Crazy Like a Fox (Electable Like a Hedgehog)

Michael Wolff thinks part of Rudy Giuliani's appeal is his batshit insanity:

I argued, having voted for Rudy once, that, in certain contexts, nuttiness—for instance, his need for virtually round-the-clock media attention and affirmation—can be a positive governing approach, as well as an effective public-relations strategy. Rudy's manic domination of the city's airwaves and consciousness during New York's most disturbing crime years, when many people felt the city was beyond anybody's control, was palliative (David Dinkins, his more modest predecessor, always seemed overwhelmed). And, of course, his hysteric nature was part of what enabled him to appear so reassuring on 9/11: When everyone is crazy, he, being actually crazy, is calm. When everyone is stunned, he's expressive. (He may be the best off-the-cuff speaker in politics—conversational, witty, personal.)

Why is it that such a preening mogul slayer like Wolff can't penetrate the outre shell that defines Rudy: it's all about New York. I glimpse the symptoms — the sub-human narcissism, the eery grace under engulfing fire, the psychotic reaction to peccadillos — all around me in this city, which is why Giuliani governed it so controversially well.

After 9/11, the prevailing conceit was that Rudy had had his Churchill moment: an ineffectual and not much loved minor politico on the brink of retirement found his world-historical role and forever became, in the popular imagination, a paragon of stoicism and strength. I bought that bill of goods at the time, but now I'm not so sure. Looking back on the low, dishonest decade of the 90's, I don't think anyone else could have been mayor of Gotham. Koch had a demographic reach that spanned from Fairway to Zabar's. Dinkins was a non-entity. And wheeling around to face the current ferret-faced occupant of Gracie Manson, I wonder how it is that a family urinal cake manufacturer in White Plains lost their scion to billions and the managerial revolution of city politics.

Speaking of ferrets, remember this?

It's always worth recapping Giuliani's famous riposte to a ferret owner who called in to the mayor's weekly radio show to protest the city's ban on them as pets: "There is something deranged about you.… The excessive concern you have for ferrets is something you should examine with a therapist.… There is something really, really very sad about you.… This excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness.… You should go consult a psychologist.… Your compulsion about—your excessive concern with it is a sign that there is something wrong in your personality.… You have a sickness, and I know it's hard for you to accept that.… You need help."

This is Christopher Walken as His Honor. This is why James Woods played Giuliani on a made-for-TV biopic. This is a New York Post leader maker all year round. Tell me you wouldn't pay real money to have someone like this talk to someone like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Bashar al-Assad.