Why I - a Staunch Pro-Lifer - Am Voting for Guiliani

American Thinker ^ | 2/21/07 | Kyle-Anne Shiver

[areafiftyone]

In most of the Presidential elections since 1973, I have been what the pollsters refer to as a "single-issue" voter, being ever stalwart in my support for vigorous pro-life candidates.  But this primary, I'm voting for Guiliani, despite his pro-choice stance.  Here's why.

First of all, contrary to a great deal of hysterical feminist rhetoric, the President of the United States can really only do three things to advance the pro-life cause as long as Roe stands.  One, he can appoint strict constructionist judges who interpret the Constitution as written, as opposed to the hocus-pocus, magical finding of things that are not there in reality.  Guiliani has demonstrated to my satisfaction that he intends to do exactly that. 

Secondly, a President can avoid vetoing any pro-life legislation - such as the ban on Partial-Birth Abortion - that happens to find its way to his desk.  I would like to see Republicans urge Mr. Guiliani to make this a formal commitment. 

Lastly, he can veto any anti-life funding bills.  In reality, those are the only areas where the President has influence in the pro-life arena.  I could argue all day and all night with Mr. Guiliani over the "rightness" of any woman's choice to kill her offspring in the womb, and it still would not change the current Law of the Land one iota.  Despite NARAL propaganda, the President of the United States does not wield lawful control over any American woman's body or what she does with it.

Unfortunately, in 2008, we Americans do not have the luxury of focusing our votes towards any domestic agenda.  That we have some very large, ever-looming domestic problems - health care crisis, out-of-control entitlement programs, an irresponsible deficit, to name a few - goes without belaboring.  But to give any of those center stage right now is, in my view, pure folly.  Whether we like it or not, we are in a war, a war we neither asked for, nor started.  And, no matter what happens in the short run in Iraq, we are going to be at war for a long time. 

The last thing we need in the White House is an equivocating, sloganeering, poll-obsessed politician worried about his/her image.  This time around - when we are fighting for our very way of life - we do not need a President who cares more about his coiffure than his message.  The time for smooth-talking, carefully-stepping, popularity-wooing candidates bit the dust on 9/11/2001.  And, in my opinion, the one person we have in America right now who fits the bill is Rudy Guiliani. 

Believe me, I have had to overcome an awful lot of lifelong notions to get to this point.  I'm from Atlanta, Georgia and have always been more than a little suspect of any New Yorker.  I still remember when everyone I knew who ventured to the Big Apple came back with some horror story that included a mugging, public restrooms too filthy for humans, prostitutes everywhere, and drug dealers hustling on street corners.  I kept up with the news that supposedly the hard-nosed, Republican, Yankee Mayor had cleaned up the city, but put little stock in it. 

This past summer, however, I summoned enough courage and took my 20-year-old daughter there for a week's visit.  The streets were clean, the people were nice, and I never even heard a gunshot or saw a mugger.  Anyone who could pull that off - fighting the New York Times and the ACLU at every turn - won't be hoodwinked by CAIR over here or that little madman who claims to be President in Iran.

Would any us even be looking at Guiliani if it were not for 9/ll?  I doubt it.  But a crisis of that magnitude does highlight the leadership skills - or lack thereof - of the person in charge.  I'm not sure I've ever been more proud of any politician than I was of Guiliani when he said, "No, thanks," to the millions offered by that Saudi prince.  And, before that, Guiliani expelled that gangster, Arafat, from New York's Lincoln Center.  I think he will do just fine with the world's hoodlums, and I don't think we'll need to be constantly worried whose interests will come first in his mind.

I got into a bit of a verbal tussle with a Brit this past summer - in New York, of course.  He was demanding to know why W didn't pay more heed to the European interests before starting a bloody war that involved the whole bloody world.  At first, I could barely believe my ears, but then I simply reminded him that we, the citizens of the United States, pay our President to worry about us first - and everyone else after that.  He bolted back that, well, Clinton had cared about them!  I just said that perhaps that was one good reason why his party was out and the ones who put America first - and foremost - are IN.  I don't figure that the Europeans will like Guiliani any better than they like W, but I don't care - do you?              

