Posted on 01/23/2007 10:03:35 AM PST by BunnySlippers
"If you can go toe-to-toe with liberals in Massachusetts and New York City and acquit yourself well, you are prepared for D.C.," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
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Mead credits Giuliani with mental toughness rare among elected officials. Instead of seeking consensus, Giuliani openly defied many of the city's leading liberals on crime and welfare reform.
"Giuliani confronted not only the bureaucracy, but the community groups and the academics and the journalists and all those who said you couldn't be tough on the poor," Mead said. "He said that you can be you can demand that they play by the rules. And he got away with it."
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"It's very difficult for such a person to win Republican primaries," said Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.
Difficult, but not impossible, Norquist said. As an example, he pointed to Ronald Reagan.
"Reagan passed the most liberal abortion laws in the country and the most liberal divorce laws in the country as governor (of California), and then ran as the pro-life, social-conservative presidential candidate," Norquist said.
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Giuliani's sharp-edge personality is another wild card. He sometimes rubs people, especially journalists, the wrong way.
On the other hand, his toughness might appeal to like-minded conservatives.
"A nice person couldn't have done what Giuliani did in New York," Mead said. "You needed a pit bull. Giuliani is a pit bull."
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Oops, you just answered.
I think he's fiscally conservative ... the social issues are a lesser concern.
NYC loved him. He'll take Staten Island, Peter King's district, the blue collars and probably even upstate. Cops and firefighters unions will not vote for Hillary over Rudy. He will embarass Hillary and take her state!
Did you think Alan Keyes could win way back in 2000?
I think she will implode beacuase she can't answer tough questions and she is not spontaneous. She cannot answer questions off the cuff.
No they don't. He's a gun grabber.
Maybe so, maybe not but after I looked at his social it was enough for me to oppose him at every turn. He is just to much of a leftist to ever get my vote.
I worked for Investor's Business Daily ...or, I should say the brokerage firm that Bill O'Neil owns.
O'Neil is famously Republican ...
That irritates me as well.
No thanks.
Many so-called moderates and independents will vote for Rudy. If he gets the GOP nod, these voters will off-set the "my way or the highway" crowd in the GOP.
You just told the conservatives that it's your way or the highway.
Peter King's district. I would hope so as he's a Republican.
LOL.
Great name.. if there is such an army please add my name, thanks
No. I liked what he had to say, but didn't think he could pull it out.
I also had way less time to follow politics, and didn't have much access to anything but the MSM, and I was in Massachusetts.
Thankfully, I now have internet & FR!
LOL! It's the name we call the Rudy ping list. Would you like to be on it?
Problem is that Rudy is a Northeast Liberal, but he won't carry any of the liberal Northeast states. Not even New York.
Running against whom?
Rudy may very well win in states like New Hampshire or New Jersey or Pennsylvania or Delaware that Bush had to write off in 2004.
In any case, though, that's the standard way parties operate. Bill Clinton was a Southerner who couldn't carry that many Southern states, but he demonstrated that in addition to winning the strongly Democratic states in the Northeast, he could also take swing states. So if Rudy carries the red states and can prevail in states like Ohio and Florida, he wins.
I don't know if it will work. Maybe they'll be conservative stay-at-homes and defections to third parties. Maybe people will think "He can't even carry his home state" and write Giuliani off. Maybe Rudy's negatives are so high that Republicans will go with more of a family man, like Romney.
But a Giuliani nomination wouldn't be out of the question. It's the sort of move Democrats have been doing (picking Southerners to crack open the more conservative Middle West) for some time.
LOL! It's the name we call the Rudy ping list.
Regarding flips, I think OH is pretty much flipped. We went from complete 'Pub control at the state level to essentially all 'Rat. We threw out a decent man, moderate/conservative Mike DeWine and put a dyed-in-the-wool ultraliberal in his seat in the Senate. CO and VA are also ripe for picking by the 'Rats. We could get MN but it's a long shot. CA? Nice thought, but I don't think it's going to happen, even if Ahhhhhnold is helpful to a Giuliani or McCain candidacy.
Victory margins. Well, I'd like to think those are overestimates, but after '06, I'm not so sure. We really, really underestimated how pissed people were at Bush and Iraq and how willing they were to take it out on 'Pub candidates. And not just moderate/liberal 'Pubs either. A fair number of "true conservatives" got clobbered. Rick Santorum, J. D. Hayworth, George Allen, all learned the hard way that simply being a "true conservative" wasn't going to be enough to get them a victory.
Your obsession with Gays is amazing. Is that from your personal collection???
He can win Democrat votes as well. I'm sure there are significant numbers of male Democrats out there who do not feel comfortable putting a woman in the White House just yet.
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