The Conservative Case for Rudy Giuliani in 2008

Race 4 2008 ^ | August 31, 2006 | Dave G

[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...

[peggybac]

Someone may have already mentioned this but The American Spectator has a terrific article by Deroy Murdock titled, "Ready for Rudy".

[bpjam]

You can't be fiscally conservative if you fund all of the liberal social programs the left wants. How can you expand welfare, have socialize health care, pay for gays to have marital benefits, pay for racial set-asides and raise the minimum wage and still be a fiscal conservative?

They need to just stop pretending that Giuliani is a viable GOP candidate for the White House. Maybe a cabinet secretary for sure but not Prez. Its not even remotely realistic regardless of what these stupid popularity polls say in NH or Iowa.

[p[adre29]

Reagan did the same thing in 1980 with GHWB and the building that he had rented.

I won't slam Rudy, I will say that if one looks at his stated postions vs his actions, the whole thing becomes very clear.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>> .... I will say that if one looks at his stated postions vs his actions, the whole thing becomes very clear.

Politics or policy, no matter how you slice it, Giuliani remains a liberal.

[Prokopton]

"but the 08 election for me is to have the best person in office to fight the war on terror and keep us from being hit with WMDs,"

Show me where Rudy has any experience on the WOT except as a politician representing a alot of victims. And just what is his WMD expertise? Rudy was a mayor, the mayor of a city struck by terrorist. What about this would qualify him as a CIC?

I think Rudi is a great promoter and politician. I think his leadership abilities have been overblown and I know that he's a liberal. It's pathetic that rather than promote a conservative for POTUS many Republicans have given up in defeat, more than two years out from the election, and have settled on the position that we have to accept a liberal because somehow they know that's all that can get elected.

Abandoning all principle and defeatism are liberal traits, not conservative.

[Spiff]

Here's my thoughts:

The Real Rudy Giuliani:

• Pro-abortion - He even opposes banning partial birth murder.
• Anti-2nd Amendment - supports gun grabbing legislation including the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapon Ban
• Pro-big government - amassed unprecedented debt as Mayor of NYC
• Pro-radical gay agenda
  

  - Attended and marched in every gay pride parade in NYC while mayor (even one in 1992 that included a NAMBLA contingent of pedophile activists)
  - Attends and supports many functions and fund-raisers held by radical gay organizations (even did a cross dressing act at Pride Agenda fund-raiser)
  - Openly opposes Constitutional Amendment to protect tradition marriage which is supported by President Bush and the Republican Party Platform.
  - Supported "domestic partner" and "civil union" bills in City Council while mayor of NYC.
  - Submitted Gay "Domestic-Partner" Rights Bill to City Council giving gay and lesbian couples the same benefits reserved for married couples.
  - Said, "I'm proud of it" when referring to the gay "domestic partner" bill he submitted. Said, "National Republicans can lump it if they don't like this new domestic-partners bill...I think it puts New York City ahead of other places in the country."
  - Has received awards from several radical gay agenda organizations who support gay marriage for his support of their cause. Is considered a "champion" of gay "rights."
  - Lived with a gay "married" couple in Manhattan when he moved out of Gracie Mansion during his second divorce.
  - Said that homosexuality is "good and normal"
  

• Pro-illegal immigration - said no one in New York City is going to assist the federal government with the enforcement of immigration law, sued Feds in 1997 to be able to ignore immigration law, lost in court, vowed to ignore law anyway
• Endorses liberal Democrat candidates over Republicans - endorsed liberal Dem Mario Cuomo over Republican George Pataki in NY Governor's race
• Ran for NYC Mayor in 1994 on Liberal Party ticket. Appointed Liberal Party State Chair to a Deputy Mayor position. Endorsed 3 times by the Liberal Party for his liberal views.
• Holds many other liberal views
• Republican In Name Only - opposes many major planks of the GOP Platform

Read more about Giuliani's liberal positions here and here.

Some people want Republicans to ignore his liberalism on almost every issue and, as a distraction, they try to pretend that Rudy is fiscally conservative. Again, his record shows that he isn't fiscally conservative either:

According to an article in The Nation from 2002:

It's now apparent that Giuliani purchased the city's good times partially with borrowed money and left his successor, Mike Bloomberg, holding a bag of debt. New York City went from a $3 billion budget surplus in 1998 to a $4.5 billion deficit after Giuliani left office. This mismanagement of prosperity is a big part of his legacy. Giuliani left the city's finances in a mess...

Here are some things Giuliani did as Mayor that were NOT anywhere near being fiscally conservative:

• New York City went from a $3 billion budget surplus in 1998 to a $4.5 billion deficit after Giuliani left office.
  
• Added 25,000 government employees patronage hires to the city's payroll after promising to cut the work force.
  
• Giuliani's borrowing practices increased the city's debt burden by 50 percent.
  