The bottom line is that when our national security is threatened the way it is now, we simply do not have the luxury of considering every aspect of a candidate's domestic positions.  Because if we are not safe, then nothing else really matters. 

[ecurbh]

Yesterday Maggie Gallagher, now this. Thanks for posting it!

JoinRudy2008.com | Rudy Giuliani for America

[Spiff]

Rudy Giuliani Supports Partial Birth Abortion...Republicans Don't.

[GEORGE] WILL: Is your support of partial birth abortion firm?
Mayor GIULIANI: All of my positions are firm. I have strong viewpoints. I express them. And I--I do not think that it makes sense to be changing your position....
ABC News February 6, 2000

---

TUCHMAN: Giuliani was then asked whether he supports a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions, something Bush strongly supports.
GIULIANI: No, I have not supported that, and I don't see my position on that changing.
- CNN December 2, 1999

---

BLITZER: If you were in the Senate and [President Clinton] vetoed, once again, the [ban on the] so-called partial-birth abortion procedure, you would vote against sustaining that against the -- in favor of the veto in other words, you would support the president on that.
GIULIANI: Yes. I said then that I support him, so I have no reason to change my mind about it.
BLITZER: All right. So the bottom line is that on a lot of these very sensitive issues whether on guns, abortion, patients' bill of rights, taxes, you are more in line with the president and by association, with Mrs. Clinton, than you are against them.
- CNN February 6, 2000

---

MR. RUSSERT: A banning of late-term abortions, so-called partial-birth abortions--you're against that?

MAYOR GIULIANI: I'm against it in New York, because in New York...

MR. RUSSERT: Well, if you were a senator, would you vote with the president or against the president? [Note: President Clinton was in office in 2000]

MAYOR GIULIANI: I would vote to preserve the option for women. I think that choice is a very difficult one. It's a very, very--it's one in which people of conscious have very, very different opinions. I think the better thing for America to do is to leave that choice to the woman, because it affects her probably more than anyone else....

MR. RUSSERT: So you won't change your view on late-term abortion in order to get the Conservative Party endorsement?

MAYOR GIULIANI: It isn't just that. We shouldn't limit this to one issue. I'm generally not going to change my views
- NBC Meet the Press, February 6, 2000

---

***Note: the version of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban that Giuliani opposed in 2000, that he said he supported Bill Clinton in vetoing the Republican-controlled Congress's legislation, contained the exception for the life of the mother that Rudy is now trying to pretend is a prerequisite for his support of it.

[dirtboy]

Unfortunately, in 2008, we Americans do not have the luxury of focusing our votes towards any domestic agenda.

That is pure nonsense. Unless you can agree to have the Dems refuse to pass any domestic legislation from 2009 to 2013, we need a conservative veto in the Oval Office, and not someone who has pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-amnesty, pro-CFR, pro-gay and pro-global warming inclinations. That's the difference between the Fairness Doctrine passing and not passing, for example. Or a repeal of the PBA ban passing or not passing. Or the latest gun control nonsense from Mary McCarthy passing or not passing - and Rudy has stood with her before.

[HitmanLV]

I'm sorry, that's my mistake. So specifically, what does that have to do with the appointment of appellate judges issue? He has never appointed any, and what does it have to do with his other selections? Is it important that a constitutional originalist be put in charge of fixing nyc's public schools? The department of sanitation?

What specifically are you trying to get insight into here?

[William Terrell]

They are starting to realize the WOT trumps social issues.

While preserving our country is important, it can't be the only important thing. It's equally important what kind of country we're preserving.

Stalin fought to preserve his country. Likewise, every despot in history fought to preserve their countries. There is a point beyond which a country should not be preserved, and that point is defined by the condition of the morality and integrity of its people and its government.

