blog post published by Krugman were predictably found to be so offensive by Blakeman that he almost immediately called for the NY Times columnist to be fired. “There is a big difference between telling the truth and getting paid for it and telling lies and getting paid for it,” said Blakeman, suggesting that Krugman is being duplicitous in this provocative post. Kelly then asked Benjamin why Krugman would bring up such a sore subject on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 to which she pointed out that the controversial NY Times columnist should be lauded for starting a dialog and making a “courageous statement.”

As often is the case in these sorts of televised shouting matches, there is no actual winner. However, it is an interesting bit of social anthropology to bear firsthand witness of the very divided debate over 9/11, public grieving and what many see as a failed foreign policy (followed by both parties) that followed 9/11.

Watch the segment below, courtesy of Fox News:

The basis of the criticism stems from Giuliani’s alleged insistence to put the crisis management center at Ground Zero, which was labeled as such before 9/11 because it had already been bombed by al-Qaeda. O’Donnell reports that Giuliani’s decision was “ego-driven,” and designed more for easy media access than for acting as a safer and less vulnerable command center.

The nut of O’Donnell’s critique (rough transcript provided by MSNBC):

Giuliani’s ego-driven decision based on his craving for media attention during any possible crisis meant that when they needed it most, on 9/11, the command center was useless because Rudy Giuliani had decided to locate it at ground zero. That Giuliani decision cost lives, which is why the international association of firefighters vehemently opposed his candidacy for the president in 2008. The firefighters association reports that 121 firefighters in the north tower didn’t get out on 9/11 because they didn’t hear evacuation orders. They didn’t hear those orders, because Rudy Giuliani learned absolutely nothing from the first deadly attack on the World Trade Center.

Firefighters’ radios failed to work back then when they responded to the bombing of the world trade center, and they failed to work again, years later, on 9/11. Even if the inadequate fire department radios worked on 9/11, they were not connectible in any way to the police department radios or police department communication of any kind, even though the city had obtained additional radio frequencies from the federal government in 1995, specifically to make that kind of communication possible. Mayor Giuliani’s failure to do anything about the primitive fire department radios meant that on 9/11 fire chiefs had no idea that police helicopters were predicting the collapse of both towers long before they fell.

Yes, there is hyperbole in O’Donnell’s commentary, but none less than the hyperbolic hagiography that Giuliani has enjoyed in the ten years that have transpired since the events of 9/11. Watch the damning clip below, courtesy of MSNBC:

According to CNN’s survey, Perry supporters skew older, male and towards those with higher incomes. “Perry’s biggest support comes from Republicans who say they are supporters of the tea party movement – he wins 37 percent of their vote – but he also edges Romney by a couple of points among Republicans who don’t call themselves tea party supporters,” finds CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Results:

Removing Palin and Giuliani, neither of whom have officially announced a bid, does little to the standings. Perry remains on top with 32 percent, followed by nearly the same percentage as before by Romney, with 18 percent; Bachmann took 12 percent and was followed by Newt Gingrich with seven percent and Ron Paul with six percent of votes.

As has been noted in preceding polls, it is still far to early to take these sorts of results as a sure sign of Perry’s leading. “Much could change in the coming weeks,” notes CNN, “as the pace of the race for the White House picks up with a vengeance over the next two months, with five GOP presidential debates and six major events that will also attract many of the candidates.” Moreover, Palin and Giuliani’s ability to register so many votes, even before they’ve officially entered the race, seems to indicate a certain malcontent regarding the current GOP candidates.

He says he’s weighing his options, figuring out how well he’d do in various states and seeing how well other candidates are faring. But he does know one thing for sure:

My objective is we cannot have President Obama after the next year. I mean, look at what he’s put us through with this whole debt thing and this because a president doesn’t lead. I mean, Republicans, Democrats fight with each other in the House and the President has never outlined how he would do… This is outrageous!

Giuliani went on to opine that Obama is “too darn afraid” to draw up a plan, and if this country defaults it is “90 percent” on the President’s shoulders. He guesses that, because Obama has not had previous executive experience, it’s not really a surprise that he “messes up” when it comes to planning and outlining.

