Republican Variety Show

Rudy Giuliani must be hearing footsteps. With John McCain fading, actor-former Senator Fred Thompson has moved up to second billing in the polls, so Giuliani is doing a little acting of his own.

In California this week, he auditioned for the role of “Godfather,” but was panned by Peggy Noonan, who had tried to turn President Bush I into Clint Eastwood with the line, “Read my lips, no new taxes.”

That fell flat with voters when he raised taxes, and Noonan is now doing her writing for the Wall Street Journal. “Can’t have enough candidates for president who whimsically employ the language of mobsters,” she wrote in reviewing Rudy’s act.

But Giuliani was a smash in Nevada. Asked about all the photographs of America’s Mayor in drag, a Republican county chairwoman said, “If he wants to wear a dress, who cares?”

Southern conservatives may care, but Giuliani is covering that by wrapping himself in the Confederate flag.

As Jimmy Durante used to say, “Everybody wants to get into the act.”