Although Rudy Guiliani ran one of the worst presidential campaigns ever in 2007-2008, you'd never know it by the fact that he still makes regular appearances on cable television to critique Barack Obama and speak about the war on terrorism.

But today he got a rare dose of criticism thrown back in his face, live on cable television.

Yesterday as expected, Giuliani endorsed Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist in their race for U.S. Senate.

Though much has been made of the "payback" by the former New York City Mayor, who allegedly believed that Crist would endorse him (and not ultimately) John McCain in the 2008 Florida GOP Primary, not nearly enough has been made about how incredibly inept Giuliani's campaign was in 2007-2008, with his strategy to ignore Iowa and New Hampshire, and rely in part on the sentiments that people, especially in South Florida who hailed from the Northeast, felt towards "America's Mayor."

Which is why it was incredibly refreshing to watch MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning and see Arianna Huffington take down Guiliani.  It came as both guests were live in studio in New York with host Joe Scarborough.

Giuliani said twice Crist told him he would endorse him back in the fall of '07 , "but he broke his promise.  And breaking your word in politics is a bad thing."  Rudy blasted Crist as being an unreliable vote in the Republican Senate.  He praised Rubio as a "solid fiscal conservative."

Huffington was asked about Rubio being a Tea Party candidate.  She segued into Giuliani's rants against Obama being about a Western European style government take over of the U.S, and then said (with the classic "with all due respect" opening) that "your judgment in people isn't exactly stellar.   Bernard Kerik anybody?"  (Kerik was Giuliani's former Police Commissioner and was considered a hero on 9/11, but later stories painted a far different picture.  He was sentenced to four years in prison on Feb. 18, 2010, after pleading guilty to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials).

Arianna wasn't deterred by Scarborough's mentioning of Huffington's previous flirtation with the Republican Party and Newt Gingrich, saying, "the mayor is responsible for Bernard Kerik's rise, now you want to be responsible for Rubio's rise?"

Giuliani said that he was responsible for the turnaround of New York City in the 1990's, and said her focus on one guy was a cheap shot.

Scarborough then lamely tried to defend Kerik and Giuliani by saying that if Rudy hadn't ran for President, it wouldn't have put the focus on Kerik.  However, how does that square with the fact that Kerik's troubles were reported as early as 2004, which led him to not taking the job as Homeland Security Secretary?

Despite being ganged up for breaking up the bonhomie of morning television, Huffington stayed resolute, saying she questioned his support for Rubio and for that matter, waterboarding, because it's all about "what the mayor stands for."  She said she questioned whether his endorsement ultimately meant anything.

Scarborough said, "it does in Florida,"which Huffington followed up with her kicker, "the man spent $50 million in the presidential race and got one delegate."

Scarborough then mentioned Huffington's lame 2003 run for Governor in California.

Giuliani then finished up by saying  Huffington's comments were an"over the top emotional reaction, as opposed to an intellectual discussion as to whether Rubio or Crist would be the better senator."

You can bet the blogosphere will be all over this exchange the rest of the day.

This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2010.