Have a look at the segment, via Fox News:

During his “Rewrite” segment tonight, O’Donnell took a peek at some of the American friends that had stood up for Murdoch so far, beginning with former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. Citing an interview with Giuliani where he called Murdoch an “honest man,” O’Donnell suggested that Giuliani, despite being a former prosecutor, was not exactly “the most credible character witness,” in part because “the New York Republican relationship to Murdoch is as ugly as you’d imagine it to be.” He then took a bit of a detour in the segment to indulge his favorite pastime, popping the hope-against-hope of far-fetched Republican presidential candidates like so many soap bubbles floating up on a hot summer day. But after reminding Giuliani that his presidential dreams were “hopeless and ridiculous,” O’Donnell put his eye back on the ball and noted that the relationship between Giuliani’s police chief, Kerik, and Murdoch may be the key to unlocking the mysteries of the American wing of this story.

“Bernie Kerik was a tool of Rupert Murdoch,” O’Donnell argued, reminding viewers that he was Giuliani’s former chauffeur and “an utterly unqualified high school dropout.” He also noted that Kerik “was and is a criminal”– hence the jail sentence– and that his proximity to News Corp coupled with his captivity should be making Murdoch and company sweat as the scandal unravels. “There is no down tonight that Bernie Kerik is at the top of the list of people police will want to interview in the investigation,” he argued, and if they do get to him, “Kerik will crack and tell them everything he knows about Rupert Murdoch and his empire.”

There is a key flaw to O’Donnell’s argument: he doesn’t actually present any evidence that Kerik and Murdoch were close, or that Kerik and Murdoch had a corrupt relationship– he just sort of hopes you take his word that it’s a pretty ugly situation. That’s not to say that O’Donnell is not relaying information that may be true and that that corruption doesn’t exist, but he missed out on a key parallel between Kerik and former London Police Chief Sir Paul Stephenson, who stepped down this weekend amid the scandal. If Murdoch’s tentacles could extend that far up into the police chain in London, it is conceivable they could do the same in New York. Sure, Stephenson’s resignation is common knowledge, but excluding that context from O’Donnell’s argument makes the entire theory feel more makeshift and shoddy than it may otherwise be.

The segment via MSNBC below:

Beckel missed the chance to point out that Bush did more than just threaten Social Security by attempting (and failing) to privatize it, but he did remind the panel that “what he did was saying, if we didn’t go into Iraq, we were going to be subjected to weapons of mass destruction, which we still haven’t found.”

This prompted a frustrated reaction from Perino, who has “had it with liberals who bring that up all the time.”

Perino is right to point out that Democrats, at the time, voted for the authorization to use force, but she’s wrong to equate buying a pig in a poke with selling one.

Beckel asked, again, why the WMD were never found, to which Bolling replied, “Whether they did or didn’t, America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don’t remember any terrorist attacks on American soil during that period of time.”

Bolling’s whopper went unremarked upon by the rest of the panel, a weird coincidence when you recall that ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos similarly did not challenge Rudy Giuliani when he made the same assertion on Good Morning America.

UPDATE: The next day on The Five, Eric Bolling responded to the criticism of his comment with some fairly strong words. Watch that clip here.

Here’s the clip, from Fox News’ The Five:

(h/t MMFA)

Koeppel and Hsiao formerly wed in Connecticut, although Giuliani did not show up. Now that they want to tie the knot in their home state, the former mayor isn’t answering their calls. And Koeppel is not too happy about it:

He wouldn’t be married three times if he was holier than thou.

Ouch.

Giuliani previously stated his take on same-sex marriage during a 2007 GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida:

I do not believe under the state that presently exists, with the Defense of Marriage Act and basically one state that has by judicial fiat created same-sex marriage–I don’t think we need a constitutional amendment at this point. If a lot of states start to do that–5 or 6 states–then we should have a constitutional amendment.

h/t New York Post

In the new book Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s Red Shirts Are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers by Matthew Vadum, Newt pontificates that Palin and Rudy made a “strategic blunder” with their speeches at the Republican National convention in 2008 where they joked about President Obama’s history of community organizing. Newt responds “it wasn’t a funny thing” and in an excerpt from the book, Newt said:

“Obama is the most serious radical threat to traditional America ever to occupy the White House. [It would have been better if Republican leaders] had gotten up and said, here is what [Obama] was teaching, and they had taken the audience through the five principles of [radical organizer Saul] Alinsky.”

