Giuliani's Convictions Could Win Over Republicans

DMN/ vis Real Clear Politics ^ | July 7, 2006 | Mark Davis

[chiller]

Twenty-eight months to go, and I can't wait.

( edit )

Since Condi insists she isn't interested - and for the moment I believe her - speculation ranges from base-pleasing Republicans like Sens. Bill Frist, Sam Brownback and my current favorite, George Allen, to the intriguing prospects of envelope-pushers like John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

And these two intriguing figures constitute my point of the day. There are two things I have stopped saying: first, Mr. McCain can't win, and second, Rudy won't run.

I still don't believe Mr. McCain will be the '08 nominee, but his loyal support for the war has healed some distaste that the GOP base has had for him since he challenged Mr. Bush six years ago. His disconnect with many Republicans on overhauling campaign finance is still an anvil around his prospects, but I can no longer write him off.

As for Mr. Giuliani, I used to say that he won't run and couldn't win if he did. The gay-friendly, abortion-rights-supporting ex-New York mayor whose legacy includes an embrace of gun control? It would seem highly unlikely.

Unless you were in a room with me at the Hotel Crescent Court last month as the Dallas County Republican Party welcomed Mr. Giuliani to a fundraiser also heralding local congressional candidates.

I served as master of ceremonies, and there was a thoroughly polite welcome for the GOP primary survivors who will try to unseat Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Chet Edwards.

But it was Mr. Giuliani who put a room of Reagan-loving red-staters into a positive swoon.

He did it with steadfast support for the Bush war doctrine, coupled with a passion for tight borders that even the still-admired incumbent cannot muster. He did it with strong fiscal conservatism, another Bush weakness. And he did it with a passionate pitch for school choice, an issue Republicans have neglected - mysteriously, since scads of Republicans and Democrats want it.

His content was great. His style was even better. His sharp wit and off-the-cuff comfort are miles beyond the average glazed, scripted politician. He sports a good-natured partisan streak that puts him a head above Mr. McCain, who seems to gag on any sentence suggesting that a Democrat might be wrong.

This is not my prediction that Mr. Giuliani's hand will rest on a Bible at the swearing-in on Jan. 20, 2009. But the Bible-embracing core of the GOP shows a willingness to consider him as he includes evangelical groups in his curious tour of various Republican constituencies.

He will not launch a national gun grab, leaving gun statutes to the cities. He will not push for nationwide gay marriage, happy to leave those decisions to the states, where the Constitution says they belong. He will not pound the bully pulpit for affirmative action, leaving that to the courts.

And speaking of the courts, he speaks glowingly of Mr. Bush's Supreme Court selections, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, suggesting he does not necessarily dream of packing the court with sure-fire abortion-rights opponents.

Throw in the tasty imagery of the Mayor of America wiping the debate stage floor with Mrs. Clinton or virtually anyone else, and it's the kind of thing to make a Republican heart quicken.

I don't know yet whether I can be a Rudy voter, but I'd enjoy watching him try to make me one.

Mark Davis is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. The Mark Davis Show is heard weekdays nationwide on the ABC Radio Network. His e-mail address is mdavis@wbap.com.

[FastCoyote]

"I have yet to see anyone present a more conservative candidate, that wants to run, that is electable, than George Allen.

Allen is electable and has no issues that will make the base barf."

Yup. Nice family to take pictures with. No hint of insanity. Even the grey positions seem more because of political reality than a problem.

[Jameison]

"New York City is more similar to a Third World sh!t-hole than a bastion of capitalism"

Groan.
Try not to burst a gut , will you?
Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

"You either have a lot of money in this town, or you don't have any"

Most New Yorkers, neither have too much money, nor too little money. It's just about right.
Plus, pay checks in New York are some of the highest in the country (and on the planet (of course rents are high too, but food and transportation are cheap.



" But you'll never starve no matter how poor you are, because this city has social services and taxpayer-funded financial support for every misfit and dysfunctional creature who washes up in the harbor. "

Now you are beginning to sound like Hitler, only thing is, you don't have anywhere near the power he had, which is not a bad thing.