Would you fight to preserve a police state, for instance? Or one whose excesses rival that of Sodom?

We best be as careful of our leaders as we are our security, or the first will cost us the second.

[VRWCmember]

So specifically, what does that have to do with the appointment of appellate judges issue?

As a general principle, you can look at the kind of people he has rewarded with appointments in the past as an indication of the kind of appointments he will make in the future. If he has appointed judges or superintendents or whatever in the past that operate from a leftist mode, then one might expect that he will do the same in the future.

That said, while I will probably hold my nose and vote for whomever the GOP nominates over hillary or obama in the general election, I will do everything I can to see that we select a genuine conservative that at least nominally supports most of the GOP platform in the primary.

[TommyDale]

"Sell Out - a conservative who does not agree with me?"

No. Sell Out = One who totally abandons his/her consience and the basic fundamentals of conservatism in order to win an election.

[HitmanLV]

If he has appointed judges or superintendents or whatever in the past that operate from a leftist mode, then one might expect that he will do the same in the future.

That's fair, but keep it within reason. NYC is a very liberal place (I know, I lived there for over 3 decades). Most of the talent pool is fairly liberal. Many of the positions just aren't all that political. The most probative thing in this case is to see if Rudy nominated good people for their roles, not so much their personal politics.

[ex-snook]

Nah. Guiliani is more interested in saving the world than in saving American babies. Wrong priorities.

Author's justification is just alarmist. We don't have to fear a bunch of Arabs together without a world force anything. They need to blow themselves up, improvise car bombs or steal planes to threaten us. Plus there is India and China in their backyard and they don't seem to fear an Arab takeover of the world. Rudy get a life and save some.

[VRWCmember]

The most probative thing in this case is to see if Rudy nominated good people for their roles, not so much their personal politics.

Fair enough as well. But given his track record, it will take more than just a statement by Rudy that he would nominate judges like Roberts and Alito to convince me that he is truly committed to nominate and then fight for strict constructionists.

[PhiKapMom]

You and me both on Tancredo! :) I have taken a vow to myself to stay positive about Rudy and ignore the other candidates and the negative posters. You are not going to change minds of people that have it already in their minds that Rudy is this boogeyman waiting around the corner to pounce on them. Facts don't matter to people like that so it is best to ignore and stay positive for Rudy!

You all need to keep me in line if I start to go after another candidate! Keeping reminding me to stay positive for Rudy because Rudy himself is such a positive person and influence!

JoinRudy2008.com

[dirtboy]

I have taken a vow to myself to stay positive about Rudy and ignore the other candidates and the negative posters. You are not going to change minds of people that have it already in their minds that Rudy is this boogeyman waiting around the corner to pounce on them. Facts don't matter to people like that so it is best to ignore and stay positive for Rudy!

So on one hand you say you are going to ignore them, and on the other and turn around and insult them.

You are just as responsible for the tone of these threads as anyone else, and don't delude yourself otherwise.

[M. Thatcher]

We don't have to fear a bunch of Arabs

Wow, that's a relief.

[M. Thatcher]

You are not going to change minds of people that have it already in their minds that Rudy is this boogeyman

Totally agree. Some anti-Rudy posters here enjoy scaring each other with ever-more-melodramatic paranoid caricatures of Giuliani - to the point of literally demonizing him. Fortunately, the real Giuliani is nothing like their fiction.

[nutmeg]

BTTT

[PhiKapMom]

Exactly and why it is not worth the time to engage in discussion with some of these Freepers. Not taking any bait to get in a long discussion that leads nowhere!

JoinRudy2008

[Condor51]

American Thinker

Rudolph Giuliani?
By Selwyn Duke, Feb, 21, 2007

Rudolph Giuliani for president? Please. There's more chance I'll simultaneously be made head of NOW and the NAACP and be invited to George Soros' next soiree.

