On Fox Roundtable last nite....
BARNES: The truth is, I think he has an excellent chance of winning the nomination. I wouldn't make him the frontrunner right now, I think the McCain still is. But people like him. There's a reason why his polls have stood up so well, it's not because voters are stupid and don't know about his social liberalism, which is there. But he's not running on it. He's running on these other things and he's not trying to stick his views on abortion and gay civil unions and so on down the throats of conservative voters who don't want that.
He's running on low taxes and what he did in New York. I think there are two striking things about Rudy -- Rudy Giuliani that no other candidate can match -- one, it's the whole 9/11 thing, where he was in a crisis and we saw how he performed. He performed extremely well. And secondly, it's New York City when he was mayor. You know, you can go to New York City and feel and see the difference that he made in that city as mayor. And I don't think you can say that about any mayor in any other city in the country.
HUME: And maybe not about many governors.
I like Rudy as a person and my NYC roots go back to the 1600s and my great great grandfather was a State Sen. from Brooklyn at the time of Teddy Roosevelt.
All my relatives from these folks are voting for Hunter and I am.
---"There's a reason why his polls have stood up so well, it's not because voters are stupid and don't know about his social liberalism, which is there."
You're right, Fred. As evidenced here, the SoCons and Pro-Gun folks have no problem with him.
Oh, and all of those polls by the NRA, Family Research Council, et al - those polls showing that almost nobody does know where Rudy stands on those issues - forget about those.
Man, these Ivory Tower Republicans are arrogant and out-of-touch. It's going to be fun watching them learn, yet again, that the right does care about more than war and taxes.