George Will still pimping for Rudy Giuliani ping.
Posted on 02/19/2007 6:38:26 AM PST by meg88
Two Democratic presidential candidates with national campaign experience are stumbling.
A Republican candidate who has run only municipal campaigns is confounding expectations, calling into question some assumptions about Republican voters.
Regarding the Republican race, for many months commentators have said that when the Republican base learns the facts about Rudy Giuliani's personal life (an annulled first marriage, a messy divorce, then a third marriage) and views on social issues (for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control, in each case with limits), support for him will evaporate.
But such commentary is becoming self-refuting.
The insistent reiteration of it during Giuliani's coast-to-coast campaigning is telling activist Republicans -- the sort of people who read political commentary -- the facts about Giuliani.
And so far those facts are not causing a recoil from him.
This does not mean that the social issues have lost their saliency. People for whom opposition to abortion is very important might think that in wartime it is not supremely important.
Or they might reason, correctly, that presidents can change abortion policy only by changing the Supreme Court, so Giuliani's pledge to nominate justices like Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and John Roberts is sufficient.
California's primary is being moved up to Feb. 5, and New Jersey's and some other states' might be moved to that date, so Giuliani's views on social issues might become advantages.
Markets are mechanisms that generate information. The political market is working: Americans are learning much about the candidates, and themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
It didn't take a lot of sense to figure out that if someone is going to rob you at knifepoint on the subway, he's problably not going to pay his fare either. Hey, why not arrest the turnstile jumpers and check their pockets. Run a check on them, too.
It also shouldn't have taken a lot of common sense to realize that NYC did not need THREE separate police departments. Rudy forced the merger of them. You used to be able to rob a liquor store and run in the subways. Cops couldn't follow (or, if they could, they didn't) because of jurisdiction issues.
Common sense more than anything.
Run Rudy Run! I like the part where George says, our frontrunner candidate is doing better than expected and the Dem's frontrunners are stumbling. I love it.
Not even an issue? Rudy, who loudly praised the AW ban and Brady Bill, for helping him disagrees. It seems hat you believe Rudy can do no wrong and any rationalization will do to selll your shining knight on the white horse to conservatives. I remember tangling with a pro-Mitt poster who had as similar unquestioning down-the-line loyalty to his candidate and endless ratioanlizations up his sleave.
Hey, I reallly like Ron Paul (and will vote for him).....but I don't think he is a god who can do no wrong.
LOL! Bump.
i think that perhaps in this race we have to be a relativist about who we support. I don't think any leading candidate is a perfect representative of conservative principles.
So when you say that you "can't vote for him" because of certain stands, I think it's instructive to compare them to the stands others have. For example, I think we can all agree that Rudy is a preferable candidate to John McCain, since John is an even less satisfactory supporter of conservative principles.
People seem to be saying pretty much the same stuff about Rommey they do about Rudy, except that he's less well known and doesn't have Rudy's impressive track record in NYC.
Most of the issues I hear intense feelings about are issues that I don't think any Presidential candidate is going to affect significantly. Realistically, I don't see abortion law changing, and I don't see gun control changing. Because of this, in all honesty, I think people are wasting their time even asking candidates about their beliefs on these issues.
So really, the issues boil down to the war, where we know Rudy will excel, tax cuts and economic freedom, where we know he will excel, and immigration, where we know he will probably forge a compromise of some kind.
My conclusion is that Rudy's an excellent candidate, probably the best we have, as long as opposition to illegal immigration is not your sole issue.
But if illegal immigration is your sole issue, I don't know if there is any first-tier candidate that has an acceptable position. Unless you think Tom Tancredo or Duncan Hunter will achieve traction against people who already have national reputations, I think we have to take the candidates as they are, and judge them in comparison to each other.
In short, I'd like to see the conversation here changed from who we OPPOSE to the more positive and sensible who can we SUPPORT. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
D
Go Rudy!!!!!!!!!!
He is the only Republican that can win.
If Rino Rudy is th only one we have that can win, he isn't. Then we should lose. And he will. He is an unelcetable liberal who will split the party.
Less likely relative to What? ...........Hilderbeast?
Illegal immigration? That's not my issue. Rudy's main failing in my book is his continuing support for federal, state, and local gun control laws.
Muslims will be exploding bombs in Boise, but we will all thank God that Patriot Preacher's principals remained pure through each explosion.
How about relative to the candidates running in the primary that takes place a year from now.
"most sane people are to the right of Hillary Clinton" correction anyone who isn't a Trotskyite is to the right of Hillary Clinton.
Will's just looking for some good company.
ROTF!
1 through 4 says he can't possibly win the election.
Didn't he say NYC was a special situation and he did not want to impose NYC standards on the country?
I believe him, because involvement in gun control is one thing politicians are not rewarded for on a national level - they get killed by both sides.
So why would this impact your vote, when you know he won't get involved?
D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.