a51 - As I've said before. I admire Rudy for the way he held the city and in a way the country together on and after 911. When I remember him in those press conferences, my still pounds. I'm a manly kind of guy and I don't mind saying, I love Rudy! (phileo in the Bible "friend" so it's not the wig you see)
Also he was a taxcutter in NYC. That was good for their economy. He also dealt VERY effectively with crime. This was actually his greatest claim as Mayor prior to 911.
His views (reaffirmed pretty forcibly as early as November of last year) on abortion, gay marriage etc. leave him way out of step with a huge section of the GOP voting BLOC. And it is a section that the GOP has not been able to win a national election without since at least before Reagan (and I'm trying to figure in the off years and how we were able to do on congressional races nationwide too).
It is not a matter of people threatening to stay home or vote independent or even God forbid cross over to the Dem's. It is a matter of not firing up this indespensable part of the base. If they feel they have no dog in the hunt then they just don't go vote. It is just "Not that important." to them.
I will work hard for Rudy if he gets the nomination because as I have said I fear the damage that Democrats will do. However, Rudy makes me a little afraid with his liberal social views. Just because he approves of Bush's judges doesn't mean he will be drawing from the same group when he makes his appointments. The qualities that Rudy refers to in adherence to the constitution are going to be very different than what I would refer to.
The only hope Rudy would have in rallying the Christians attention would be to hammer the WOT day in and day out as a clash of religions. I just don't think he would be willing to do that. But I might be wrong.
Thank you for being so fair! I have no problems with your opinion with Rudy because you think fairly. I know you are a Duncan Hunter fan and I thank you for including me on every ping for his posts. I'm just here fighting the good fight for Rudy just like you would be if a group of Freepers started going over to the Duncan Hunter posts and trashing him. I just want everyone to listen to Rudy when he starts campaigning before they start trashing him left and right. IF after they hear him they still don't like him I would have more respect for their opinions rather then trashing him before he's even running - it smells like nothing but fear. Why are they afraid to hear him speak? They all heard him speak at the Republican Convention in 2004 what is so different now that he might run? Are they afraid he will win - is that it? If it is then they don't have any confidence in their choice for president and they must know they are backing the wrong guy.
As mayor of NYC in the wake of 9/11 ex-prosecutor Giuliani made it his personal obsession to know each day exactly where in the city who was making hateful noises about Islam so he could bring the full force of the NYPD to bear to crack heads to ensure everyone was thinking happy and loving thoughts about Islam:
" There is precedent for collecting such data nationally. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act, passed by Congress in 1990, requires the federal government to acquire data on crimes that 'manifest prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.' This information is an invaluable tool to police officials. It also holds them, and our elected officials, accountable for increases in hate crimes within their jurisdictions. Second, just as important as collecting this information is making sure that it is not allowed to languish in some desk drawer. There must be analysis of and reaction to crime data on a regular basis. Critical to the success of New York City's CompStat program were weekly accountability meetings in which police officials would plan officer deployments, share successful strategies, praise good work and constructively criticize areas found to have fallen short of established goals." -- Rudy Giuliani