"Rudy will modify stances on abortion, guns and gay marriage, moving rightward (not far enough for a lot of people here, myself included, but rightward just the same)."
The days of switch-hitting on issues, I think, are over. The New Media makes that very, very difficult. Don't forget the flipflop campaign against Kerry.
I never said switch hitting. I never said flip-flopping. I said modification. I suggested movement. I do not see it as hypocritical, if the shift has happened across a reasonable time. Kerry's problem was that he could embrace diametrically opposite positions on an issue in the same week!
I personally think that politicians who undergo honest change, and can articulate it (whether they have moved to a position I like or not) are worth a look at, if only on the honesty level. It is absurd to say no politician can ever change his position on an issue. Why--can't I have been brainwashed into thinking Roe v. Wade was great law at 19, but now that I'm in my 50s, I think it's an abomination, on many, many levels?
That transformation took growth, over time, both intellectual and moral.
And another thing (continuing with the abortion issue): If we have lobbied and prayed for change for so long...and a former "pro-choice" politician decides, after time and consideration, that he is now pro-life, do we reject him for being a hypocrite? Or do we welcome him and thank God?