I know a little something about Giuliani. Although my politics, faith, appearance, gun case and, well, most everything about me say otherwise, I was raised in New York City.

I'm not herein trying to sound the alarm. Rather, I simply point out that Giuliani is a ship that only floats in New York Harbor. He is far too liberal to get the Republican nomination.

I've never witnessed a more laughable game of collective "Let's pretend" than the media's Giuliani coverage. Even Dick Morris, the erstwhile Clinton propaganda minister who fancies himself the Niccolo Machiavelli of the third millennium, has called Giuliani the man to beat.

He's more like the man who will be beaten - and by more than one candidate, mind you.

~~~ snip ~~~ What I find truly amazing is that this reality escapes Giuliani. What is this man thinking? Does he fancy that the average Republican voter is a Times Echo? Talk about believing your own press clippings.

It's also possible some in the Media wish to secure a Hillary versus Rudy match-up, thereby ensuring that a liberal will take the oath of office in 2009. Then there's the fact that press lunkheads live such an insular existence, surrounded by so many fellow travelers, that they start to view themselves as the true center. They then come to believe they represent a fair cross-section of America.

Anyway, I don't know what Giuliani's presidential "exploratory committee" told him a while back, but I could have provided the truth at a tenth the cost. Mr. Mayor, you'd stand a better chance running as an independent; then you might at least be able to make a respectable showing. But, really, you'd be best off devoting your resources to any PGA Tour ambitions your son may be nursing. You miss left far too much to be a contender.

---

Rudy's chances are 'slim' and 'none' -- and 'slim' left town.

[Condor51]

One nation under Giuliani
(Uh... I Don't Think So)

1. Disdain for the Constitution
   Mayor Giuliani routinely disregarded the First Amendment as he rejected requests for information from news organizations and civic groups and opposed public access to city hall steps and parks for demonstrations. "Freedom is about authority," Giuliani said, responding to critics in 1998. "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it."

2. Subverting Democracy to Suit His Needs
   Just two weeks after the Twin Towers fell, Giuliani attempted to become the first official in American history to use an emergency to extend his elected term. Most Americans forget that Giuliani spent a week bullying the mayoral candidates to allow him three extra months in office after his term ended in December 2001. The power grab fell through when the leader of the state assembly refused to change electoral law to suit Giuliani's demands.

3. Withholding Public Information
   In a legally questionable transaction on December 24, 2001, just days before the end of the mayor's second term, Giuliani secretly moved all 2,100 boxes of mayoral files and videos from his eight years in office. The records, which by law were to become the property of the Municipal archives, were transferred to a gated private storage facility, and their control was transferred to the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs, a newly-established private nonprofit group controlled by Giuliani.

   Angry archivists and historians denounced the unprecedented hijacking of public property to private hands. Tom Connors, of the Society of American Archivists, said the transfer seemed part of a movement to "create barriers to the American citizen's right to know what their governments are doing."

4. Profiting From His Hero Status
   In February, 2002, Giuliani insisted upon transferring guardianship of the $100 million remaining in the city-run Twin Towers Fund to a private charity he controlled.

   The families of the police and fire rescuers who died in the attack balked at Giuliani's plan to take up to a year to dole out the money, with his new organization billing $2.2 million in anticipated administrative expenses (including six-figure salaries for friends he appointed as officers). The families argued that the fire union had far more quickly distributed $111 million with an estimated administrative cost of just $30,000.

   Under embarrassing pressure from the victims' families, unions and state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, Giuliani backed down. He promised to distribute the money within 60 days and fund his overhead from new donations. The families of the deceased rescuers, the real heroes of the September 11 attacks, received a one-time benefit of about $230,000 each from the Giuliani-privatized fund in 2002.

