Posted on 01/20/2004 2:34:08 PM PST by presidio9
Linn County Republicans last night seemed to be looking at political goals for the near and distant future. The near future is re-electing President Bush in November. But then Rep. Jim Leach, introducing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the Linn County Republican caucus, planted the seed that Giuliani would make a good presidential candidate in 2008.
Giuliani responded to the standing ovation by several hundred people at Veterans Memorial Coliseum by saying he was overwhelmed to be there.
"There are more Republicans in this room than in all of New York City," he joked.
If Giuliani has presidential aspirations, he ignored them last night to beat the drum loudly for the Bush-Cheney ticket in November.
Recalling the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City while he was mayor, Giuliani said he told his police commissioner, "Thank God George Bush is the president of the United States. I knew him to be a man of character. I knew him to be a man of determination who was not going to be swayed. He stood up and said he was going to confront terrorism . . . to prevent it from happening again."
Giuliani said Bush's post-9/11 actions shine even more in light of the fact that Bush had only been in office about nine months when the attack happened.
Giuliani said all the Democratic candidates for president wanted to set the clock back before 9/11 and negotiate, including leaving Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq.
"We believe the world is safer now than it was then" because of Bush's handling of the crisis, Giuliani said.
He also praised Bush's economic policies, saying the economy is rebounding because Bush cut taxes and government control over the private sector.
"The Democrats want to raise taxes again and interrupt the recovery -- one of the strongest we've seen in the last 20 years. Does that make any sense?" Giuliani asked.
"Republicans consistently believe in people. The Democrats believe in government. We would be the party to say we would trust people more (than government)," he said.
The last election was close, and Giuliani said Republicans will fight as if this one will also be tight. He asked Iowa Republicans to work hard to ensure the 4,000-vote margin in the last election reverses and favors the GOP this time.
Cris Tanner, 46, of Marion, said Giuliani's comments inspired her to work harder to spread the word about Bush's good record to people who are undecided.
She also liked the idea of having Giuliani run for president in 2008.
"He'd have my vote," she said. "I think he would carry on and pick up where President Bush would leave off."
Joshua McKenzie, 19, a Kirkwood Community College student attending his first caucus, was similarly inspired, particularly by Giuliani's reminders about Bush's handling of terrorism and the economy.
Is your address in Sleepy Hollow, and are you related to Rip Van Winkle? Where have you been for the last couple of decades?
Rudy has never seen a gun control law that he didn't like unless he thought it didn't infringe enough. The pubbies have been winning many elections with the help of many single issue voters because of gun control promoted by rats. Rudy on a national ticket is suicidal. Why do you think Gore lost in Tennessee, Arkansas and West Virginia?
Cause he is a liberal drip?
. If the juniorsenatorfromnewyork steals the election, her government will bankroll the homosexual agenda. She will destroy everything good and right that she lays her hands on, including a lot of our military might, the judiciary, the Bill of Rights ... God forbid we should have to endure her in the White House again.
1. New York hasn't had someone on a successful national ticket since FDR died in 1945. The state has been steadily losing its influence on the national scene since its Congressional delegation began shrinking in the early 1960s.
2. I don't know how many of you have heard him speak, but he actually has a minor speech impediment that will make it difficult for him to present himself well in a debate.
3. Since the Age of Television began in politics with JFK in 1960, the odds of a bald man being elected President have dropped to about zero.
4. Anyone who has dealt with Giuliani will tell you that he's not a very likeable guy. That may be the kind of person you need in a time of crisis, but that's not the kind of guy who is going to win a national election. Ask Howard Dean about that one.
Rudy isn't going to run for the U.S. Senate in 2006, either. He's an executive, not a legislator, and does not have the personality to share the Senate spotlight with 99 of the dopiest people on the planet.
Men with prostate cancer rarely die because of the cancer unless it's diagnosed very late and there is extensive metastasis. AFAIK, Rudy's cancer was caught early.
The pubbies did much to persuade Rudy to go for the Senate, and especially, oppose the spouse of the Bent One. With his marriage difficulties and the cancer, he had an easy excuse to back out of a tough race for a job that he is not tempermentally suited. He already had a loss to Dinkins in a close race in 1989. Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but Rudy has his sights on Albany, IMHO.
Ask Joe Lieberman about how unappealing certain speech patterns are. His pathetic whine rendered his Presidential campaign dead even before he raised a single dollar -- America will never elect a guy to the White House who talks like that.
As I recall, Rudy was having surgery, wasn't he?
To have any sort of a chance, Rudy would have to change his stance on abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun control. And that would look suspicious to a lot of people, I suspect.
IIRC, he was mulling over treatment options and then had some chemotherapy and brachytherapy, i.e. radioactive "seeds" implanted in his prostate, but no surgery other than the biopsy. Sometimes hormone therapy is involved for chemical castration if necessary and sexual relations is not an issue.
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