New Yorkers Against Rudy

The New York Observer reports that some of the local New Yorkers are mystified by Rudy's success in the GOP campaign to date. However, the NY Dems mentioned in the article should actually give encouragement to Republicans supporting Rudy. After all, if Charlie Rangel and the head of the NY ACLU oppose Rudy, how bad can he be?

It’s the middle of October and Rudy Giuliani is still leading the race for the Republican nomination. His old enemies in New York can’t understand it.

“It’s totally unbelievable,” said Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation and a longtime adversary of Mr. Giuliani. “I refuse to believe that this could possibly happen to our country. I have too much confidence in our country to believe that this could really happen.”...

Norman Siegel, who served as the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union during Mr. Giuliani’s tenure as mayor, said, “I’ve been saying to people in New York, especially the liberal community that I’m proud to be part of, that unless the truth is revealed about the real Rudy, he could win, and not just the Republican nomination, but the presidency as well. Most people in New York look at me, and they say ‘no way.’ They say it can’t happen. The political leadership in New York is underestimating him. They are really in political denial. I say to people, ‘You better wake up.’”

Mr. Siegel, for one, intends to do whatever he can to forestall a Giuliani victory.

Rudy lost favor with these two glittering jewels of ignorance because he put a lot of their constituents in jail in the process of cleaning up the city. They're hoping that some of his liberal tendencies will keep GOP voters from choosing him, despite the fact that they agree with those liberal positions.