It sure is a strange strategy to win a Republican presidential primary by constantly criticizing Republicans and suggesting Palin and Rudy were wrong to trivialize Obama, since “Obama is not a trivial person.” Yet if Newt keeps going with such strange behavior, it seems like he is the one who risks being viewed as a trivial person.

(h/t The American Spectator)

The New York Observer reports that Giuliani has started to play the coy game that most unofficial candidates began several months ago, saying he “doesn’t know yet” rather than a direct answer about his presidential ambitions, though noting that he has “always had the desire” to be President: “Who wouldn’t have the desire!” The Observer then notes that Giuliani is planning a rather convenient trip to New Hampshire:

Whether Mr. Giuliani will run for President or not is a guessing game the former mayor clearly enjoys indulging-before introducing former Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci at the ALS benefit, Mr. Giuliani told the crowd he planned “to go to New Hampshire—just to hang out.”

At this same dinner, Giuliani also took the opportunity to chat about the most prominent threat to the welfare of the average American today: the possibility that an indiscreet picture of Rep. Anthony Weiner made its way to the internet last week. “I don’t know why you wouldn’t want the FBI to investigate this!” Giuliani argued, scratching his head at Weiner’s behavior.

Asked what to make of the current primary landscape, Fund appeared far more excited than nervous for Republicans, who he noted “usually have one frontrunner who has run before and he usually gets the nomination.” Here, he said, he was “thrilled that all of these players at least have a chance.” Here he evaluated who was more or less likely to get in– Giuliani and Bachmann “more likely than not;” Palin and Perry “less likely than not.” Jarrett asked why he found Palin less likely to run. “She is in her late 40s,” Fund noted, “and has lots of time to rebrand herself”– and she needs it, he continued. “Her poll numbers are not very good,” he added, concluding that Palin will “increase her interest factor by running around the country with bus tours, but in the end she wont run.”

The segment via Fox News below:

The poll, released today, reveals the following:

[...] 16 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say they would most likely support Rudy Giuliani as their party’s nominee. One point behind, at 15 percent is Mitt Romney, with Sarah Palin coming in at 13 percent.

Palin, too, has yet to make an official decision about whether or not she’ll run, while Romney, who is set to make his official announcement on June 2, is already facing an obstacle in the form of a Tea Party group.

This particular survey, it should be noted, was conducted from May 24 through May 26, after Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Mitch Daniels all announced they would not be campaigning this year.

Check out the results:

Rudy Giuliani 16%
Mitt Romney 15%
Sarah Palin 13%
Ron Paul 12%
Herman Cain 10%
Newt Gingrich 8%
Michele Bachmann 7%
Tim Pawlenty 5%
Rick Santorum 2%
Jon Huntsman 1%
Gary Johnson 1%
Buddy Roemer
* Someone else (vol.) 3%
None/ No one (vol.) 5%
No opinion 2%

And:

NOTE: Fred Karger was included on the list but no respondents chose him.

h/t CNN

King explains that “as of now he very much wants to run and this time he would focus on New Hampshire.” Suggesting that no current Republican candidate really demonstrates an expertise in national security, King advocates that Rudy would be a formidable opponent. Plus his proven record of cutting spending and cutting taxes should be appealing to the Tea Party.

Last time around, King admits Rudy had some trouble, but argues that was because “nobody let Rudy be Rudy” and all his advisors were more concerned with helping Rudy avoid controversy rather than letting him be his “tough” self. And to keep the presidential speculation going, even though King believes Rudy is “very close to running now,” he warns that if Rudy doesn’t jump in, he’s not ruling out the possibility that he himself might run for President. Therefore, it seems like Mitt Romney or anyone else in the race shouldn’t get too comfortable yet, because Rudy or King could still shake it up.

