Posted on 09/02/2006 8:39:06 PM PDT by VictoryIsInevitable
The Conservative Case for Rudy Giuliani in 2008
John Hawkins of Right Wing News makes the conservative case against Rudy Giuliani for 2008. Hawkins’ piece largely consists of the same old anti-Rudy arguments wrapped in slightly new packaging, focusing a lot on Rudy’s decade-old socially liberal positions on a few cultural issues, as well as his Manhattanite personal life and some nonsense about unelectability (more on that later). As such, I think this is a great opportunity for someone to lay out the conservative case for Rudy in ‘08. And that someone might as well be me.
Giuliani: Pro-growth tax-cutter
Rudy Giuliani has proven, both during his tenure as mayor of New York and through his subsequent rhetoric, that he is a pro-growth Republican in the mold of Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, and Newt Gingrich. As mayor, Giuliani cut city taxes by more than eight billion dollars, reducing the tax burden on New Yorkers by 22%. Giuliani’s low-tax views remain intact. As Race42008 correspondent Kavon noted yesterday, Rudy’s recent visit to Minnesota included an emphasis on achieving economic growth via low taxes and less regulation on the economy. Rockefeller he ain’t; Rudy’s a Reagan Republican.
Rudy: Gingrich-style government reformer
Conservatives who liked Newt’s welfare reform and GWB’s attempt at entitlement reform have an ally in Rudy. As mayor, Giuliani reformed welfare in New York with the same tenacity as the class of ‘94 in Congress. Once again, this ain’t Christie Whitman we’re dealing with; Rudy’s a Newt Republican who also made a serious attempt to take on the teachers’ unions in NYC and fund school choice via charter schools. A President Giuliani means a conservative reformer who will fight for market-based revisions to our age-old bureaucratic messes in Washington.
Rudy Giuliani: Fiscal conservative
As mayor, Rudy Giuliani cut...
(Excerpt) Read more at race42008.com ...
Ronald Reagan told us we should vote with our feet, and that is precisely what I will do...
Even if a few of us "hold our nose", so to speak, let's see how well "pro-illegal, anti-2a, pro-gay rights, thrice-married, pro-abort Catholic" plays out in the GOP heartland. Running to the left as Republicans never works, and it will always harm us.
Moderates who became more conservative after 9-11? Who pray tell? It would be great if true especially sinc conservatives have become more "moderate" since 9-11. Dubya, for example, has spent money on DOMESTIC PROGRAMS like a drunken sailer after 9-11, even outdoing Clinton.
My problem with Mitt Romney remains that he has absolutely no accomplishments whatsoever. If he managed to turn around the moribund MA GOP and put the state back on the path to a competitive 2-party system, he would have accomplished a monumental task right there, but he hasn't. He is effectively cutting and running from the state, refusing to run for reelection, leaving the standard-bearer an inept ultraliberal Lieutenant who couldn't even win a local election in her own bailiwick, and as a result, the state will likely return to complete top-to-bottom Democrat control.
As it stands, MA will very likely become, within a fairly short period of time, the first state outside the South post-1960s to have one chamber of the legislature all 1-party (Senate). Hawaii has come very close to that, but MA will be the first larger state with such a situation. In the 1950s, the GOP was still the majority party there...
"But what about all that "leadership" bull-shirt you RINO lickers like to bandy about?"
I see: it's only leadership when it's exercised in the pursuit of your personal pet peeve (in this case, Senator Clinton)? Steering the largest city in America, with the most rampant crime, dirt, abyssmal finances, flat labor market, and the most horrendous social policies (at the time) doesn't require leadership? If you ask me, it takes more of aleader to clean that mess up than it does to join 99 other non-entities in the hallowed halls of the Senate.
Got news for ya: Senator Clinton is irrelevant. Both in real terms and in terms of this argument. The argument was "Why Conservatives could (should) find it possible to support a Giuliani candidacy". The spctre of "Ol' Crusty Black Pantsuit" doesn't even apply here in that sense.
"Ronald Reagan told us we should vote with our feet, and that is precisely what I will do..."
Please start now and beat the rush.
Condoleeza Rice is also pro-abortion. That ticket is a disaster in the making.
One sentence would make me vote for Giuliani in 2008:
"I would nominate justices in the manner of Scalia, Roberts, and Thomas, who interpret the Constitution, rather than rewrite it to serve their desires."
"If he managed to turn around the moribund MA GOP and put the state back on the path to a competitive 2-party system, he would have accomplished a monumental task right there, but he hasn't."
I don't think that the Governor really has much power in that regard, unless he is phenominally popular (which William Weld was, but Mitt Romney never achieved that kind of popularity). The demographics make two-party parity there virtually impossible.