[Jameison]

"The fact that you didn't address any of my specific points is pretty telling. "

Post # 222.

" I can assure you that there's nothing about New York City that would motivate me to pretend I live here"

So why do it?



" I'd just as soon pretend to be a child molester."

You may be one for all I know.

[trickyricky]

That's like saying, without the Catholic vote for JFK, Nixon would have beaten JFK.

That's not what I'm saying at all.
Bush won because conservatives came out en masse to support him.
The Republican candidate will lose in 2008 without that same support.
Bush won the second go round because of the war.
If he had to run right now, he couldn't get elected dog-catcher.
If the GOP runs a moderate globalist again, the democrats win the WH.
That's what I was trying to get across. Sorry you didn't get it.

[Alberta's Child]

New York is the only place I've ever been where a person with no title to a piece of property actually has more rights under the law than the person who owns the property where the tenant resides or does business. If that ain't Marxism, I don't know what is.

Most people in this country have never heard of things like rent stabilization guidelines, a rent guidelines board, etc.

[Coldwater Creek]

Ask the people of Virginia how they liked Allen as their governor. He did a great job.

[Jameison]

"The "capitalistic fervor of New York's peoples" is a function of the city's chaotic environment and unwillingness to admit that a huge number of these immigrants have no business being here in the U.S. "

New York City probably has more legal immigrants than anywhere else in the country, from anywhere from the Czech Republic, to Germany to Russia to Hong Kong to India, and they have brought with them new dynamism, fresh ideas, and skills that have helped keep our economy humming.
As far as I am concerned, every legal immigrant, even those thin models we keep importing from the Czech Republic, have a business being here.
They help keep out fashion understory going, making it one of the best on the planet.

[Preachin']

"Rudy is a non starter. Too NY for the USA.
McCain is Hitlary lite."


In a nutshell... that's it.

[Jameison]

"New York is the only place I've ever been where a person with no title to a piece of property actually has more rights under the law than the person who owns the property where the tenant resides or does business"

You don't know nowt about property law in New York.



"If that ain't Marxism, I don't know what is. "

And you know even less about Marxism.

[bonfire]

I miss Mark Davis. Used to listen to him everyday. He's a "common sense" type of guy.

[Jameison]

"Bush won because conservatives came out en masse to support him."

Bush won for plenty of reasons, one of them being the desire of millions of Americans, to sweep out the corrupt, sleazy Klinton/Gore people from office.
Conservatives were going to vote against Gore, no matter who the Republican candidate was.


"Bush won the second go round because of the war."

The war was one of the biggest campaign weapons used by the RATS against {President Bush.
He was constantly attacked on the war, and the Bush haters were fired up to vote against President Bush more because of the war than anything else.

[trickyricky]

Conservatives were going to vote against Gore,
no matter who the Republican candidate was.

No more replies for you.
I can see from this and your other nonsensical posts that you don't know
your ass from a hole in the ground.

[Ouderkirk]

Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative"...which to me was code for liberal. Bush was not my choice in the 2000 primary, I voted for Alan Keyes. Because I knew Bush's bona fides were suspect I should have voted for that gasbag Gore or the fake soldier Kerry in '04? Of couse not. I voted for Bush in the general election because I had no other alternative. To not vote for him was akin to voting for the gasbag/fake soldier.

There just aren't any solutions here. I'll tolerate the RINO over the democRAT. It doesn't make me happy to vote RINO but at least the RINO keeps my side in the majority. Wheter he votes with me or against me on a perticular issue is less of a concern when what concerns me is the types of legislation being considered.

I point to the recent flap about the minimum wage. The RINO may very well vote to raise it. But if it doesn't come up for a vote (a decision made by the leadership) then I have less to worry about.

Your point is valid insofar as if you had RINO's in the leadership. Then there are serious problems. Bill Frist is a glaring example. Denny Hastert exhibits this too, but to a lesser extent. When Newt Gingrich was running the show the RINO's didn't have much control of anything.

