I think Rudy Giuliani leapt to #1 on the Top Ten Endorsements List today and he made me proud, demonstrating why I felt he was the best man for the Presidency. In announcing he was dropping out of the race, he appeared warm, confident and strong... almost exuberant... a genuine hero like the man standing next to him. And Giuliani was more eloquent than I've ever heard him as he turned to give a heartfelt endorsement to his long time friend, John McCain.

As the two stood together, you could see that they would be a most formidable team against any Democrat

Rudy and John also would make anyone proud to be a Republican, so it's ironic that these men are the least Republican-like in my lifetime and perhaps ever, and it could signal a huge shift in the mentality if not the composition of the party. I doubt the heartwarming scene will result in true conservatives suddenly embracing McCain, but it will be an indelible image for those who are interested in anyone but Hillary.

I personally don't care about McCain's stand on the Bush tax cuts. Nor do I hold McCain-Feingold against him. That's all Bush's responsibility. But I am very concerned with McCain's desire to give amnesty to illegals. He says that what he advocates isn't anything of the kind, and we're probably going to find out if he's right. I'm equally concerned about his stance on "global warming" - he believes the nonsense, and that's about as scary (and potentially costly) as being inundated with illegal aliens.

I'm also not happy with McCain's stand on "torture," but I can live with that for two reasons:

1) I believe he'll modify his position as circumstances require, and...

2) Just by winning, he'll be torturing many more people than he could ever imagine.

So overall, I can't say I'm pleased that John McCain appears to be on the verge of clinching the nomination, but that's countered by the realization that Mitt Romney can't win in November if he remains the man we've been seeing up to now, and he almost certainly will. Thus, as a result of Florida's quiet mayhem, it would not be hard to cast my vote for a McCain-Giuliani ticket. The more sobering realization is that it now might be easier to do that than vote for Romney-????.

But let's see how Mitzi does from now to next Tuesday, and be sure to let me know if you come up with an electrifying VP candidate for him