Whatever the opposite of "prescient" is, that’s Los Angeles Times reporter Maria L. La Ganga. Here’s the lede on her June 28^th article about Rudy Giuliani’s core campaign message: "The world according to Rudolph W. Giuliani is a very, very scary place."

The very next day two Mercedes cars rigged with IEDs made from gasoline, gas canisters and nails were found in the heart of London - one outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub near Piccadilly Circus, the other parked nearby – and the day after that, two men set fire to a Jeep Cherokee and tried to ram it through the entrance of the main terminal at Glasgow Airport in Scotland. One of the two terrorists was taken to the hospital after sustaining severe burns; the hospital was evacuated when a device thought to be a suicide belt was found on his body. British authorities say the thwarted London plot and the Glasgow terror attack are linked, according to The Associated Press.

Not for nothing in speech after speech and interview after interview, Rudy reminds us that "the terrorist war against us … [is] the overriding issue of our day."

Which is why, like a trusty Timex, Rudy can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. In recent days, Rudy’s campaign took a combination punch:

† Giuliani's South Carolina chairman, state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, resigned after being indicted on federal cocaine charges;

† Giuliani was slammed for skipping Iraq Study Group meetings (he explained that the panel seemed unable to focus on "a bipartisan, nonpolitical resolution"); and

† Victims' advocates demanded that Monsignor Alan Placa, suspended from his pastoral duties over abuse allegations, be fired from Giuliani's security consulting firm.

But the latest Mason-Dixon poll of 625 likely general-election voters conducted June 23-25 suggests that none of these blows knocked him off balance:

† Rudy had the highest favorable recognition across the entire 2008 presidential field – both parties - at 43 percent. Hillary Clinton was a close second at 39 percent.

† However, Hillary led the pack in voter disapproval, with 42 percent saying they recognized her name and had an unfavorable opinion of her. More than half (52 percent) also said they wouldn't consider voting for Clinton.

† Mitt Romney was the next most unpopular amongst voters, with 46 percent saying they wouldn't consider voting for him; 50.9 percent of women are in that group.

† John McCain was viewed favorably by 33 percent of voters, unfavorably by 28 percent.

And conventional wisdom that Rudy’s going down for the count once social conservatives and fundamentalist Christians find out about his positions on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other hot-button issues notwithstanding, Rudy’s still standing.

Rudy went to Regent University, the Christian college founded by conservative televangelist Pat Robertson, to deliver a 50-minute address to more than 650 students and business leaders last week. Robertson gave Rudy a warm introduction, reports the New York Daily News:

Conservative televangelist Pat Robertson praised the pro-choice, pro-gay rights Rudy Giuliani to the rafters yesterday - stopping just short of giving the former mayor his blessing for the presidency.

"This is supposed to be a nonpolitical thing," Robertson said in introducing Giuliani at a lecture series at the preacher's Regent University here. "But we would be remiss to forget the fact that he seems to be running for President."

"And in point of fact," added Robertson, a co-founder of the powerful Christian Coalition, "he may one day become not New York's mayor, but America's leader. So it's a great pleasure to welcome a dear friend and a great leader."

Robertson praised Giuliani as an "outstanding" mayor who cleaned up New York, then rallied the nation and the city through the horrors of Sept. 11.

The students gave Rudy a Standing O, says the New York Sun:

[H]e stuck to what has become his campaign's mantra — plugging his record as mayor, pledging to prosecute the war on terrorism aggressively, and offering a none too subtle reminder of his role following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

He offered the crowd his standard, unspecific warning: "Don't expect you're going to agree with me on everything. Because that would be unrealistic."

"It's not about one issue. It's about many issues," Mr. Giuliani said of the campaign. But, he quickly added, if a person's vote does come down to a single issue, there should be no question about which one.

"The one issue that dominates is the fact that Islamic terrorists are trying to kill us," he said. …

And when given the opportunity to question the former mayor, attendees asked about Iran, Iraq, and immigration, not abortion, gay rights, or gun control.

Students and professors alike gave this round to Rudy.

"Most of us are aware of his positions on social issues," Stephen Raper tells the Sun. Raper, who heads Regent's student Republican group, adds that Rudy was right to omit mention of controversial topics because, "It could appear you're trying to throw it in their face."

According to the Daily News, Regent University political science Prof. Charles Dunn thinks Rudy "has the look of a winner" that appeals to pragmatists.

[Editorial Note: To read previous posts in the "How Resilient Is Rudy?" series, click here and here.]

Small Town America Killed Immigration Bill

In a classic application of bottom-up management denizens of small towns let their elected representatives in Washington D.C. know exactly how they expected them to handle the compromised immigration compromise bill that neither secured our borders, nor was any more enforceable than previous legislation it was meant to "fix."

Earlier waves of immigrants – legal and illegal – flocked to CA, , FL, IL, NJ, NY and TX ("gateway" states) but have been dispersing across a wider swath of the U.S. since 2000. The foreign-born, non-English speaking populations of DE, GA, IN, NE, NV and SC have exploded, say demographers, with the "newcomers" (as President Bush is wont to call them) preferentially settling in (some say, overrunning) small towns and sleepy suburbs. And people who live in these places are saying, "enough!"

Here’s what Stephanie Usrey, 39, a stay-at-home mother who lives in Gainesville, GA, tells The Washington Post about the "aha" moment she had at a local Wal-Mart about five years ago:

"That was the first time I looked around and said, 'Man, I didn't realize how many Mexicans there were here.' And they don't seem to feel any discomfort when they're, like, six inches from your face and talking to each other in their language, either. I just felt very encroached upon. ... It was like an instant feeling of 'I'm in the minority, and if we don't get control over this, pretty soon all of America will be outnumbered.' "

Spurred into activism by talk-radio Usrey and tens of thousands others like her in small towns all across the U.S. "bombarded their senators with phone calls and e-mails decrying the bill as an unacceptable amnesty for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants," says the WaPo. And they didn’t let up till they got results:

Nowhere were the bill's opponents more influential than here in Georgia, whose two Republican senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, originally helped craft the legislation. Two days after its unveiling in May, Chambliss was booed at his state's Republican convention. Isakson's office received more than 21,000 calls from opponents of the bill, compared with 6,000 from supporters.