Watch the clip from Fox News below:

Giuliani, who has become newly relevant in light of the recent killing of al-Qaeda murderer Osama bin Laden, dropped the hint at a speaking engagement with the Republican National Lawyers Association in D.C., where he delivered a speech in support a Republican takeover of the White House in 2012. Given his own history as a former candidate, he was unable to escape the question of whether he was considering his own run in 2012. According to CNN, he gave no definite answer, but as close to a “yes” as he had ever given post-2008:

But he wouldn’t rule out his own bid when responding to the question of whether he will consider a run.

“Sure, but not right now,” he said. “I enjoyed the debate so much last night…I will, sure, think about it, but not yet.”

And if Giuliani turns out to be the best Republican for the job, the 2008 candidate for the GOP nomination said, “I could probably be talked into doing it.”

He also made some comments about 9/11, having recently visited Ground Zero with the President to commemorate the death of bin Laden.

Last time around, Giuliani started strong in the polls only to see his “Florida First” strategy sink his campaign to the benefit of eventual candidate John McCain. Of course, the Republican field today is far different than it was in 2008; a handful of the candidates are or have been Fox News contributors, and the other bulk of them are either militant libertarians or, erm, “non-traditional” candidates (we’re looking at you, Donald Trump). In other words, no one is saying “hop in, the water’s fine!” quite yet, but given how diverse and, in its own way, exciting the field is, adding Giuliani to the mix couldn’t hurt. The more the merrier!

While at Ground Zero, President Obama made no comments. However, he spoke with policemen and firemen during his visits. Time describes the visit here:

“‘We did what we said we were going to do,’ the President said at the First Precinct Police Station. ‘What we did on Sunday is directly connected to what you do every day.’

‘When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say,’ the President said earlier to the firefighters. ‘You’re always going to have a President and an administration whose got your back.’”

Below, watch CNN’s video of the President at Ground Zero:

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuiliani expressed admiration for the decision President Obama made to stage the risky ground operation that ultimately led to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. “Tremendous political risk for the president,” Giuiliani, noting “there’s no possible way to know when you decide to do it, that it’s going to come out right…anything can go wrong in the operation, and then you look like a totally ineffective president. Takes a lot of courage to make a decision like that. I admire him.”

Giuiliani also said he believes the decision to dispose of bin Laden’s body was the correct one. “They did everything right.”

Watch it here, from MSNBC:

Giuliani’s comments opened the show, and he expressed a “vindication and satisfaction that is really hard to describe” upon hearing the news. “He deserved to die,” he said frankly, “can’t say that about many people.” He even tried to find a silver lining to the fact that the death was a decade coming: “when it takes this long, you understand it better.” Asked about the methods used to find the information– interrogation techniques Hannity vocally supports– Giuliani agreed that “unfortunately, you need these intense interrogation techniques to get information.” What he didn’t fully approve of? The celebrations in the streets once the news broke. “This is not a time to celebrate,” Giuliani noted, receiving the cheers with “mixed feelings.”

As to the operation itself, Hannity spoke more vocally: “We’ve got to give lots of credit to Obama,” he noted, calling it a “gutsy choice not to drop a 2000-lb bomb but send those guys in.” That said, Hannity emphasized that “without the interrogation, he wouldn’t have had the intelligence to make the decision,” and encouraged the White House to release photos of the dead body for confirmation. Somewhat confused with President Obama’s performance, he noted that using interrogation techniques to get information and kill bin Laden in Pakistan is “almost the opposite of what candidate Obama said he would do” (actually, as Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out today, the Pakistani mission was almost verbatim what candidate Obama said he would do, but the positive sentiment from Hannity still stands).

The segment via Fox News below:

For one thing, Maher’s O’Donnell library, in the final analysis, didn’t amount to much beyond the now-infamous witchcraft dabbling confession. Granted, that clip was probably enough, but in Trump’s case, there is a vast, ANWR-like reservoir of video embarrassment that O’Donnell’s oeuvre can’t begin to compare with. Trump has spent his adult life sticking his face in front of cameras and ejecting from it whatever was on his mind.

More importantly, though, Christine O’Donnell, whether you supported her or not, at least had the good sense to run away from the perceptions that those TV ghosts reinforced. She may have fumbled the execution, but she had the right idea, and tried to present herself as a serious candidate for high political office.