[Jameison]

"No more replies for you."

What a relief!


"I can see from this and your other nonsensical posts that you don't know
your ass from a hole in the ground"


I could tell you what I am thinking about that right now, but then I'd have to be banned.
I'll hold my peace ...for now anyways.

[BlackbirdSST]

In fact, he would be easily elected if we don't worry about his liberal tendencies.

Geez, by that reasoning, so could ALGORE, skerry, or hitlery. Am I missing your point? Rudy the RINO OTOH, can KMA! Hell, extend that to the entire RINO Stampede. Blackbird.

[Alberta's Child]

It's so nice of you to point out how important all of those legal immigrants are in New York City in a deliberate attempt to obscure the fact that NYC is also home to a huge population of illegal immigrants. Your timing couldn't have been much worse, since NYC's esteemed Marxist mayor Bloomberg was down in Washington just a couple of days ago testifying before Congress about how the city's economy would collapse without all those illegal immigrants.

[AVNevis]

"Early stage abortion is murder just like late term abortion."

I totally agree, but being somewhat pro-life (by only supporting in early stages) would be better than a politician supporting it in all cases, right?

[Jameison]

"It's so nice of you to point out how important all of those legal immigrants are in New York City in a deliberate attempt to obscure "

Naaah.
No obscuring nothing.
You never mentioned legal or illegal in your post that I was replying to.
I merely pointed out that we have plenty of legal immigrants in New York, including highly qualified PhD's in science from Hungary, Russia, Poland etc, as well as models from the Czech Replublicac etc who are bringing in skills that are making great contributions to the city


" Your timing couldn't have been much worse, since NYC's esteemed Marxist mayor Bloomberg was down in ."

Bloomberg, who is one of the greatest capitalists of his generation (having spent most of his life making money on Wall Street, and founding Bloomberg Financial), will be pretty surprised to hear that he is Marxist.
Agian, nothing wrong with my timing. I talked about legal immigarnts, with desireable skills.

[Alberta's Child]

You don't know nowt about property law in New York.

I know enough about it to stay the hell away from New York City real estate.

And you know even less about Marxism.

Fine. Then let's go down the list of all those "capitalistic" features of New York City's economy. In NYC, you've got the following . . .

1. Sales and Use Tax (8.375%)
2. Personal Income Tax (rate varies from 2.907% to 3.648%)
3. Hotel Room Occupancy Tax ($2 per day plus 5% of the room charges)
4. General Corporation Tax (8.85% of net corporate income)
5. Unincorporated Business Tax (4% of corporate income allocated to NYC)
6. Commercial Rent Tax (3.9% of base rent for all commercial tenants in Manhattan south of 96th Street)
7. Cigarette Tax ($1.50 per pack, on top of state and Federal taxes)
8. Beer and Liquor Excise Tax ($0.12 per gallon of beer and $0.264 per liter of liquor, collected by the state for alcohol purchased in NYC)
9. Banking Corporation Tax (9% of net income in NYC for banks and other financial institutions)
10. Commercial Motor Vehicle Tax ($40 to $1000 per vehicle depending on vehicle class, on top of state registration fees)
11. Motor Vehicle Use Tax ($15 tax collected by the state on vehicles registered in NYC)
12. Utility Tax (2.35% to 3.52% for most utilities)
13. E-911 Surcharge for Telecommunications Providers ($0.30 per month for wireless phones, $1.00 per month for land lines)
14. Mortgage Recording Tax (2.05% to 2.80% of mortgage value)
15. Real Property Transfer Tax (1% to 2.65% of the property value)
16. Retail Beer, Wine and Liquor License Tax (25% of the fees imposed by New York State)
17. Taxi License Transfer Tax (5% of the sale price of the taxi license)
18. Horse Race Admissions Tax (3% of admissions price)

Good grief. You can't even take a dump in this town without having some bureaucrat holding his hand out for a tax or fee of some kind.

[jern]

which is worse being a drunk coke head before being president or walking in a gay pride parade?