Rudy Giuliani is not "tough as nails" at all. He's a short, bald, lisping lawyer from New York City who has probably never made a fist in his life.
I'll offer a quote from an extensive post I made on FreeRepublic earlier this year. I think it addresses this issue pretty well . . .
Anyone who has the time to do some research on Rudy Giuliani might want to sit down and do an extensive search through old newspaper articles, internet articles, etc. -- and try to find any such article where Mr. Giuliani is doing something that anyone would consider “manly” in any normal sense -- and by this I mean engaging in physical activity, playing a sport, or doing just about anything that most normal people would associate with manliness. I’ve looked long and hard for this, and I simply can’t find one. I mean, even something staged as a photo-op for PR purposes -- like Ronald Reagan riding a horse or chopping wood on his California ranch, George W. Bush clearing brush on his ranch or driving around Crawford in that big white Ford F-350 Super Duty truck -- is nowhere to be found.
"Tough as nails?" LOL -- you must be kidding me.
“Most normal people would associate with manliness”???
Gosh, maybe in the 19th century. And as you pointed out, anyone can stage a photo op or even a photoshop.
“Short, bald, lisping lawyer” - umm, you don’t want to be accused of the John Edwards airhead thing, do you?
Before Rudy was elected Mayor of NYC, women did not go out alone after dark. Period. It was not safe. Then it all changed.
Standing up to the City Council, the race baiters, all the usual suspects, was the most “manly” thing I’ve seen around here, ever. Then came 911 and despite all the cynicism, he was our lifeline on that horrible day; he never wavered.
P.S. Ever seen a photo-op of Margaret Thatcher doing “manly” things? It’s not your race or your sex or your looks, it’s what you’ve got inside ya! (IMHO)