The biggest obstacle to O’Donnelling Trump, however, is the fact that his current antics are at least as zany as anything Matthews, Maher, or anyone else, can dig up. Although not his only sketchy strategy, Trump’s candidacy has quickly been defined by his planting of the Birther flag, which has earned him a shortcut to the top of Republican primary polls, but is likely to play as poorly with independents as declaring, “Y’know what? I am a witch!”

Whatever the effect, these certainly won’t be the last Classic Trump clips you’ll see during this campaign. From NBC News:

It’s only cause we’re defending the Libyan people from a tyrant! That’s why we bombed the Saudis last wk! Hahaha. Pentagon=comedy

Later on, though, he didn’t seem to so much disagree with the action, so much as wished it had been done sooner?

Too little, too late. So NOW we try 2 help the Libyans after Khaddafy has retaken most of country? Really just a big show, isn’t it?

He also took a shot at supporters of military action who suddenly like French diplomacy again:

And we always follow the French’s lead! Next thing you know, we’ll have free health care & free college! Yay war!

But then, Moore channeled the entire staff of Big Journalism, winging Obama’s Nobel Prize win, and zinging the President over his trip to Brazil:

May I suggest a 50-mile evacuation zone around Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize? #returnspolicy

Who starts a war in Africa then heads off to South America? Is that weird, or is he just loaded with that much cool?

Moore also repeatedly compared the Libya policy with Iraq and Afghanistan:

& what better day 2 start a war than the same day we bombed Baghdad &began the IraqWar, 8yrs ago 2day. Don’t ever say we’re not sentimental!

Finally, Moore seems to think that every Middle Eastern revolution is exactly the same, and that US foreign policy is, by rule, be forever set in stone:

Our job is 2 prop up Arab dictators (Saudi, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, etc), not overthrow them & everyone in Arab world knows it

So knock off “it’s our moral obligation 2 defend ppl of Libya.” After Iraq & Afghan & support of dictators, we have no moral standing.

The situation in Libya, and the larger crises unfolding in the Middle East, are complex, and ought to be the subject of vigorous debate, but it’s usually liberals like Michael Moore who argue for a nuanced understanding of these issues, rather than simplistic, knee-jerk reactions like this. Moore’s tirade proves nothing more than that he is no more deserving of a seat at the grown-ups table than the bumper-sticker lunkheads against whom he normally rails.

Speaking at a Manchester Republican Committee fundraiser, Giuliani said he hasn’t decided yet whether he will again seek the GOP nomination. But he sounded a lot like a candidate, calling Obama’s handling of the uprising in Libya in the last week the worst foreign policy-decision making – or lack thereof – he’s ever seen.

When France proposed instituting a no-fly zone, “Our president, the leader of the free world, said, ‘A what? That’s hard! A no fly zone is r-r-r-really hard!’ ” Giuliani said to laughter.

He made the remarks at a fundraising event before a throng of tens of New Hampshire Republicans, each of whom received a “Never Forget” pin as a door prize, and perhaps as a mnemonic aid for Hizzoner.

The crisis in Libya is, of course, a subject of legitimate debate, with Republicans like Giuliani and Newt Gingrich (R- GA) favoring unilateral action by the US, while their GOP colleague Dick Lugar (R-IN) favors more “dithering” (he calls it “congressional debate”), and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (a Bush administration holdover) expressing strong reservations about US intervention. On the Democratic side, Sen. John Kerry (R-MA) has pushed hard for a no-fly zone, while many congressional Democrats agree with Lugar that Congress needs to authorize US military action in Libya.

So far, though, Giuliani is the only one to raise the all-important issue of alleged speech tics, perhaps as an homage to Best Picture Oscar winner The King’s Speech. Giuliani’s shot at the President drew fire from liberal television exile (for the moment) Keith Olbermann, who expressed his outrage in the most logical fashion imaginable:

I’d like to thank the Mayor for thus giving me implicit permission to resume doing my impression of how he stammers and spits and shlobbers whenever he talks, when I return to television in late spring.

Idiot.

