For Those Who Think Rudy Giuliani Nominatable

....I give you this:

BASH: There's something on - you know, on YouTube from 1989. It's flying around the Internet. It's - it's a clip of you.

[tape]GIULIANI: There must be public funding for abortions for poor women. We cannot deny any woman the right to make her own decision about abortion because she lacks resources. [applause] I have also stated that I disagree with President Bush's veto last week of public funding for abortions.

BASH: Is that also your - going - going to be your position as president?

[live]GIULIANI: Probably. I mean, I have to reexamine all those issues and exactly what was at stake then. It is a long time ago. But, generally, that's my - my view. Abortion is wrong. Abortion shouldn't happen. Personally, you should counsel people to that extent. When I was mayor, adoptions went up. Abortions went down.

BASH: So, you...

GIULIANI: But, ultimately, it's a - it's a - it's a constitutional right. And, therefore, if it's a constitutional right, ultimately, even you do it on a state-by-state basis, you have to make sure that people are protected.

BASH: So, you support taxpayer money or public funding for abortion in some cases?

GIULIANI: If - if it would deprive someone of a constitutional right, yes. I mean, if that's the status of the law, then I would, yes. [emphases added]

Rudy's been bailing frantically ever since. And yes, it's months until the first primary or caucus vote will be cast. But for somebody who comes into the 2008 GOP presidential race with all the wrong credentials on social issues, this is the kind of accidental candor that he simply cannot afford.

One thing should be for certain: his Republican rivals should never let the nominating electorate forget this gaffe, and the window into his besmirched soul it opens up.