Ronald Reagan's "mantra" of "get the government off people's backs" has taken quite a while to display the end result of this destructive philosophy.

Anyone who has understood the lessons of history and comprehends human psychology recognizes the significance of sensible government oversight.

Common sense tells us that without traffic lights to control, traffic chaos would take over.

Likewise, even a small measure of common sense should acknowledge the absolute necessity of close supervision of banks and every financial institution.

As a collective insult to the better nature of America and its people, the tragic spectacle of the Republican Convention in Minnesota represents the nadir of the political process, highlighted by back to back demagogic speeches long on invective and insults and devoid of truth and reason.

Here was Rudolph Guiliani, formerly comedic "drag queen" on Saturday Night Live, oft-married and mayor of a city attacked by right wing Republican fundamentalists as "godless" and "sinful" pandering to the basest natures of those who had formerly attacked him with impunity.

This was the same Guiliani who was spurned by the numerous fat cat, overrepresented symbols of wealth and Bush tax cut recipients that constituted the howling masses on the convention floor as he delivered a speech in which he came close to declaring that Democrats who opposed the Bush misadventure in Iraq as traitorous.

While Guiliani declared that the delegates and the nation could and should be entrusted to John McCain's judgment, this was the same candidate who declared that New York City's corrupt former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik would be a great choice to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Rudolph Guiliani, in Tuesday night's Republican candidates debate in New Hampshire your comments on the Iraq War constituted far more than political error.  They labeled you as a disgrace unfit to serve in any political office, much less the presidency.

In response to a question about the Iraq War you created a world of pathetic fantasy and sought to present this view not only as fact, but also with a tinge of counterfeit patriotism as you heralded George W. Bush's actions as a necessary means to combat world terrorism.

After tossing your ceremonial bouquets at your political hero George Bush, you then declared that because of an action you heralded as courageous, invading Iraq, Americans were now safer than they had been previous to that first shock and awe assault on Baghdad.

A March 20, 2007 editorial in the Los Angeles Times finds results of the Iraq War far less satisfying than Cheney-Bush neocon cheerleader Guiliani.  The nation has become a an international refugee tragedy, as delineated in one succinct paragraph:

Nothing prompts Karl Rove to salivate faster than the prospect of a new protégé.  It was reported that Rove waxed enthusiasm from the first time he met George W. Bush, loving his "swagger" and recognizing what he perceived as a natural and engaging charisma that he believed he could take all the way to the presidency.

Despite Rove's enthusiasm he recognized that he could not accomplish this feat independently.  The important thing about promoting an incurious and inarticulate buffoon-like figure such as Bush to the presidency was a willingness to please the neocon power structure and that he did.

To invest Bush with the kind of manufactured machismo that typified Ronald Reagan, who had earlier been fine-tuned by the corporate establishment all the way to the presidency, some early steps were taken.  

Like Reagan, Bush developed a "man's man" image by becoming an instant cowboy as arrangements were made for him to purchase his Crawford, Texas ranch, the first step toward becoming the Lone Star State's governor, an important pivotal position en route to Washington.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal and crossposted at the Independent Blogger's Alliance.

I don't like Rudolph Giuliani. In 1993, I was 24 and living in the East Village when Giuliani defeated incumbent David Dinkins to become mayor of New York City. I vividly recall watching the police intimidate black voters that day and telling my roommate about it in horrified wonder. I didn't like Dinkins either primarily because of how he handled racial tensions in Crown Heights. I thought New Yorkers were ill served with both men that year and cast my vote for a protest candidate instead.

Rudolph Guiliani realizes he has a lot of convincing to do to receive broad Republican Party support.  In order to be a viable politician in New York City it was necessary for him to take positions on a woman's right to choose and gay rights that would not inflame America's largest metropolis' progressive base.

Now Guiliani has the religious right and the South's NASCAR dads to be concerned about.  They fit solidly into the Republican Party's national constituency, and already there are strong warning signals being sounded that the former New York City mayor will not be able to rally the party's core constituencies.

With the Virginia Tech tragedy becoming a major national focus this week, the subject shifted abruptly for the need to monitor gun purchases.  There was no better time than the present for Guiliani to assert himself in a manner to assure those who might otherwise dismiss him as a Republican national aberration due to positions he advocated in New York.

Guiliani sounded the same note that has been heard so many times through the years by the gun lobby as he solidly embraced the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, proclaiming that the Founding Fathers in their wisdom saw fit to grant the citizenry the right to bear arms and not be infringed upon in that pursuit.