Jennifer Siegel writes—

As the roster of Republican presidential hopefuls grapples with the seeming implosion of one-time front-runner John McCain’s candidacy, Rudolph Giuliani is taking steps to claim his place as the field’s leading hawk.

The former New York City mayor announced last week that he had assembled a team of foreign policy advisers featuring several prominent neoconservatives, including one of the movement’s founders, Norman Podhoretz. In addition to being an unwavering supporter of the war against Iraq, Podhoretz, a former editor of Commentary magazine, has grabbed headlines in recent months as one of most vocal proponents of American military action against Iran.

You'd have to dip a stick in doo-doo to find anyone as qualified.

The eight-member advisory panel also includes several figures with experience in Israeli affairs. Giuliani’s chief foreign policy adviser, Charles Hill, served as a top aide to Secretary of State George Shultz in the Reagan administration and once served as political counselor to the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. The team also includes Martin Kramer, who is an expert on Islam at Harvard University and a fellow with both the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center.

These selections show Giuliani is “very serious about his approach to ensuring the security and safety of Israel,” said Ben Chouake, head of the pro-Israel political action committee Norpac.

No word yet on how Giuliani feels about the security of the United States, but he certainly has Israel covered.

.... Jason Epstein, a policy consultant backing Giuliani, said he viewed the selections as very consistent with Giuliani’s longstanding activism on foreign policy....
....

“Even if you accept the premise that neoconservativism is not currently in vogue, many individual neoconservatives are still relevant,” Epstein said.

Relevant to what?

---

7/22/07 - 7:00 am — Today Israel Today has picked up the story I quoted above and converted its headline into the lede sentence—

Republican presidential frontrunner Rudy Giuliani has assembled a staff of foreign policy advisors described by some as a “who's who” of Middle East and pro-Israel hawks.

The writer concludes—

Giuliani's choice of advisors is also likely to play well to right-wing Jewish and Evangelical Christian voters, who are largely credited with putting George W. Bush in office.

Giuliani apparently intends to signal that, as regards Israel, he is the most rabid of the field of Republican Presidential candidates in hopes of appealing to a base that is even more rabid.

Tags: * Rudolph Giuliani Republican Presidential candidates