The man who was arrogant enough to believe that his very early lead in the polls translated into a win in Florida was not a student of primary/caucus history was he?  He thought he could slide to first using the horror of 9/11 to get elected.  

But those ungrateful New York firefighters had a lot to say about Rudy and his refusal to fully fund the material first responders needed to stay alive in an emergency.

And there were the stories about how he treated his second wife, how his kids don't talk to him, how he used the NYPD to drive Judy with an i around Manhattan while he was missing his son's graduation.

And the liberal New York Times editorial page letting America know that Giuliani was a nasty and viscious little man probably didn't go over well with the Cocoon Crowd down in Seaside By the Seaside By the Seaside.

When Rudy saw that the blustering and swaggering was falling on the deaf ears of the blue plate special crowd down in Boca  he became a major tax cutter.  He boasted of reducing taxes in New York City but forgot to mention that he nearly threw a clot when then Gov. Pataki cut the commuter tax -- the tax that commuters into the City from Connecticut and New Jersey and all counties outside of NYC paid to the City for the thrill of going in there each day.  He had a fit about that tax cut.  He forgot to mention he upped the costs to take the subway and the bus and every other user fee he could find.

While average New Yorkers were looking at their budgets and trying to figure out how they could afford the cost of commuting from Queens to Manhattan everyday Rudy was doing budget magic hiding the costs to the taxpayers of having a mistress.

Then there was the Spanish Rudolfo.  There he was talking in Spanish to all those doddering Cubans down in Little Havana.  With his trademark lisp.  Kind of a Castillian Spanish.  

Ask Newyoricans what they think of him.

Oh, and those secret contracts Giuliani Partners had with certain middle east countries with ties to 9/11.

Let's not even go over Bernie Kerick again and all the other flunky ring kissers Giuliani surrounded himself with.

Giuliani was "America's Mayor"  -- a total media construct.  On September 10, 2001 New Yorkers for whom he was the Mayor wanted him gone.  Now he is.

With Giuliani's exit from the race Americans can put 9/11 back in perspective.  We were doing a good job of that until Rudy came along and started stirring the 9/11 pot with his fear mongering and arrogant swaggering.

Rudy misread our mood and what we think is important.  That is good. That means we have put the politics of fear behind us.