Posted on 08/21/2006 6:16:02 AM PDT by areafiftyone
The S.C. Republican Party’s sponsorship of “An Evening Honoring Rudy Giuliani” last week spoke volumes.
It reflected what some said is a shift in attitude toward GOP candidates with more liberal views on social issues.
There’s a greater degree of tolerance and acceptance, party officials said.
Giuliani, who rose to national prominence for his take-charge performance after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, supports gay rights, gun control and legalized abortion, which puts him at odds with most Republicans.
Nevertheless, he has traveled the country extensively on behalf of GOP candidates this year while acknowledging his own interest in a possible 2008 presidential bid.
Although his liberal stance on social issues is likely to disqualify him with religious conservatives, the former New York City mayor remains in great demand as a speaker before Republican groups.
In this visit — his first major political trip to South Carolina — Giuliani attended a fundraiser for conservative GOP congressional candidate Ralph Norman, the one-term state representative who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a 24-year House veteran in a hotly contested race in the 5th District.
Giuliani ended the day in Charleston at a star-studded $2,500-a-couple fundraiser for the state Republican Party.
He packed the place.
“Rudy is a very popular figure,” GOP chairman Katon Dawson said. “We didn’t have any problem with him coming.”
Giuliani, affectionately known as “America’s mayor,” is seen as middle-of-the-road by most voters nationally, according to Rasmussen Reports, an electronic survey company.
It found 36 percent of Americans see him as a political moderate, 29 percent said conservative, and 15 percent said liberal. Twenty percent are not sure.
Former state GOP chairman Barry Wynn said the party needs to take a fresh look at the way it regards new voters, especially those new residents who’ve settled along the coast and are starting to have an impact on state party politics.
Those voters tend to be more progressive in outlook and are more inclined to support someone like Giuliani.
“I think Rudy could be more popular in South Carolina than most people would think,” Wynn said.
The debate in 2008 isn’t going to be about tax cuts, abortion or Social Security reform — Republican favorites.
“The overarching issues this time will be national security and leadership,” Wynn said. “Everything else will fit under that.”
Such a scenario favors Giuliani, Greenville consultant Chip Felkel said.
Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen, a GOP activist, said Giuliani is in a “special category.”
He’s a “glittering personality” with star quality who can get away with supporting legalized abortion and gay rights.
His position on those social issues “would not hurt him as bad over the long haul as one may think. If John McCain had the same position, it would hurt him a lot worse.”
Needless to say, the hard-core religious right won’t surrender territory on social issues. They’d rather go down in flames than win.
But unless terrorists no longer are a threat to the United States, national security and leadership will be at the top of the issues heap in 2008.
Voters won’t be concerned about gay rights or abortion. What matters most will be their own security in a volatile world.
And the candidate who stands to benefit is Giuliani.
“If your house is on fire,” Wynn said, “you want a guy with the hose.”
I won't miss an election. Just 'cause I won't vote the immoral, socialist or insane, doesn't mean I'll skip the rest of the election - I'll just skip the presidential line of the ballot.
Not when the truth machine has finished him off. The conservative wing of the GOP is not fond of people who accept contributions from known criminals and immoral characters, nor associate themselves with the same. (Bernie Kerik, for example.)
"f RG is running in 08 he will NOT be supported by the Gays."
Not from a lack of trying. I guess Republican drag won't be as successful as Marylin Monroe or cabaret drag?
Dear justshutupandtakeit,
"Senator Allen has, unfortunately, once again shown his inability to handle the Treason Media's stunts. He is not ready for the Big Time yet. Maybe as VP."
Maybe. Or maybe that judgment is a little quick on the draw.
It amuses me how quickly some folks want to eliminate all the actual moderate conservatives from the field to clear the way for the most liberal candidate in the field.
Kinda like others who are so eager to toss out social conservatives from the party altogether.
sitetest
This is no time to trade a conservative, constitutionalist-minded president for an old Rockefeller liberal.
We'll get more John Paul Stevenses appointed to Scotus, and then it'll be a liberal Court again.
They'll have to shoot me to keep me from hurrying to vote against Giuliani in a primary, and from getting all my conservative, pro-American, religious friends from doing the same.
We've finally got a chance to add another conservative justice to Scotus and give us a lasting conservative majority. Stevens or Ginsburg, one or both, are going to soon be gone. We want a true conservative as president to make those appointments: Allen, Frist, Gingrich, ....
Social conservatives are not stupid enough to allow Hillary to win.
Rudy did a nice job cleaning up NYC and demonstrating calm leadership during a massive crisis, but he's never made an actual decision or cast a vote on any critical national security issue.
There are two former mayors of NYC who hold nearly identical positions on social and national security issues, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani. Koch may be the more conservative of the two, should I start pushing him for the nomination?
Dear justshutupandtakeit,
"Social conservatives are not stupid enough to allow Hillary to win."
We're not unprincipled enough to vote for Mr. Giuliani.
Those who nominate Mr. Giuliani will be responsible for the election of a Democrat in 2008, not the social conservatives who refuse to vote for a liberal.
By the way, I don't think Mrs. Clinton is the most likely candidate, nor the most difficult to defeat.
sitetest
There is no "shoving" involved. People will freely make their choices in the primary. Or do you really believe Republicans allow their minds to be made up for them by the Hidden Powers?