   That year, the former mayor earned some $8 million in speaking fees alone, more than $650,000 per month.

This ^%$&* wants to be Dictator.
Unfortunately for HIM, this isn't 1933 Germany - which IIRC was the last democracy that elected someone for 'security over all'.

Ref: http://www.alternet.org/election04/19673/

[areafiftyone]

- Rudy tossed Arafat out of a city sponsored celebrations saying, "I would rather not have someone who has been implicated in the murders of Americans there, if I have the discretion not to have him there”.
Frontpage Magazine

- Rudy did the same to Fidel Castro at a Dinner.
Answers.com Personalities – Rudy Giuliani

- When a Saudi prince donated millions to 9/11 relief efforts and later suggested that United States policy in the Middle East may have been partially responsible for the attacks, Rudy returned the money.
CNN

- Rudy refused to meet with racial arsonist Al Sharpton.
Right Nation

- Rudy as mayor was strong on law and order. Rudy said that "government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering". And Rudy backed this all up by going after both quality-of-life crimes and serious crimes. Total crime went down by some 64 percent during the Giuliani years, and murder went down 67 percent. Auto thefts went down on average about 80,000 per year.
Bureau of Justice Statistics – U.S. Department of Justice

- Rudy supported the police when the police had to enter and deal with Muslims at a mosque.
Village Voice

- Rudy closed down many porn shops across the city and specifically shutdown porn shops in residential neighborhoods.
Reference.com – Rudy Giuliani
Bureau of Justice Statistics – U.S. Department of Justice

- Rudy went after both low level and high level drug dealers for the first time in the cities history.
City Journal
Bureau of Justice Statistics – U.S. Department of Justice

- Rudy had zero tolerance for quality of life crimes such as squeegee extortionists, graffiti vandals, panhandling and public urination.
City Journal
Samoa

- Rudy launched a welfare revolution, removing illegal recipients, cutting the rolls by 20% the first year alone and dropping the welfare rolls by 600,000 over the course of his plan.
NY POST
Mayor Giuliani Delivers Eighth And Final “State Of The City” Address

- Rudy launched a work requirement program for the remaining welfare recipients. the NY Times called it slavery.
Mayor Giuliani Delivers Eighth And Final “State Of The City” Address
NY Times

- Rudy constantly spoke out against illegitimacy and fatherless families. One of many things that Rudy said on the subject was the following: " If you wanted a social program that would really save these kids, . I guess the social program would be called fatherhood.
" Rudy Giuliani “State of the City” Address
Mayor Giuliani Delivers Eighth And Final “State Of The City” Address

- Rudy objected to affirmative action. Rudy ended the cities set-aside program for minority contractors.
CA Political News

- Rudy rejected the idea of lowering the job requirement standards for minorities and woman. - Rudy said. "it was unfair to expect middle-class kids to work their way through college by holding down jobs and going to classes while exempting students on welfare from working.
" CA Political News

- Rudy reformed the public school system and forced out liberal chancellors who wouldn't install his reforms.
A Plan to Reform our Public Schools-and the Commitment to Go Further

- Rudy tried to privatize 5 of the cities worst public schools.
Heartland
A Plan to Reform our Public Schools-and the Commitment to Go Further

- Rudy was for school vouchers Rudy said, "The whole notion of choice is really about more freedom for people, rather than being subjugated by a government system that says you have no choice about the education of your child,".
A Plan to Reform our Public Schools-and the Commitment to Go Further

- Rudy fought against public money for an art display that defiled Christ and he fought against other obscene so-called works of art.
Daily Nebraskan

- Rudy played hardball with city unions winning concessions from city workers that other mayors had failed to do.
NY Times
Union Politicking in the N.Y.C. Elections

- Rudy strong armed state leaders to merge the cities Housing Police and Transit Police into the NYPD saving the city hundreds of millions. Rudy did this by threatening to fire every housing and transit officer and rehire each as a city cop if legislative leaders did not go along.
NY Times

