Yes, Rudy is smarter than Bush. But his political strength -- and he knows it -- comes from America's unrelenting passion for never bothering to take that extra step to figure shit out. If you think you know it all already, Rudy agrees with you. And if anyone tries to tell you differently, they're probably traitors, and Rudy, well, he'll keep an eye on 'em for you. Just like Bush, Rudy appeals to the couch-bound bully in all of us, and part of the allure of his campaign is the promise to put the Pentagon and the power of the White House at that bully's disposal.
Taibbi's point is that Rudy, more than any other candidate, is the inheritor of Bush's legacy. He's certainly the inheritor of Bush's major donors and political advisers. But he's also steeped in the culture of free-market corruption made so famous in Washington by the Bushies and congressional Republicans over the past decade. The contenders for the GOP nomination may be treating Bush's name like kryptonite at the moment, but it is remarkable that the current front-runner seems quite comfortable with the Bush policies and practices that have driven that name to such an untouchable point.
Since my current political theory crush involves comparisons between the elections of 1968 and 2008 (see comments here), I prefer to see Giuliani as Nixon more so than Bush. Not that it's very difficult to get from one to the other mathematically. All you have to do to get to Nixon=Rudy is put the brain back.
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