Rudy is for partial-birth abortion.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm
Pro-choice; no ban on partial-birth abortions. (Dec 1999)
Party-building is a Governor's premier issue as head of the state party, and whether the numbers rise or fall is usually a sign of their effectiveness. I was not expecting Romney to register some mass turn-around, since that would take an act of God, but a nice modest one would've been a positive sign. The party has been in free-fall since Weld's first election. On the federal level, there were roughly 4 districts in the '90s that were potentially competitive (2 of which we outright won), and now we're competitive in zero. Legislatively, in the Senate, we were 5 seats short of a majority. Now we're only a similar number of seats away from zero.
I don't believe it's an impossibility for rebuilding the Republican Party in MA, or any state where we're down, for that matter, as long as you have the right people willing to do the hard work to make that a reality. It won't happen in a cycle or two, but over a period of time. The key is working right down to the grass roots and getting rid of those individuals that keep the growth and expansion from happening. It's funny that elected MA Republicans, often quite liberal, are almost like inner-city Black Democrats that cling to a dying and rotting constituency. At least the urban Democrats will employ demogoguery to keep their power, the Republicans in these areas have nothing to fall back on, and virtually hand the 'Rats these seats on a silver platter when they die off or retire one by one. I seemed to notice a pattern that virtually every single solitary House seat in the state that was occupied by the GOP Minority Leader in the past 35 years (going back to Frank Hatch) seems to now have a Democrat in it today. Rather telling, to say the least.
Rudy is a lib!
http://www.rnclife.org/faxnotes/2000/may00/00-05-05.html
Republican Big-Wigs Support Pro-Abortion Event in NY
Pro-abortion Governor George Pataki and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who also supports unrestricted abortion, are co-chairs of the 2000 Choice Award Presentation to be held on May 30 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The event is sponsored by the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition, a group that is campaigning for the removal of the pro-life plank from the Republican National Platform.
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200503010743.asp
Giuliani is a pro-choice Republican who is friendlier to gay rights than to gun rights. This is hemlock to most conservatives. He will struggle to attract Republican primary voters without soothing them on these matters.
Giuliani could start by approaching the middle ground on abortion. Rejecting partial-birth abortion (as even Daschle did), promoting parental notification for minors, and advocating adult waiting periods might encourage socio-cons to reconsider Giuliani.
Well said!
I too look forward to the day when we return to true republican principles, those are the principles of conservatism. Rudy isn't it, rudy will set conservatism back for a long time should he be our nominee.
Cute, referring to people as white skinheads, typical of liberals.
Of the current GOP 2008 field, Rudy Giuliani is the only candidate who brings to the table the charisma and leadership of a Reagan, the transformative conservative policies of a Gingrich, and the seriousness regarding the GWOT of a Bush. Giuliani is perfectly suited to lead today’s sunbelt center-right GOP due to his belief in low taxes, fiscal responsibility, market-based government reform, traditional marriage, conservative judges, securing the borders, and, last but certainly not least, the destruction of the terrorist threat against America. Only Rudy can package all of this conservatism in a manner that appeals to large numbers of swing voters while still maintaining solid levels of support among the Republican base. Rudy Giuliani would almost certainly sweep the electoral college against any Democrat by holding all of the red states, most of which are now so heavily Republican that only a very conservative Democrat has a chance of winning them, while flipping the electoral-rich Rust Belt that has at least as much of a cultural connection with Giuliani as the South did with President Bush. Tough, conservative, and electable, conservatives could do a lot worse than Rudy Giuliani.If he is the Republican nominee, he will get my vote, and my campaign contributions.
I agree with some of what you wrote in #81.
You lost me with post #101. You've really confused a lot of things together. I think you have a good throwing arm, but you're really pitching wild. Try to keep em over the plate.
BTTT
I think that on Rudy Guiliani, you're being premature. He single-handedly fixed a city that everyone thought was ungovernable and unmanagable. Before he became Mayor, life as it is in New York City today was unimaginable to at least two generations of its residents. And it's important to remember, he faced a legislature (the City Council) and constituancy that is far, far more to the left than the Congress and the country. Look what he accomplished! Conservatives would hugely benefit from someone with that kind of executive and administrative ability.
Your skepticism is well-founded, but IMHO, you're being too hasty in ruling him out altogether. At the very least, conservatives should learn more about him (from his upcoming website and campaign) before making a final decision. As for the judges, conservatives will surely seek committments from him on that front.
While I'm not advocating him, I say he deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.
another factor here - he's an outsider. Rudy is a guy that, had 9-11 never happened, would never have been a presidential contender. he isn't part of the DC "club". look at how permanent beauracracies at State and CIA run our government now, seemingly immune to reform. who is going to reform that? McCain? Allen? no way.
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