Whatever else happens in 2008, one thing that’s certain is that Rudy Giuliani won’t be elected president. That’s something I’m thankful for. And, based on the results, I think it’s something that virtually everyone in America can be thankful for — something that can unite Americans across the cultural divide. From Red America to Blue America, everywhere but the Commentary office and the foreign policy wing of the American Enterprise Institute, we stand proud tonight as a nation that refuses to be governed by Rudy.

Mike Huckabee’s speech, meanwhile, is strangely charming. Insofar as Huckabee seems to have no chance of winning, he’s a pretty likable guy. When one contemplates the prospect of him actually becoming president, it’s pretty horrifying. But as a folksy loser thanking his supporters — likable.

As expected, the Florida non-primary goes to Hillary Clinton. I congratulate her on her prize of zero delegates. Good luck to HRC with her lame spin.

AP reports that the Bush administration “is sending strong signals that U.S. troop reductions in Iraq will slow or stop altogether this summer, a move that would jeopardize hopes of relieving strain on the Army and Marine Corps and revive debate over an open-ended U.S. commitment in Iraq.” The move results from concerns by U.S. commanders that the reduction in violence “is tenuous and could be reversed.”

Narrow lead so far for McCain. County-by-county breakdown seems to favor a narrow McCain victory. This, though, tends to re-enforce what I was saying earlier — whoever wins is going to win a pretty narrow victory with less than forty percent of the vote. Hardly a decisive blow to the loser. But of course a McCain win of any sort will be spun by the press as the greatest landslide since Johnson/Goldwater.

Today on the Senate floor, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) sharply criticized President Bush’s signing statement on the Defense Authorization Act, which waives the ban on permanent bases in Iraq:

Every time a senior Administration official is asked about permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, they contend that it is not their intention to construct such facilities. Yet this signing statement issued by the President yesterday is the clearest signal yet that the Administration wants to hold this option in reserve. Mr. President, that is exactly the wrong signal to send, both to the Iraqi government and its neighbors in the region.

Watch it:

Transcript: Read more

Since the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran said the country halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton has made every attempt to press on for bombing Iran.

Voicing his support for the major Republican presidential candidates — who have supported attacking Iran — today on Fox News, Bolton said Iran’s “mullahs” want a Democratic president elected in 2008 in order to ensure that they can continue to pursue building a nuclear weapon:

Well, I don’t think it’s discussed sufficiently. But I think in part what the mullahs in Tehran are thinking about, looking at the odds of who might win, or at least what the conventional wisdom is about the Democratic nominee winning. I think they’re going try and string this thing out in hopes that they’ll find some more pliable administration in the White House.

Watch it:

Responding to President Bush’s State of the Union remark that he will “confront” Iran if necessary, Bolton said Bush must either “change the regime in Tehran” or “the possible use of force against Iran” before his term expires. Bolton explained that this must be done to halt Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program.

Bolton’s fearmongering on Iran mirrors the conservative strategy around the 2006 elections. At the time, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Dick Cheney, and the White House all suggested al Qaeda was hoping for a Democratic Congress.

On a voice vote, the House passed a 15-day extension of the Protect America Act today, which is due to expire on February 1. The Senate is still debating the issue and is expected to vote on an extension tomorrow. Senate Republicans “reversed their opposition to extending the existing law” today, but the White House is still threatening a veto if the Senate enacts a 30-day extension.

UPDATE: McJoan explains what’s going on.

On CNN’s American Morning today, host John Roberts asked former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani about recent revelations by the New York Times that said as mayor he ignored a “1998 police department memo” saying that it would be a bad idea to place the New York City emergency command center at Seven World Trade Center. The memo called the location — which collapsed on 9/11 — “a poor choice” with “significant points of vulnerability.”

Giuliani defended himself, saying he made the “choice,” but adding that “there were pros and cons for all of the sites”:

Each site had a series of pros, a series of cons. And the reality is, 7 World Trade Center was also the home of the CIA, the Secret Service, it was a logical place to put it for the transfer of information.

Watch it:

Giuliani’s invocation of the CIA and the Secret Service is cynically misleading. In fact, as the New York Times article cited by Roberts makes clear, the 1998 police memo explicitly pointed out that the “presence” of those other agencies “made the building a more likely target“:

Mr. Giuliani has said in the past that one of the reasons for choosing the location was that several federal agencies with which city officials needed to be in contact during emergencies, including the Secret Service, had their offices there. Other federal agencies in the building included the Defense Department and the C.I.A.

But the Police Department took the opposite position in the memo, saying the presence of those agencies made the building a more likely target.

As Media Matters has pointed out, “Giuliani ‘overruled’ warnings from former police commissioner Howard Safir and NYPD chief operating officer Lou Anemone not to locate” the command center at Seven World Trade Center because he wanted it “within walking distance of City Hall.”