Posted on 02/06/2007 7:11:58 AM PST by Mia T
Rudy Giuliani's announcement that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination brings to my mind a book I wrote in the early 1990s, "The Conservative Crack-Up." By 1994 and the arrival of Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America," it became apparent that the movement was not dead but rather on its way to palmy days. This was what I anticipated in "The Conservative Crack-Up," where I was careful to note that though the movement embraces contending factions, they all come together at election time. The libertarians, the social conservatives, the hawks--all recognize that the Democrats' alternative to them is a greater threat than they in good conscience could allow into government. One also knows a political leader by the action he takes. As mayor, Mr. Giuliani took on the nanny state that city government had become.... He cleaned up the crime-ridden streets, cutting crime by 64% and murder by 67%. By cutting spending and taxes, he turned an economic basket case into an economic marvel. In eight years he reduced or extinguished 23 taxes. Every year he was in office, New York City's economy grew faster than the nation's. Then came September 11 and he displayed to the nation the traits he had so successfully displayed in reviving his city. He was decisive, efficient, prudent, and--something only those at his side in Gracie Mansion already knew--brave. After the first plane struck the World Trade Center, he instantly rushed to the scene. Arriving just after the second plane hit he re-established governance nearby as the towers came down. He was in genuine peril but coolly oversaw the rescue work and communication with the outside world. He had already demonstrated his awareness of the danger and nihilism of terrorists. In 1995 he expelled Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat from commemorations of the United Nations' 50th anniversary sponsored by the city, saying, "When we're having a party and a celebration, I would rather not have someone who has been implicated in the murders of Americans there." Mr. Giuliani's knowledge of international terrorism has steadily grown to the point that he is now acknowledged as one of the world's foremost authorities on terror. That alone in these times should commend him to the majority of the American electorate. Still, he has another asset.... "Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall," Mr. Malanga writes, "has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber." As an urban reformer and seasoned warrior in the struggle against international terror, Mr. Giuliani will be a formidable candidate for the presidency. Surely conservatives of all stripes will recognize this. What they need to hear next is where the mayor stands on conservative social issues. Mr. Tyrrell is founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator, a contributing editor of The New York Sun, and an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute.
... Ever since the conservative movement's ascendancy within the Republican Party in 1964, these grim diagnoses have been handed down episodically. Every time there is dissatisfaction among conservatives or they suffer some electoral setback, the liberal pundits step forward and pronounce the modern conservative movement at death's door. In my book I ventured the witticism that "conservatism is America's longest dying political movement."
... Well, one knows a politician by the company he keeps, and Mr. Giuliani has around him the financial people who created the libertarian-conservative Manhattan Institute. He relied heavily on the institute's policies while governing New York. He will rely on libertarian-conservative policy makers in his race for the White House and once there.
excerpt
Not Since T.R.
R. EMMETT TYRRELL JR.
February 8, 2007
What is his position on abortions of convenience?
And truly, I believe the final comment "and hillary is a monster" was WHY he was dying to get it out.
Love plain speak....even when name-calling is involved (unless, of course, it is aimed at Reagan or President Bush, hehe-I am unfair and unbalanced when it comes to that).
And, of course, hillary IS a monster (and I know the meaning of the word is. :^)
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