Posted on 01/31/2007 5:38:15 AM PST by areafiftyone
Richardson is running for VP. If he wasn't the Clintons could take him out in a nano second. Remember Monica and the UN for starters?
the eye of saron = KKR
Or how about the Theft of Nuclear Secrets on Richardson's watch?
He is there to draw votes away from Edwards and get rewarded.
You will be surprised!
It's two years away and lots of time for others to move to the lead. Guiliani is not the only horse in the race. Things like money, charisma, organizational skills, people skills, and media skills could vault someone(s) else greatly into the spotlight.
I really like what I read about Hunter. If he is media savvy, then we're onto something.
You don't speak for the South. You can only speak for yourself, and just barely.
The member firms of the NYSE have a global capitalization of $17.4 Trillion. They would pay a little more to use a shiny, new trading floor. Let the market decide. And the NYSE was not talking about leaving the city, but to build an additional trading floor somewhere in the city or elsewhere. Even if the trading floor were to move, the member firms are scattered all over the United States (do you think that Dell is headquartered in NYC?) and the location of the stock trading floor is immaterial to their location. Therefore, my point is still valid. The NYSE only employs 5,000 people and the retention of its new shiny trading floor in NYC isn't necessarily worth $1 billion in wealth confiscated from the taxpayer and given away.
I'll admit, however, that there are merits on both sides of this issue and you could make a case that this particular event demonstrated "fiscal responsibility" on the part of Giuliani. But you can be sure that the Democrats are going to hammer him with it.
Put aside my point of view on the subject, this represents a significant liability to Giuliani in the General election. The Democrats will hang this millstone around Giuliani's neck and their arguments will hold obvious appeal to the average voter. I can see the campaign commercials now and hear how this would be brought up in the debates. Any defense Giuliani would offer would be too complex for the average voter. The images will show impoverished areas in the city, run down and leaky public schools, etc. Then they'll show gleaming 3D renderings and architectural drawings of the grand plan. They'll then make the emotional arguments against corporate welfare and mention the HUGE annual profits that NYSE-listed corporations make. They'll mention that the NYSE has a global capitalization of $17.4 trillion, including $7.1 trillion in non-U.S. companies. Then they'll likely go back to an image of a poor, black girl getting off of a rickety old school bus and walking up the steps of a barbed wire fenced, run down public school in one of NYC's most blighted areas. Now, you tell me how that's going to play to the voters in November 2008.
The next campaign ad the Democrats might use would be to have statements from surviving firefighters and the families of firefighters who died on 9/11. They'll say that Giuliani knew about the radio comms problems since the original 1993 WTC attack and did nothing about it. There are many firefighters and family members who blame the deaths of so many firefighters on the fact that their radios did not work in the WTC and that they didn't get the evac order. And there's a report from the 1993 WTC attack that points this out. They'll do the whole NYSE sweetheart deal thing (gleaming towers, global capitalization of $17.4 Trillion, etc.) as described in the previous paragraph, and then they'll point out the $1.1 Billion subsidies to the NYSE equaled the entire annual operating budget of the New York City Fire Department. They may close the ad with a split screen of video with Giuliani on one side smiling and shaking hands with his billionaire buddies and on the other side would be Giuliani shaking hands with firefighter family members at a funeral.
Just use your imagination, as I have, and you can see how much mileage the Democrats can get from this.
If Hunter is going to build momentum, he needs to come on like gangbusters.
He needs to be seen on TV talking and giving back better than he's getting.
Great pictures!
He admits leaving the Republican Party but spams these threads like he is a Conservative Republican telling who we shouldn't vote.
He doesn't speak for OK. Oklahomans love Rudy dating back to the OKC Bombing when Rudy was one of the first people to call Gov Keating with offers of help. We never forgot!
I like Hunter too but I am skeptical about his ability to win a national election. I like Newt too but I doubt he could win a national election: just good ideas is not enough to be elected President, unfortunately.
We have a great candidate in the wings, an economic conservative, a social conservative, and a WOT conservative with administrative experience, a popular two-term governor from a large state but unfortunately, he has the wrong last name: Bush.
I'm convinced that most of the guys that I really like could not win the general election. Too many moderate independents are scared off by strong social conservatives.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this point.
First, I don't think the Democrats are going to make hay out of this issue because it isn't much of an issue. Everyone knows that politicians are forever having to provide subsidies and tax abatements to retain businesses in their communities. And as you probably know well, businesses are forever threatening, implicitly and explicitly, to move in order to get politicians to sweeten the pot.
When I was living in NYC, Rudy was never a friend to Wall St. It was Rudy's style to bust some potential inside trader and frog march him or her out of the trading room in handcuffs.
Remember, it was Rudy that busted Mike Milken and brought down Drexel and, for a while, put the lucrative junk bond business on the shelf.
I vote troll.
"Richardson is running for VP. If he wasn't the Clintons could take him out in a nano second. Remember Monica and the UN for starters?"
What a cute little opinion.
Good article. Looks like McCain is dropping like a rock since Hagel has become the left-stream media's newest darling. IMO this will benefit Rudy in the long run.
Bottom line: There is no perfect GOP candidate because we are not electing good people for governors around the country.. Actually, we are losing the race for GOP governors to the Dems.. I listened to Mike Huckabee on Russert Sunday and he became a definite NO!
I don't see anyone else but Rudy at this point who can "lead." And we need a leader, not a follower or someone afraid to take a stand that may not be popular... (other than Cheney and he's not running).
Personally he can believe anything he wants as long as he believes in and follows the constitution... and he is a believer in the constitution and judges who believe in the constitution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.