That’s right, folks, the best way to highlight the pettiness and immaturity of Giuliani’s Obama impression is with a petty, immature impression of Rudy Giuliani. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait until Keith’s Current TV debut to see it: (From Aug. 7, 2008 edition of Countdown)

Olbermann goes on to recount his first-ever encounter with Giuliani, in which then-Mayor Giuliani was supposed to introduce then-Sportscenter co-host Keith Olbermann at an event at City Hall. I don’t want to ruin the story, but it ends with an unfavorable comparison of Giuliani with former Gov. Sarah Palin.

The Libya portion of Rudy Giuliani’s speech isn’t available just yet, but here’s a clip of the last five minutes or so, in which he praised the Tea Party, tried to mend some fences with rising GOP star Chris Christie (R-NJ), whom Giuliani criticized for his absence during a blizzard in January, and “confessed” to some faint praise of fellow 2008 also-ran Hillary Clinton. He also expressed regret that he didn’t spend more time in New Hampshire in 2008, which some may view as pandering, but is actually a sincere wish to be close to his beloved Red Sox:

The wedding had pretty much everything you could hope for, including Yankees manager Joe Girardi, Yankees co-owner Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Williams, four dress changes for Applegate, and giant mermaid ice sculptures… because, you know, why the hell not?

And to think that all it took for these lovebirds to get together was the media equivalent of annoying your friends by talking incessantly about your new crush:

Kay was so taken with the Applegate, that he couldn’t stop talking about her on his radio show the following day. Applegate, who was alerted by a producer, called the station to tease Kay about his boyish crush. After a whirlwind romance the two decided it was time to make it official.

Aw.

h/t Daily Mail

Giuliani says that running against Palin would position him as a “moderate Republican” in contrast to Palin’s views. Morgan called him the “acceptable face of the Republican party,” to which America’s Mayor replied, “Well. I don’t know if I’m acceptable. The way I got elected as mayor of New York City was not being acceptable. My slogan was ‘You can’t do any worse.””

He adds that he’s learned from his time campaigning in the 2008 primaries and, this time around, will focus his efforts on winning Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

And, yup, he talks about the video in which Palin uses the term “blood libel.” Watch the video from CNN:

“America’s Mayor” was asked by host Larry Kudlow about rumors he’s planning a second bid for the GOP nomination:

LARRY KUDLOW: ” Will you take a look at 2012, there are lots of rumors in New York City?”

RUDY GIULIANI: “I will take a look at 2012. It’s really a question of, can I play a useful role? Would I have a chance of getting the nomination? Those are things that I’ll have to evaluate as the year goes along.

LARRY KUDLOW: “But the door is open, that’s what I’m hearing from you tonight?”

RUDY GIULIANI: “Yes, yes, Absolutely Larry.”

Watch it here, from CNBC:

Rudy also commented on whether now is the time for stricter gun control laws:

“It would seem to me that you’d address this with the most relevant problem first. The most relevant problem was the lack of an ability to deal with what was apparently paranoid schizophrenia that should have been treated. Then I would reestablish a situation of civility, which we seem to be doing, so we can talk to each other about gun laws without yelling at each other. We do those first two things – I think we could take a look at gun laws and see what can be done that doesn’t affect the constitutional rights that people have to have guns.”

His hesitation to prioritize gun control, not a popular issue with conservative Republicans, may be linked to his revelation that in the past few weeks he has thought about possibly running for President again. And with Palin’s “wrong” word choice, Rudy now might be thinking about running even more seriously.

Watch the clip from CBS below:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie–still firmly defending his trip to Disney World during the last major snowstorm–took a strong swing at one of his snow critics, Rudy Giuliani.

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Christie slammed the former New York City mayor, saying it’s “easy to sit in the peanut gallery and shoot away…when you’re retired and out of politics.”

Zing! Christie again defended his decision to go ahead with the family vacation to Florida ahead of the December storm, insisting to a skeptical Mika Brzezinski he had the state’s staff in place to handle the storm.

Giuliani–who’s been the subject of recent rumors that he is far from “retired” and may run for office again–has knocked the rising Republican star Christie, saying he “should’ve been there,” a charge that Christie flatly dismissed:

Rudy is wrong on this one. I like Rudy a lot, too. But it’s easy to sit in the peanut gallery and shoot away, which is what Rudy is doing. I guess when you’re retired and out of politics, it’s easy to come on these shows and shoot away.

