Rudy kept a hard line on raises to all municipal employees and CUT city jobs, which is unheard of in liberal NY to balance a city budget that was structurally unsound thanks to Dinkins/Koch and a litany of Rats that ran NYC into the ground. The cops did get a raise, but you know what, they did an excellent job and deserved a raise.
"Law and Order" is not a conservative issue. You and I as citizens preserve law and order, not some greasy politician and some donut munchers from Staten Island and Orange County.
Please, Republicans are harder on crime and criminals than bleeding heart libs. Republicans believe more in detterrance than recidivisim for criminals. Believe in harsh sentences for criminal behavior and believe in the death penalty. Most liberals do not. Rudy does.
Foreign Policy? Aside from schmoozing with the Likudniks, Rudy has about as much foreign policy knowledge as Silvestre Reyes.
Rudy gets the global war against terror and is best suited to continue the fight. Not a single politician was closer to he burning WTC site than Rudy. Beforehand, he knew that terrorists like Arafat should be International pariahs. And he was the mayor of the city that is the home of the (evil) U.N. and a city that has more ethnic groups than any other.
Rudy is a Republican. Not a perfect one, but I challenge you to name one that is.
Latin America: Aside from putting in time at some cholo festivals in Queens, Rudy has indicated as much knowledge of our neighbors to the south as, well, the average chump on a barstool, not much. Its telling that he was close to Herman Badillo, a man who, judging from his recent book and his speeches, is a mental midget who believes his Nuyorican background applies to the rest of the hemisphere. I am leading off with LA because the region is the one most immediately in our sphere of influence, and also because it where I have worked and traveled (as well as studied) the most.
2. The Middle East: Rudy's knowledge of this region appears to consist only of Likud party talking points regurgitated second hand from the Sidecurl and Kippah Mafia in Brooklyn. Nevertheless, I'm sure he is probably more knowledgable about this region than LA.
3. Europe: Being a Eurocon in terms of outlook and poltics, more so than a rock ribbed American conservative, Rudy should relate well to the likes of Sarkozy and Merkel. So he gets points here.
4. Asia: Being that this is THE emerging region in terms of economic and poltical power, with two countries likely to emerge as the counterbalance in the emerging bi/multipolar world, I hope that Rudy is studying these areas more than he did in the insular environment of his administration.