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Speaking of Guiliani, I wonder if he may end up saving the GOP(so to speak). Right now the ultimate perception of blame(always more important than actuality in the long run) could shift to either party, and won't be settled for awhile. I think Bush is smart enough to intervene only where necessary, and let the markets do the painful job of purging themselves and returning to fundamentally sound foundations. Short term pain, long-term gain, ala 1981-2.

But that likely doesn't help in November. I wonder if Guiliani might step up to the plate in the Fall, when the real campaign is in full gear, and put this all in perspective. Like Bush he has a similar large reservoir of goodwill and credibility, yet his tapping it might not be as costly or risky. He also is positioned as an independent, and since he is not running could have the ability to speak somewhat as an outsider. Yet having been mayor of NYC, he certainly has the position to be viewed as a credible authority on Wall Street(to the average public).

So would the Bush admin tap, and would he accept, a request to speak out on the nature of the bear market, its political root causes(dishonesty, corruption, 'depends on what "is" is' metality) to refute and mute the Democrat blamethrowers?

A fan of the Strauss and Howe book 'Generations', I wonder if this is one of the issues upon which the cultural wars will ultimately be decided on. Right now is about the period in the American historical cycle where previously a deeply divided US has faced a crisis and resolved its major divisions in response to the crisis. 9/11 put a whiplash crack of requestioning into the socialist/moral relativists' momentum, this could go either way, and likely one or several more other types of crisis will emerge as 'the bills come due'. Historically these crisis(Revolution, Civil War, Depression/WWII) have assigned blame to one point of view and accepted the other eliminating the division, so how this market trouble plays out and who it is blamed on will likely significantly shape the political and cultural climate for the rest of our lifetime.

What would it cost the admin, a VP position? To the social conservatives, would gaining control of the Senate now, and thus the judiciary, be worth a Guiliani VP and 2008 win?