• Partly because of Giuliani, New York City is now the biggest debtor in the nation outside of the federal government with $42 billion in loans outstanding.
  

According to the article from The Nation:

During the 1960s Giuliani was a self-described "Robert Kennedy Democrat." He identified with RFK as a liberal Catholic prosecutor. He volunteered for RFK's 1968 presidential campaign while he was a student at NYU Law School. Giuliani also voted for George McGovern in 1972. During the liberal 1960s, he was a liberal.

But in 1975 Giuliani switched his party registration from Democrat to Independent when he got a job in Gerald Ford's Justice Department, according to his mentor Harold "Ace" Tyler.

On December 8, 1980, Giuliani changed his registration from Independent to Republican. This was one month after Ronald Reagan's election, and just as he was applying for a top job in the Justice Department.

So, to sum that up:

• Liberal Democrat until 1975
• Worked as volunteer for Democrat Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign.
• Voted for liberal George McGovern.
• Liberal Independent from 1975-1980.
• Did not register as a Republican until 1980 and only AFTER Ronald Reagan was elected and because he was applying for a top job in the administration.

He's a liberal. He's not even in the same building as conservative. He's only a Republican because...and this comes from his own mother, Helen Giuliani:

"He only became a Republican after he began to get all these jobs from them. He's definitely not a conservative Republican. He thinks he is, but he isn't..."

And as John Hawkins put it in an excellent article in Human Events:

Despite all of his charisma and the wonderful leadership he showed after 9/11, Rudy Giuliani is not a Reagan Republican. To the contrary, Giuliani is another Christie Todd Whitman, another Arlen Specter, another Olympia Snowe. He's a throwback to the "bad old days" before Reagan, when the GOP was run by moderate Country Club Republicans who considered conservatives to be extremists. Trying to revive that failed strategy again is likely to lead to a Democratic President in 2008 and numerous setbacks for the Republican Party.

[Reagan Man]

>>>> ... the 08 election for me is to have the best person in office to fight the war on terror and keep us from being hit with WMDs,, simple as that

There is really no evidence that Rudy Giuliani is any stronger on national defense and national security issues than anyother Republican in the poll driven field of possible candidates for 2008. All the names on the current list of unannounced GOP candidates are committed to finishing what we started in Iraq, committed to staying the course in the WOT, committed to our alliance with Israel, and at home, fostering a strong homeland security effort.

The GOP should be nominating the most conservative candidate available, not the most liberal Republican candidate in the party. Simple as that.

[Reagan Man]

He's a liberal. He's not even in the same building as conservative. He's only a Republican because...and this comes from his own mother, Helen Giuliani:

"He only became a Republican after he began to get all these jobs from them. He's definitely not a conservative Republican. He thinks he is, but he isn't..."

[Shooter 2.5]

I believe it's only three strikes and you're out. You also forgot his divorce and the other woman problems.

Are we so afraid of the hilderbeast we're willing to settle?

[Pelham]

Well said.

[lentulusgracchus]

VictoryIsInevitable
Since Sep 3, 2006

Uh-huh.

Welcome to FR, liberal.

[lentulusgracchus]

LOL

Better-listen-to-Mom bump.

[lentulusgracchus]

The dog definitely didn't eat your homework.

Thanks for the summary. BTTT.

[BroncosFan]

Amen. "Decade old" socially liberal positions -- ha!! Which one of those has he renounced? None of 'em. And making him out to be this great national security champion is a joke. Sure he may be more solid on that issue than he is on others. But does anyone have a clue where the man stands on China, the EU, etc.? No. Rudy's more Prince Charles than Churchill.

[Gracey]

How about a Giuliani/Rice ticket?

Thanks for giving us the positive side of Giuliani. Also, he knows how to lead. He's assertive, and he don't take nothing off those leftists. He's a doer, achiever. He'll put good judges on the supreme court and federal system.

[Howlin]

Gracey, the title of this thread is not exactly how it turned out.

It looks like old home week at the One Percenters' Party Convention.

[Gracey]

Thanks Howlin. Your judgment is worth a lot.

[Howlin]

It's a Bush Bashing Fest, with the usual suspects having a grand old time.

[Lib-Lickers 2]

I'll decided during the campaign what his views are as a Presidential candidate, but I like his attitude and IQ on fighting the enemy.. he cuts to the chase the others don't

he'd tell you Nancy Pelosi is an idiot, he'll actually have the balls to say it,, the others wouldn't dare


Rudy's lifetime record of protecting good people and putting away bad surpasses anyone else running so far

and probably having a guy directing the WOT who was just blocks away when those buildings were hit and incinerated wouldn't be a bad thing

we'll see how he holds up next year when the press and other candidates open him up and he lays it all on the line

the only potential candidate that I know I'll vote against in the primaries is McCain

but will vote for the party nominee in the general election whomever it might be

[Spiff]

It looks like old home week at the One Percenters' Party Convention.

Is there any Republican that is too liberal for you to support for President?