Were you among those complaining in 2000 that Bush was being "annointed" by the Country Club Republicans? I'll bet you were.
FBI Tracked Alleged Russian Mob Ties of Giuliani Campaign Supporter
By Knut Royce, The Center for Public Integrity
WASHINGTON, December 14, 1999 — The Center for Public Integrity is investigating how billions of dollars of allegedly corrupted money from the former Soviet Union have found a haven in the United States, despite strict anti-laundering laws. Last month, the Center reported how a small San Francisco bank became a conduit for questionable funds as it, like many other banks around the country, aggressively pursued the cash from the former Soviet Bloc.
Today the Center reports on how political campaigns, also aggressively chasing after cash, end up with equally questionable contributions as suspected Russian organized crime figures seek to move into the U.S. political mainstream In future articles, the Center will show how the failure to sift the good money from bad is being replayed all over America.
A prominent commodities trader who acknowledges a business history with a reputed Soviet Bloc crime figure and a notorious arms dealer has been one of (then) New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's top campaign supporters. Giuliani is expected to be the Republican candidate next year for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.
Commodities trader Semyon (Sam) Kislin and his family also lavished thousands of dollars in contributions to Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign, to former Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and to a number of state and city politicians. Kislin sits on the New York City Economic Development Board.
Denies Laundering Funds. Kislin denied that his firm had ever laundered funds. "Never, never," he said. New York FBI spokesman Joseph Valiquette, told that the Center was preparing an article about Kislin based in part on FBI documents, declined to comment. What the FBI and other law enforcement organizations knew or suspected was never shared with the public.
To his neighbors and friends, the 64-year-old Kislin, who immigrated from Odessa, Ukraine, in 1974, is an enormously successful businessman who generously shares his wealth with charitable causes. And to Giuliani, Kislin is one of his staunchest supporters. Kislin and his wife, Ludmila, gave Giuliani a total of $14,250 in direct contributions between 1994 and 1997. In addition, when Giuliani's campaign chest approached the maximum he could spend for re-election in 1997, $9.7 million, Kislin was one of several top backers of the mayor who supported the Liberal Party, which had endorsed the mayor and helped finance his campaign, according to The Village Voice. One of Kislin's companies gave $30,000 to the Liberals.
Kislin also kicked in $7,700 to Jules Polenetsky, who was running with Giuliani for the city's office of public advocate and could share political advertisement costs with the mayor. Giuliani's campaign manager had asked the mayor's major contributors to help finance Polenetsky's campaign.
Giuliani Fund-Raiser. In 1996, Kislin hosted a fund-raiser for Giuliani, a former hard-charging federal prosecutor, at the Lido Restaurant in Brooklyn. And last May 25, Kislin also was a co-chair for a Giuliani fund-raiser at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. The bash raised $2.1 million for his probable run for the Senate next year.
"I did a lot of fund raising for Giuliani," Kislin acknowledged. "He's a good man, doing a good job for the city of New York." Bruce Teitelbaum, the spokesman for Giuliani's Senate campaign exploratory committee, refused through an aide to comment on Semyon Kislin's support of Giuliani. Teitelbaum refused to return calls himself. The mayor's press secretary, Sunny Mindel, said "I don't know anything about the mayor's contributors," and referred the question to Teitelbaum. The campaign did return a $2,000 check last August that it had received at the Sheraton Hotel fund-raiser from Philip Castellano, son of the late racketeer Paul Castellano, even though the younger Castellano has never been accused of a crime. Arik Kislin, Semyon's nephew, contributed $1,000 to the mayor in 1995.
--SNIP--
Here is a partial list of prominent politicians who have received campaign donations from Kislin and other people mentioned in police reports. Records were checked from 1994 to the most recent available.
LONG READ/GO HERE FOR LIST:
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:hEltFDTB_aYJ:www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx%3Faid%3D323
BS
Unless those three get their acts together, they'll never get a chance, as both McCain and Guliani seem to have the confidence of the rest of the GOP, at least at this point.
After the mid-terms, things will start to get serious. Campaign operatives will start to take jobs, and donors will start to line up behind the strong horses. If McCain and Guliani are still the leaders next year at this time, they'll be your realistic choices.
Claiming Rudi is affliated with the Russian Mafia is a LIE.
"People will freely make their choices in the primary."
Yes, they will. From among the candidates that are in the running. Early favorites didn't fare so well in 2000, did they? Wonder why?
If you are an example of the effectiveness of the "truth machine" I would say Guiliani is in like Flynn.
You probably didn't like Some Like It Hot either.
That is still true today. God only knows the events (good or bad) that will unfold over the next two years. I agree with you that another major terrorist attack will focus the American public on who can best defend us against terrorists, and will help Rudy's candidacy the most.
What is BS?
Are you saying that Rudy Giulianni is NOT a member of the Stonewall Vets?
Or are you saying that the New York City chapter of the Stonewall members had nothing to do with the anti war movement?
Nor I. I will not vote to destroy the Republican Party as the only vehicle for pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-second amendment policy in America. And that is what a President Guiliani could bring. Parties take on the image of their Presidents to a great degree.
It's as stupid as saying that Bush is friendly to terrorists because he had Sami al Arian, now-deported University of Florida professor who supported Palestinian suicide bombers, to the White House.
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