Watch it here, from MSNBC:

On a day when Americans remember the lives that were sacrificed during the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Gingrich reminded us all what this momentous occasion is really all about when he chirpily tweeted, “The 69th anniversary of the japanese attack is a good time to remind folks of our novels pearl harbor and days of infamy newt.”

Oh yes, he did.

Update: Gingrich apparently thought better of his tweet. It has been deleted without explanation.

Obviously, if you’ve written two novels about the attack on Pearl Harbor, no one should begrudge you the chance to promote them when interest in the subject is at its peak, but a smidgen of reverence and/or humility is the least you can do. Sure, it could’ve been worse. Newt could’ve offered a $.69-off e-coupon to mark the anniversary, or given an autographed copy to the first 2,402 people to buy the books (and if you decide to do either of those things, Newt, I want a piece).

Perhaps the biggest shame is that, having made such a fool of himself with this book plug, Newt neglected to include a link to purchase the books.

Barbara Walters: She now says she will run if nobody else will. Do you think she would make a good President?

Giuliani (laughing): Well, first of all, she’s not going to have that situation — that nobody else will [run]. I ain’t never heard of that! Nobody will run for President of the United States? There are now people registering as Republican in order to line up to run.

Walters: What about her? Joy says that she’s scared.

Giuliani: Nothing to be scared of. Let the American people decide There was an article in Politico a couple of days before the election. This was mostly Republicans. The cowardly ones who don’t speak for attribution. And they are very afraid Sarah Palin is going to run and they are going to do everything to stop her…how about letting the Republican party decide. Let her run! If she’s as bad as you think she’ll lose, if she can really make her case she will win…she has a hell of a lot more qualifications to run than Barack Obama did when he ran for president.

Cue booing. Later Giuliani said he would consider running if “nobody else runs.” Meanwhile, it sounds like he is trying to have his Tea Party cake and eat it too. Watch below.

The following segment opens with numerous examples of the news media reporting on the Florida minister (and his now notorious “Burn a Koran Day” publicity stunt) and the media hand wringing over its own coverage. The highlight is MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur admonishing the media to ignore Jones, then instantly getting interrupted to cut to live coverage of Pastor Jones’ press event. Stewart compares the media to the dog on the movie Up! (“Squirrel!”) It’s funny because it’s true.

Stewart then brings his attention to Fox News’ own part in the alleged Islamophobic media spectacle by airing clips that focused on Imam Rauf and the Islamic community center planned for Lower Manhattan. Fox News appears quite comfortable calling it the “Ground Zero Mosque,” The Daily Show chooses the only slightly more hyperbolic “Community Center of Death.”

When Imam Rauf recently told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien that he feared moving the community center from its current location would send a dangerous message to radical extremists, many on Fox News openly questioned whether or not this constituted a threat to American security. To prove their point, Stewart then aired numerous clips of Cheney, Romney, and Giuliani effectively making similar remarks in past elections that claimed that voting for Democrats would embolden the very radical extremists referenced by Fox News.

As per usual, it’s a very funny, smart and super effective segment that highlights the many absurdities in recent media coverage of all things Islamic.

Giuliani retold his story to Brian Kilmeade, Gretchen Carlson, and Steve Doocy (all in for the weekend crew to commemorate the day)– he was trapped in lower Manhattan for a while himself, and how the experience made him grow as a person. “You get used to dealing with emergencies” as mayor of New York, he joked, but nothing had quite prepared him for this situation, and the grief, he explained, was gradual in its ebb and flow– “I feel it in different stages, in different times… a day like today is very complex.”

He thanks the construction workers who “showed up like the cavalry” to clean up the mess, and lamented, to a certain extent, that “the kind of solidarity– the feeling we had after September 11… unfortunately, as we move away from it, gets lost a bit.” The healing process, however, he noted was necessary. He also reiterated his desire to see Ground Zero used exclusively as a memorial site to the fallen– “no office towers, none of this competition for commercial space,” like Pearl Harbor, and argued that much of the delay in constructing the memorial was due to confusion about the use of the land.

His entire discussion on Fox & Friends below: