Posted on 11/15/2006 2:20:23 AM PST by xtinct
One of Rudy Giuliani’s early achievements as mayor of New York City was to make people think twice about urinating on the streets.
“If somebody was urinating on the street,” he once told the New York Times, “the reaction would be, oh, we can’t do anything about that. And then the idea would start to develop that there must be some inherent human right to urinate on the street. So the police started ignoring all kinds of offenses. They’d even stand by when drug deals were going on. The police became highly skilled observers of crime.”
Something had to be done, and Rudy was the man to do it.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
By Northeast Republican standards, he is right of center. Also, Rudy G. is a politician first, and to get elected in a city that has something like ten registered Dems/Liberals for every one Republican/Conservative, he needed to take positions that would entice the left to vote right. If he hadn't, Mayor Dinkins would have served another term, and Idiot Mark Green would have been Mayor during 09.11.
Despite how Rudy G. is being portrayed by some of the more conservative pundits and publications, my personal recollection is that while he is pro-gay rights, he is not pro-gay marriage, and while he is pro-choice, he is not pro-abortion.
Nothing wrong with the "former democrat" part. One of the greatest statesmen of our times, Ronald Reagan, was a former democrat; but President Reagan loved life for all and believed in the individual citizen's right to defend themselves against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Sorry, Rudy. Thanks for being such a strong leader during 9/11 and for turning NYC around when you were mayor, but you don't pass the Presidential litmus test.
Rudy has a decision to make. If he wants to be president he's gonna have to come out against partial birth abortion. He will have to revisit his views on the family and the 2nd amendment. The fact is aside from a few fringes on abortion, the matter has been settled, rightly or wrongly, by the Supreme Court and nothing any presidet says or does matters in the least. For gay rights, he simply has to adjust his position that marriage is for a man and a woman and adopt the civil union model that most Americans find acceptable. His original position gun control was that there should be mandatory training and a right to get a carry permit. In the People's Republic of NY, this position was unpopular and was therefore abandoned.
The writer of the article is underestimating Rudy's ambition to become president. He is also underestimating his intellectual ability, honed through many years as a top trial attorney, to reconcile the apparently irreconciable.
I have been an observer of Rudy's career since he was a crusading US Attorney, bringing down all manner of currupt politicians. I remember his defeat to clueless David Dinkins and my comment at the time was that, "Rudy will be back, he doesn't like unfinished business."
The same will apply here. He has the toughness that liberals and conservatives alike crave, like a junkie needs his fix. He now has the political acumen necessary to the job. During the campaign he went to every state and district campaigning for even the most hopeless candidate. He did this to help the party, but more importantly he did this to build his network and get ready for 2008. This effort will payoff. Rudy plays in Peoria as well as NYC.
No doubt the knives will be out for him, but he is no stranger to adversity. He fought off Hillary and he is a hard target since 9-11.
"while he is pro-choice, he is not pro-abortion."
Such hairsplitting won't play well in flyover country.
I resemble that comment.
If you're not standing on principLES, what are you standing on? Or standing in? I think if Hillary ran as a Republican you'd vote for her. That's called: cool-aid drinking.
Of course I'll vote for Rudy, if he's the nominee. WOT trumps everything.
If people want to vote for Rudy, they shouldn't be under ANY illusions that this guy is in any serious way a "conservative". That dog don't hunt...
When people choose to openly sin (as Rudy was clearly doing with his "newest love" and "constant companion" they have no problem with accepting all kinds of sin. In fact, Rudy, though he stood "tough" after 9/11 had rarely lived the moral life that many Americans espouse.
Absolutely right on target. Bye-bye, Rudy.
The biggest problem with this notion is that Rudy hasn't served in public office in nearly five years. It's easy to make a claim about a prospective candidate's position on any given issue when he isn't serving in public office -- but such a claim is pointless because it has no basis in fact.
Then get ready for Hillary, because she's going to win several states in the south. Rudy may do better in some Northeastern and Midwestern battleground states, but when push comes to shove, he's not likely to outpoll Bob Dolt in 96.
Look for the Constitution and Libertarian parties to poll better than they did in 96.
Yet Rudy is being help up as the last hope to beat Hillary.
Interesting times.
This is a silly argument. What you've said here may have been true in 1993 when Rudy defeated Dinkins by a razor-thin margin, but by 1997 -- when he was facing one of the worst candidates in the history of democratic elections (Ruth Messinger) -- he could have run as Adolph Hitler and won by a sizeable margin. And beyond that, there was absolutely no reason for him to take those radical leftist positions after 1997 -- when New York City's term limits law precluded him from running for mayor again in 2001.
Excuse me, but I am not buying that. The RINO cheering section should be closed for repairs and a clue.
The "vote for him because he has an "R" after his name" is about as lame and short-sighted as the "fear Hillary" crud.
It's got to stop.
Not as President.
Have you told him that? I don't think he's listening.
A lot of you Rudy supporters have been using that phrase (or you've posted a whole bunch of times)
I think it's way too early to make that statement. At least wait until primaries start for goodness sake.
Have you been keeping up with current events? Rudy winning would be seen as a "mandate" and you will get gun control, gay marriage, open borders, and more pro death legislation.
Except at the time, he planned to run for United States Senate, and like when he ran for mayor, he would have needed a lot of baby-killing homo-lovers to cross party lines to win the election.
I hope you understand that every time you make an argument like that you further reinforce the idea that Rudy Giuliani is nothing more than an opportunistic fraud.
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