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 would rather stand for what is right. Giuliani is associated with criminals and he is not the only choice, and McCain is a madman. You decide.
WOW!!!
>>"The American people will not care about social issues if we get attacked or are threatened again."
>>LOL! That has to qualify as the dumbest statement of the day!
It is dumb, but mostly because 'the American people' are not a monolith. Nor are 'Republican primary voters'.
Many people certainly will care about these issues, but others will be willing to put them aside, still others think they are important, but don't share your views on them.
The support which Giuliani will be able to gather in a primary campaign depends on a whole range of factors, none of which are particularly predictable.
1. The extent to which people are voting on the GWOT first and other issues second. Many certainly will, but how many depends on how things progress between now and then.
2. The extent to which social issues might have been diffused. If W has replaced Stevens and Ginsburg on the Court by then, many social issues will be in the hands of governors not presidents.
3. The extent to which Giuliani is prepared to move on the issues. He might, for example, promise to appoint strict constructionist judges and oppose Roe, while saying he would favour his own state (NY) then choosing to adopt liberal abortion laws while others went in a different direction. On guns I am sure he will adopt a federalist position: "What's right for New York City is not always right for Wyoming. Duh! Next question".
4. The breadth and strength of the rest of the field.
I am not suggesting that ALL social conservatives could ever be won over to Giuliani. But under some circumstances many could. Since he already has supporters among those with more liberal or libertarian views, and those who simply prioritise national security and economics well ahead of social issues, he could emerge as a strong contender.
With the GOP's already evident "more liberal views" on government, defense, and economic issues, the parties conservative views on social issues are all I have/had left ?!?!?
Gay rights (i.e. workforce, etc) is what Rudy is for NOT Gay Marriage. But you seem more obsessed with the Gay issue than Rudy is right now.
I like Rudy....but I won't vote for him.
Giuliani will never win over the Southern or Midwestern Conservatives to win a general election. It won't happen.
Certainly a Giuliani administration would fund embryonic stem cells (and those people don't need any more money, it's a scam to begin with) and would not care about social issues, even if Rudy happens to line up with conservatives on them.
And what kind of judges do you think he'd nominate? I'm thinking we'd be lucky to get an Anthony Kennedy.
That being said, I don't think he's a bad guy and I think he's a perfect VP choice. If the POTUS cannot serve, it's likely to be due to terrorism and we'll need a Rudy at that point.
More on Rudy.
Regardless of what happens in 08' he will make our side debate our issues in our way - openly and hopefully with a lot of respect for one another.
Clearly Rudy has some polarizing issues he is going to have to face - but I think he will face them - and he will do it with honesty and conviction.
"you have your opinion - I have mine" type discussion.
08' is going to heaven for political junkies - and in the end we will all be better off from it.
Wrong! Illegal amnesty, and he is all the way for lettnig anyone who ever gets in having amnesty. I saw him interviewed, he was really good to illegals in New York when he was mayor. I could vote for him except for that.
Trust me on this - RUDY IS NO VP.
When you see him on stage and you see him debate - you will realize that Rudy being VP is like John Wayne being a deputy Sheriff.
I don't think so.
And did you listen to WHY he said he was good to Illegals?? Because the Government would not do anything at the time Clinton was in office. He had no choice. He had no power over illegal immigrants but in order to make it safe for NYers he had to make it easier for them to live there and becmee citizens. He made it easier for the illegals to report criminals and crime by not having to give their names. He helped them try to get their citizenship if they wanted and by letting them report the criminals from their country you get rid of the bad element. Rudy's hands were tied at the time during a Clinton White House. He needed to stop crime. Rudy as a mayor cannot deport people it was up to the Federal government to deport. He believes in closing the border.
If Rudy wants to take our guns away from us what difference does it make?
Your personal guns will do nothing to stop terrorism. They don't come after you like that - Bombs and planes are the weapons of choice. Be real. Besides Rudy will not bother with the gun laws.
The disturbing obsession with Rudolfo is beginning to show----reminds me of the Howie Dean claque, before the fall.
Looks like the Rudy ding-a-lings will say or do anything to foist their lapdog on conservatives----but conservatives aren't buying.
Rudy debuted in Georgia last month, as a "conservative vote rallier."
Rudy was all puckererd up, sucking up to everything in sight-----but he flopped bigtime when Ralph Reed went down to defeat. Which is no surpise to social conservatives
(Golly, I hope the Rudy pushers don't get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome highlighting-cutting-pasting-emailing these wonderful posts that keep Rudy briefed on what a jerk he is in conservative circles.)
I have no doubt the party hacks will support Giuliani, but the base voters won't.
Wrong.
So why should we be willing to turn the GOP over to their clones, Giuliani and McCain?
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