- Rudy did the same with the city’s garbageman, many of whom worked only half days because the department was so overstaffed with union jobs. Rudy won $300 million in savings from them by threatening to contract out trash collection to private companies.
City Journal

- Rudy cut or killed 23 levies and taxes, saving taxpayers $9.8 billion during his terms.
Manhattan Institute
GoVote.com

- Rudy cut NYC's top income-tax rate by 20.6%.
A Budget for a Strong and Stable Economic Future
GoVote.com

- Local NYC taxes on a family of four dropped 23.7% during Rudy's term.
Manhattan Institute
GoVote.com

- Rudy cut the commercial-rent tax.
Columbia.edu

- Rudy cut sales taxes, including taxes on clothing.
A Budget for a Strong and Stable Economic Future
GoVote.com

- Rudy cut the marriage penalty on taxpaying couples.
GoVote.com

- Rudy cut taxes on commercial rents everywhere outside of Manhattan’s major business districts, and various taxes on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers.
Mayor Giuliani Delivers Eighth And Final “State Of The City” Address

- Rudy's expenditure growth averaged 2.9% annually, while local inflation between January 1994 and December 2001 averaged 3.6%.
Urban Futures

- Rudy privatized municipal assets.
Reason Public Policy Institute

- Rudy sold WNYC radio for $20 million, WNYC-TV for $207 million, and NYC's share of the U.N. Plaza Hotel for $85 million.
Scripps Howard News Service

- Rudy divested the City from the New York Coliseum adding $345 million to city coffers.
Second Inaugural Address by Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani

- Rudy let the private Central Park Conservancy manage Central Park.
ABC News

- Rudy cut NYC's hotel tax from 6% to 5%. Consequently, hotel tax revenues increased from $135 million in Fiscal Year 1995 to $239 million in FY 2001.
The Entrepreneurial City Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani The Manhattan Institute

- When asked if Rudy would raise taxes after 9/11 Rudy said that would be "a dumb, stupid, idiotic, and moronic thing to do.
" American Spectator

- A quote from Rudy on his economic philosophy: “City government should not and cannot create jobs through government planning. The best it can do, and what it has a responsibility to do, is to deal with its own finances first, to create a solid budgetary foundation that allows businesses to move the economy forward on the strength of their energy and ideas. After all, businesses are and have always been the backbone of New York City.
” City Journal

- Construction permits increased by more than 50% in the city per year during Rudy's terms.
Mayor Giuliani Delivers Eighth And Final “State Of The City” Address

- Tourism increased 50% in the city per year during Rudy's terms.
NYC.GOV

- City jobs increased by 430,000 to an all time high of 3.72 million during Rudy's terms.
City Journal

- City personal income increased 50% during Rudy's terms.
CapitalCA News

- The percentage income that city residence paid in taxes declined from 8.8 to 7.3 percent during Rudy's terms.
City Journal

- Unemployment in the city went form 10.3% to 5.1% during Rudy's terms.
The Claremont Institute

- Rudy was an outstanding leader during the 9/11 crisis.
Time Magazine

- Rudy has been a strong supporting in our WOT including supporting the mission in Iraq.
Counsel on Foreign Relations

- Rudy was chosen by Ronald Reagan in 1981 as an Associate Attorney General placing him in the third highest position in the Reagan's DOJ.
Wikipedia

- In 1983, Rudy was appointed by Reagan to be U.S. Attorney for the SD of NY. In that position, Rudy amassed 4,152 convictions including the heads of NY's so-called "Five Families". Rudy also prosecuted terrorists and illegal immigrants.
Wikipedia

[Condor51]

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave
By Heather MacDonald, City Journal, January 14, 2004
(FrontPageMag.com)

~~~snip~~~

Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to “terrorize people.” Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.

New York conveniently forgot the 1996 federal ban on sanctuary laws until a gang of five Mexicans—four of them illegal—abducted and brutally raped a 42-year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens. The NYPD had already arrested three of the illegal aliens numerous times for such crimes as assault, attempted robbery, criminal trespass, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses. The department had never notified the INS.

Rudy also evaded the draft during Vietnam. So much for his 'leadership'.

And another link:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html