Since Rudy Giuliani began running for president, the question has been whether conservatives would accept him.

Would they overlook his support for abortion rights and gay rights in favor of security? Would his reputation after Sept. 11 trump his other positions?

But this week, it was America’s mayor who was under attack. Once again, firefighters showed up at fundraisers in New York City to protest his handling of the terrorist attacks.

They’re angry about the radios that did not work that day and what they say was his failure to prepare an adequate emergency plan.

“There isn’t any part of me at all that resents it,” the New York Daily News quoted Giuliani as saying in Queens on Tuesday. ”(Sept. 11) was a very, very traumatic, horrible experience. I lived through it. I watched people die….so any anger that people displace about this, I have never had any resentment.”

Giuliani has made similar statements before.

The firefighters are pledging to show up at his campaign events and to keep raising questions about his decisions.

I doubt many people outside of New York City are paying much attention to the dispute at this point, but who knows whether it will gain traction elsewhere. It would be ironic if it did.

PHOTO: Rosaleen Tallon, center, who lost her brother Sean Tallon of FDNY Ladder 10 during the 911 at a protest on Tuesday. The Tallons are from Yonkers. (AP Photo/Adam Rountree)