Supposedly Rudy’s in big trouble now that Bernie Kerik faces indictment on federal tax fraud charges. I doubt it.

Democrats argue that Giuliani’s tough-on-crime image is at odds with his longtime relationship with Kerik.

“Voters are going to question Rudy Giuliani’s judgment given that he shepherded Kerik’s career while he knew there was an ethical cloud over his head,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Dag Vega.

Critics question Giuliani’s loyalty to Kerik and other friends; Giuliani has kept his childhood friend, former Monsignor Alan Placa, on the payroll of his consulting company; Placa was barred from the ministry after being accused of sexual abuse himself and of helping cover up abuse by other priests.

No, no, no. That’s not how it works as we all should know by now. Image is everything to conservative voters. Look at their favorite candidates, past and present: George Bush, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Rudy Guliani. Do you see a theme? It’s not what they have done in the past that counts, it’s what they say they might do in the future that counts. It’s all based on style, on the threat of some bad-assedness. Since Guliani is ever a threatening menace, he has nothing to worry about.

Republican consultant Whit Ayres said the Kerik case might tarnish Giuliani’s armor rather than inflict any lasting damage.

“It’s an embarrassment,” Ayres said. “Isolated problems with individual supporters are never a major problem unless they become a pattern.”

He mentioned the resignation earlier this week of an adviser to Republican Fred Thompson, Philip Martin, after a report surfaced about Martin’s decades-old criminal record for drug dealing.

The episode was basically a one-day story for Thompson, Ayres said, although he acknowledged the Kerik case could stick around a little longer, considering Giuliani recommended Kerik for the Bush Cabinet.

Mainstream media personalities make millions fawning over Republicans.

Narrative conquers all: These people memorize their narratives, then maintain them till Hell freezes over. How else to explain the odd-ball judgment expressed on Tuesday evening’s Hardball? First, ponder this statement by the New York Post’s Charlie Hurt. The boys were discussing Saint Rudy:

HURT (11/6/07): You know, because [Giuliani] is such a gun-slinger, and because he is such a straight-talker, people believe him, I think, a lot of people believe him when he says—

MATTHEWS: Because he is a quick-draw.

HURT: Yes, when he says, “I’m going to pick judges like Justice Alito and Roberts,” who will—who are the main—that is the main issue for those guys.

Giuliani’s endless, howling misstatements are becoming the stuff of legend—but to Hurt, he’s still a “straight-talker.” But then, Time’s Mike Allen had stated this view roughly one minute before:

MATTHEWS: [Giuliani] is like the guy that used to—the guys who used to play the Globetrotters…Ron Paul keeps setting up Rudy for that basket. He just puts it in every time.

ALLEN: He does. And that response by Giuliani shows you why he has defied conventional wisdom at every turn. We thought, because of his views, he is going to be a non-starter with social conservatives and the South. It turns out they like his gun-slinging, straight-shooting swagger, that he comes across—he will answer a question, he will say, “No way, no how.” People like that.

To Allen, he’s a “straight-shooter.”

Within the past week, Giuliani had been caught up in his latest misstatements, this time about British health care. But so what? The press corps’ narratives were set in stone long ago—and to these people, the world is narrative. All week, Clinton’s “evasiveness” and “double-talk” have been trashed on Hardball—like Gore’s lies and Kerry’s flip-flops before her. But Giuliani is still a “straight-talker!” There is absolutely nothing on earth that will keep these lads from their Group Tales.

They will allow a little bit of criticism to get through. A few people will ask some questions and raise their eyebrows over Kerik. But this will not get very far. These minor jabs will simply inoculate Giuliani. The talking heads will tee up a problem, barely press it, and Giuliani will swat it down easily. No matter what problem he has, they can find some way to counterbalance it. Poor judgment? No. He was loyal. Finally they will interpret his undamaged reputation as proof that he defies conventional wisdom and is somehow “above it all”. The Anointed One.

Meanwhile, the conservative voters will stick with him for their own twisted reasons. They love his style, his authoritarian, belt-snapping, threatening ways. Digby has had them figured out for years and explains Giuliani’s enduring appeal despite his many “wrong” positions. It’s all about power.

You put those things together, and a little problem like Kerik doesn’t tarnish Rudy’s armor, it becomes a burnished patina instead.