Since its good to know what the opposition is up to, I really tried to read Michael Wolff's Vanity Fair hit piece on Rudy Giuliani with an open mind. However, its so over the top I doubt most people other than hardcore Clintonistas will take it seriously.

Vanity Fair claims "Wolff writes that almost anyone who’s ever worked for Rudy Giuliani expects his presidential campaign to implode at any moment, thanks to his propensity for periods of mania, outbursts, and frequent forms of behavior that generally don’t win elections."

Okay, so there's almost always a bit of hyperbole in press releases. But the sub-headline on the piece declares, "Many New York political pros believe Rudy Giuliani—former mayor, hero of 9/11, and now presidential candidate—is, quite literally, nuts."

So what's Wolff's evidence that Rudy is psychologically imbalanced? Well, he cites a pre-2004 lunch with a reporter who yelled, "Are you crazy? He's just insane," regarding Rudy.

He then quotes various folks who fought with Rudy while he was mayor as saying Rudy "has a devil in him," very, very powerful pathology," and that he has a ""mean streak." But it isn't terribly shocking to hear one's critics declare, "he's nuts."

In critiquing Newsweek and New York magazine profiles on Rudy, Wolff writes:

    Neither reporter—both of whom accompanied Rudy on his campaign trips—appeared to have asked the obvious question (it's a reasonable question for all politicians, but it's professional negligence not to ask it of Rudy): whether he's on antidepressants or any other pharmacological mood stabilizers.


It's obvious to ask if Rudy is on meds? Professional negligence to not ask, as opposed to say, national security, health care, education, or anything else the mags asked?

Wolff does quote a strident and personal exhange then-Mayor Rudy had on his radio show with a man who wanted the city to legalize owning ferrets as pets. Basically, Rudy calls the guy "sick" and "deranged" and while harsh, all that proves is that Rudy has a strong and well-established position on the hot-button issue of... ferret legalization.

Rudy's complaint about the Virgin Mary-in-dung work at the Brooklyn Museum is labeled "jihadish".

Considering how the mayor refrained from beheading anyone, or calling for armed resistance against the museum, that seems pretty, um...crazy.

Finally, Wolff grew up near Bernie Kerik's house in Paterson, N.J., and says that if he "heard stories" about Kerik being "mobbed up", Rudy should have.

In the end, Wolff doesn't tell us anything we don't already know. While many of us may look at Rudy and say, "Eh, got some flaws... but a guy who knows how to get results,"

Wolff looks at Rudy and concludes, "Oh, he must be insane."

That'll give MEM and his fellow Clinton staffers some comfort over the next few years (tops) but that's about it.