[B]oth Georgia senators voted to kill the bill they once supported.

Another example of bottom-up management: With the federal government unable or unwilling to enforce existing immigration laws, small town governments, like Hazelton, PA, and Framers Branch, TX, took matters into their own hands by enacting local ordinances against businesses that hire illegal labor.

And some local enforcement officials have decided to, well, enforce immigration law. Panama City, FL, Sheriff Frank McKeithen, for one, has been targeting construction sites, and has arrested more than 500 illegal aliens and reported them to immigration officials since November. The Miami Herald reports:

The sheriff's department has developed a remarkably effective - and controversial - way of catching illegal immigrants: Deputies in patrol cars pull up to a construction site in force, and watch and see who runs.

Those who take off are chased down and arrested on charges such as trespassing, for cutting through someone else's property, or loitering, for hiding out in someone's yard, or reckless driving, for speeding off in a car.

U.S. immigration authorities are then given the names of those believed to be in this country illegally.

Immigrant advocates say the technique is repugnant, and the ACLU says its constitutionality is questionable. …

The sheriff said the raids are justified under a long-standing Florida law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Such local initiatives are not going unnoticed by state legislatures, which are now going even further in attempting to curb illegal immigration, according to The WaPo:

By the time most legislatures adjourned in May, at least 1,100 immigration bills had been submitted by lawmakers, more than double last year's record total, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This year's total is expected to grow as the issue continues to dominate debate in statehouses still in session.

These laws limit illegal immigrants' ability to obtain jobs, find housing, get driver's licenses and receive many government services. They also empower state law enforcement agencies to inquire into an immigrant's legal status and hold for deportation those deemed to be here illegally. The idea is to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will leave the state -- if not the country. …

At least 18 states have enacted laws concerning illegal immigrants. Most of the legislation is seen as punitive, and it reflects legislators' anger at the federal government's inability to seal the southern border and at provisions in the Senate bill that would allow the 12 million illegal immigrants already here a path to citizenship. …

[M]any states are increasingly frustrated at having to provide expensive services for illegal immigrants.

In a repudiation of the "sanctuary city" trend, local police in OK now train with federal authorities to learn how to find and capture illegal immigrants, and AZ is considering allowing officers to ask people they arrest whether they are U.S. citizens and to seize them if they don’t have valid documents to prove it.

OK also bars illegal immigrants from receiving public assistance, VA approved a proposal to withhold state and local funding from any non-profit group that uses the money to provide services to illegal immigrants and MA rejected a proposal that would have allowed illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition.

The Masters Of The Universe and the business community might not like it, but when marshaled, the will of the people is a force to be reckoned with.

A Romney Dog’s Life

By now you’ve heard about – or read – The Boston Globe profile of Mitt Romney that highlighted his crisis management acumen by recounting a 1983 car trip from Boston to Ontario, during which the quick-thinking future presidential candidate pulled into a gas station to hose off his station wagon and the family dog (riding in a kennel fitted with a makeshift windscreen that was strapped to the roof of the vehicle) after the poor pooch had an attack of the runs.

Of course, PETA howled in protest at Romney’s "animal cruelty." And some columnists had fun at Romney’s expense. Boston Globe columnist Scot Lehigh writes:

This Wonkette post is also a hoot – not the piece itself, which is as funny as a PETA press release – but some of the reader comments, which made The Stiletto ROTFL. Here are the choicest bits (spelling and grammar left intact; cusswords redacted):

† phildeaux: My dad made me ride in one of those carriers on a family vacation. I never stole again.

† plutoboy: Vote Romney. He knows how to clean sh** off a dog.

† T.H.H.E._Cat: The dog then preceeded to point at a picture of Fred Thompson for president. [Editorial Note: This is an inside baseball reference to one of John Edwards’ kids pointing to a photo of Hillary when asked who she liked for president.]

† ElRonHubbard: proof positive he isn't afraid to use enhanced interrogation techniques. WHAT DO YOU KNOW SEAMUS!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW!!!!

† dumbdumbbullet: Nobody knows you're a dog on the Interstate!

As a counterpoint to all this mirth and merriment, ABC News did an in-depth investigation to determine "what exactly would be the dangers of strapping the family pet to the roof of a speeding vehicle for 12 hours?"

Dr. Russell Cumming, professor of aerospace engineering at California Polytechnic State University, weighs in on the g-forces Seamus was subjected to: "At that speed, assuming sea level conditions … He would constantly feel a little less than 3 pounds pressing on his head for the entire trip. The windshield would help, but boy that would get tired." Cummings also added, "My wife's a vet, and she would be more worried by the dehydration of the dog's eyes under those conditions."

Douglas Osheroff, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at Stanford University was concerned about how air flow turbulence on the roof would whip at the dog: "Beyond a certain velocity, the air flow becomes turbulent. The airflow … won't have a uniform distribution. Chances are the windshield would only protect the front of the dog, but the air flowing around the windshield would buffet the side of the dog -- that would be tiring."

ABC News sums up what the trip was like for the Irish Setter:

The Boston Globe sums up what the trip was like for Romney:

No doubt, it was at that very moment Romney decided he has what it takes to be president.

[Editorial Note: Is it just The Stiletto, or does anyone else think Romney should have named his son "Seamus" and his dog "Tagg?" (Dog Tagg, get it?)]