So today Rudy personally responded for the first time to the story saying he got bumped from the Iraq Study Group after blowing off a few of the group's meetings.

From the Associated Press:

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, whose tough talk on terrorism is the centerpiece of his campaign, said Wednesday that it was a mistake to join a bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which he later quit.

"I thought it would work, but then after a month or two I realized the idea that I was possibly going to run for president would be inconsistent with that," he said...

"All of the other members of the commission have had distinguished public careers, but none of them were prospective candidates for office."

We really hate to repeat ourselves here (okay, no we don't) but it's apparently necessary: This explanation is thoroughly bogus. The public record unequivocally proves it.

Rudy's role with the ISG was announced in March of 2006. That means that Rudy didn't see a problem with being on the ISG at that time.

But many months earlier than this, Rudy himself was openly telling reporters that he was a potential candidate for President.

From the Associated Press in October of 2005:

Giuliani says he will consider 2008 presidential run

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday he will contemplate next year whether to run for president in 2008.

"I will be considering it next year," Giuliani said during a visit to Denmark.

So very clearly, Rudy himself was saying that he possibly going to run for President" five months before agreeing to join the ISG. He even said he'd be thinking about whether to run in 2006 -- that is, the year that he agreed to join. In other words, he didn't see a problem with joining the ISG even though he knew he was a "prospective political candidate" who might potentially run for President.

Yet now he wants us to believe that he stopped working for the ISG because...he knew he was a "prospective political candidate" who might potentially run for President.

Needless to say, the hapless Associated Press didn't bother doing the simple Google search that would have shown this explanation to be total nonsense. The question now is whether other reporters will let him skate past with this demonstrably bogus explanation.

If so, they'll be allowing Rudy to get away with arguing that he selflessly took himself off the panel to avoid marring its work -- rather than pointing out the reality, which is that he's indulging in dissembling of the rankest sort.

Update: A commenter below adds another key point: Rudy was asked to show up at meetings or to leave the ISG. In other words, the idea of leaving voluntarily didn't initiate with him.

Update II: Steve Benen explains the dissembling here better than we did.