Newt Gingrich was one who spoke out against the elephant dung fiasco. Saw it for myself during a televised interiew. Even Newt knew it was easy to side against the museum and wasn't much of a political gamble.
You're painting yourself into a corner if you thing that Rudy was the only "conservative" who was outraged at that, or similar, events. This stuff was well publicized and didn't offer much of a challenge to any real conservative, or anybody merely claiming to be conservative.
I can go to any other city and ask where Rudy was on THEIR issues. Where was Rudy during the Rodney King trial or riots? Where was Rudy when Budson and Nevers went to prison? On the issues that really divided conservatives from pretenders, Rudy split the difference and even crossed the line.
To reiterate my reasoning; this isn't personal against Rudy. It's not that we don't like him, we just don't like his positions on some of the most divisive and deciding issues facing America (not NYC, but America) today.
Sorry, but I'm talking about actually doing something. Sure, Newt and all of us in the conservative media condemned the elephant dung thing. Rudy took action. He said "Hell, no," and took it to court - ultimately he lost, but I frankly think his case was a solid one. And NOBODY has ever thrown Arafat or Castro out of anything before.
You can try to convince yourself that he simply did typical conventional conservative thing (which contradicts several other anti-Rudy memes, the 1) he isn't conservative at all and 2) that he is a fascist authoritarian Hitler) but it isn't true. The truth is that Rudy is one-of-a-kind, take-action, get-it-done-against-all-odds politician, who stunned and appalled the political establishment of both parties and the queens at the New York Times on a daily basis.