James Lileks: Don't Underestimate Giuliani (And Newt still can't win!)

The Newhouse News Service ^ | February 6, 2007 | James Lileks

[quidnunc]

Rudy Giuliani is in. Suggested campaign slogan: "He dealt with Brooklyn. He can handle Baghdad.'' He's not a sure thing; he has enough baggage to fill the cargo hold of a cruise ship. His sundry personal-life issues bother social conservatives; the gun control stance dismays the Second Amendment wing of the party; the pro-choice opinions alarm the evangelicals. That leaves about 47 Republicans, right? After all, it's just a party of cousin-marrying yahoos who'd sooner shoot up Planned Parenthood than vote for one of those fish-on-Friday types. Right?

No. Voters are more flexible and forgiving than you might expect. And none of the objections obscure the central appeal of the Rudy candidacy: He'll nuke 'em if he has to. That won't be the central theme of his campaign, of course, but it's the unstated strength of his candidacy. He's not a wuss. Look at the rest of the field:

Mitt Romney. He's a heavy fave, but the M-word makes his support in the evangelical community unsure. Many will vote for him, since he's an all-around moral guy, and no one wants a public debate over doctrinal differences. Other evangelicals regard his faith as something between David Koresh and Scientology, and would rather vote for Joe Lieberman. (Him you could convert!) Romney has an abortion flip-flop to confront, which softens his support as well. He's a solid candidate thus far because he's, well, solid: He appears hewn from the Presidential Quarry.

On the other hand, he could be a genial cyborg from an invading race. Wouldn't exactly surprise anyone.

-snip-

[narses]

Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison
Issue	Giuliani	Clinton	Dem Platform	GOP Platform
Abortion on Demand	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Partial Birth Abortion	Supports Opposed NY ban	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Roe v. Wade	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Taxpayer Funded Abortions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Federal Marriage Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Defined at state level	Supports
Gay Domestic Partnership/ Civil Unions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Openly Gay Military	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Defense of Marriage Act	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Amnesty for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Special Path to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Tough Penalties for Employers of Illegal Aliens	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Sanctuary Cities/ Ignoring Immigration Law	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Protecting 2nd Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Supports bans	Supports
Confiscating Guns	Supports Confiscated as mayor. Even bragged.	Supports	Supports Supports bans	Opposes
'Assault' Weapons Ban	Supports	Supports	Supports
Frivolous Lawsuits Against Gun Makers	Supports Filed One Himself	Supports		Opposes
Gun Registration/Licenses	Supports	Supports		Opposes
War in Afghanistan	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports	Supports
War in Iraq	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports Weak support	Supports
Patriot Act	Supports	Supports Voted for it 2001 & 2006	Opposes	Supports

"Most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." - Rudy Giuliani

Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it.
Rudy Giuliani

[Howlin]

[quidnunc]

familyop wrote: Let's see. According to political comments here and there, Giuliani married his second cousin, divorced twice, and lived with a couple of homosexuals. Quite a few pictures of him in drag have been posted. It's no surprise at all that a handful of noisy subscribers are pushing him here.

Giuliani probably has the best chance of beating Hillary of all GOP candidates, but that's not saying all that much.

[Txsleuth]

Thanks for the fun article...but I will be leaving the thread now...

SPAMMERS HAVE ARRIVED.

[onyx]

[Peach]

This is hilarious. I just sent it around to my e-mail group.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Agree with you. I like Newt, always have.

But even if he had the stuff to be a good POTUS, he is completely unelectable. The campaign the press would mount against him would be beyond belief. The way they have treated Bush is softball in comparison to what they'd to to Newt.

[onyx]

Whenever FR rules against SPAM are not uniforly enforced, who surprised that SPAM only breeds hate and discontent?

Maybe the grown ups should start hitting abuse too?

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

President Newt would respond to a terrorist attack with a brilliant plan — radical, simple, old wisdom and dazzling new thinking in a brilliant synthesis. Unfortunately, it would involve time travel or orbital space lasers.

I love Newt, but that's damn funny.

[onyx]

UNIFORMLY

[Howlin]

Great post, okie.

He probably hated what he saw, which would make him a great candidate.

But I'm kind of glad he isn't running; I can only imagine what some of the people around here would do to him.

[Ciexyz]

Newt is as exciting as week-old bread.

[Peach]

Gosh, I'd really love to organize a group of freepers who don't hate Rudy to post their own spam. I think it's so nice of the mods to let everyone do that now and just let it all hang out.

[deport]

Maybe the grown ups should start hitting abuse too?

---

Ignore it. After all it only helps keep the thread bumped to the top for more to see and enjoy.....

[Howlin]

I counted 14 posts in just under 8 minutes.

That's a damn machine.

[onyx]

Fueled by hate and a chemical substance?

[nopardons]

That's why he is NOT running.

If he was serious, he would have done something about it b y now, not keep playing coy and claiming that he won't bother to think about it until September, which he bumped back to OCTOBER, a few days ago on Hannity and Colmes.

[onyx]

It's tiresome scrolling past SPAM to read the comments from others.

[arthurus]

If Mr. Giuliani can convince me that he is that no-nonsense guy who will nuke-em if necessary and who understands the existential nature of the Islamic War I would vote for him. So far he reminds me too much of Nixon who was a great international political chess player but couldn't see beyond the board. It would help if Giuliani shows he understands that this is, in fact, the Islamic War, and not some "war" on Terror or against AQ. Bush's problem is he named the war appropriately to his vision. He refuses to see that it is a war against resurgent Islam. He is history-deficient. No, we don't have to exterminate Mohammedans but they must be dealt a massive defeat such as was visited upon Germany and Japan. They must be made aware that Allah does not wish them to prevail in the world in this generation. Islam cannot be finally beaten. The Jihad can only be temporarily aborted and put off for a few generations short of conversion to Christianity or Scientology or something or economic development to affluence that seems to be precluded by Islam itself.

[Mo1]

LOL .. best laugh I've had in weeks
Thanks for the ping