There’s more Giuliani bashing going on in the liberal media. First in the NY Times Frank Rich goes after him via the seedy route of the forthcoming tell-all lawsuit from Bernie Kerik’s ex-girlfriend. (It’s good stuff–I’d recommend a full read). Now the LA Times‘ Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar points out the modest fact that cancer patients who would luxuriate in Rudy’s free market health care concept would not (and cannot in most of today’s American health care) guarantee that they would get access to health coverage or of course the care that Rudy is so happy about. In fact the American Cancer Society has been feeding Bob Herbert a steady series of terrible stories of cancer patients who got financially and medically shafted by the current system.

Of course Rudy was at the time of his cancer treatment enjoying socialized insurance, at least insurance socialized across the group known as NY City employees. Of course since 1970 he’s largely been a Federal or city employee, so apparently social insurance is OK for him, if not for the rest of us.

And all of this is a great pity. As David Brooks suggests, there have been times when Rudy was not merely playing to the most unthinking elements of the conservative primary voters. Maybe we’ll see that again if he wins the Republican nomination, but he’s giving the Democrats plenty of ammunition for the general election.

CODA Uwe has a great zinger about Giuliani’s use of the socialized medicine system he controlled to help out an old friend in a letter to the NY Times Saturday.