Most New Yorkers recall with angst the mayor we grew to hate in the 1990’s. Rudy Giuliani seethed and lisped his way through town, shutting down museum exhibitions, defending corrupt police officers, and ruining our fair city with his “clean up” of Times Square. Before the world watched him do what anyone in his position would have done on 9.11, he was generally thought of as an evil skeezeball. But those images made him famous, and he became “America’s Mayor”. Truth be told, he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. The real heroes remain those firefighters, police officers, and ordinary citizens that acted with compassion and humanity on that awful day. Amazing what a TV camera can do for one’s approval ratings.

Now power-hungry Rudy is enjoying his status as the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2008. There are several reasons for this. First off, it’s a shameful assortment of candidates, and some form of cream, no matter how rancid, has to rise to the top. (And pander to the right wing, apparently. Even though he supports gay marriage, is divorced, pro-choice, and has notably dressed up in drag, Rudy has somehow become the sweetheart of the Republican party.) Pluto is currently giving him quite a powerful boost, but come June, Saturn will swoop in and Rudy’s karma will catch up with him. A series of ego-squashing transits are likely to bring him to his knees. Come September, he’ll probably be out of the race.

Oh, Saturn, how we praise you for these small favors. Hopefully by then Aries superstar Al Gore will have announced. More on him in a few weeks.