The NY Times pretty much nails Giuliani’s precipitous fall from national frontrunner to punchline for jokes by Ron Paul and Fred Thompson supporters.

In interviews Tuesday, even before he gave a concession speech in which he spoke of his campaign in the past tense, Mr. Giuliani described his strategic mistakes, suggesting that his opponents had built up too much momentum in earlier primaries. But this is a rhetorical sleight of hand; he in fact competed hard in New Hampshire, to remarkably poor effect.

Perhaps a simpler dynamic was at work: The more that Republican voters saw of him, the less they wanted to vote for him.

Giuliani was a bad mayor with fascist tendencies and an egotistical side that would make George W. Bush blush. He took advantage of a national tragedy, first for personal economic gain, then for personal political gain. His campaign’s reliance on 9/11 demeaned the victims of the attack and the nation that moved on from it. The victims’ families asked him to stop. The fire fighters asked him to stop. But perhaps only devastating humiliation in his losses to joke candidates like Ron Paul and Fred Thompson will dissuade him from continuing to profiteer from the attacks of September 11th. After all, it’s all about Rudy in his mind.

I can hardly think of a politician that deserved this public and national a humiliation more than Rudy Giuliani.