Ted Olson Supporting Giuliani

American Spectator ^ | 2/13/07

[zarf]

Theodore Olson, the stalwart conservative lawyer and former solicitor general for the Bush administration, told the Spectator he will be supporting Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid.

"I admire his character, his capacity for leadership, his instincts, and his principles," Olson said over the phone this afternoon. He said he will help Giuliani raise money as well as offer advice on legal issues and domestic policy matters that involve constitutional questions.

[Dog Gone]

Whether this forum likes it or not, the odds are pretty much in Rudy's favor to get the GOP nomination. It's his to lose.

[Convert]

Recruit John Boehner

[RockinRight]

We're better than DUmmies.

[MEGoody]

I wonder when the first principled conservatives will show up and call Ted Olsen and fool and a traitor.

This principled conservative does wonder exactly where Mr. Olsen stands on social issues. I don't recall ever reading anything about that.

If he is not socially conservative, then it would not surprise me that he is supporting Rudy. If he is, then perhaps he is simply in the dark about who else is running. That can be fixed with education.

[pogo101]

Giuliani is a tricky issue for me. So many pros, so many cons. If he's solid on judge-picking, and vows to keep out of (further liberalizing of) abortion and most if not all gun control, then I may be able to support him. The two biggest issues for me are judge-picking at defense/WOT, although there are of course many more issues.

[Gunder]

GET IT THRU YOUR HEAD ALREADY.

HUNTER DOES NOT HAVE A CHANCE.

[RockinRight]

You're right.

But we don't need to go at each other like children. Not saying YOU have done so, but there's a pretty noticeable group on both sides of the Rudy debate on FR doing just that.

[TitansAFC]

---"Just another reason why I have curtailed my involvement in the Republican party, if not conservative activism per se."---

So far, I have done the same. I'll work against Rudy, but I'm in a state of waiting otherwise.

I need to see if this party really has fallen so far left that they Could nominate a Rudy Giuliani. God help us if they do, because folks like me will give up on them. And don't tell me to elect Congressfolk and Senators after telling me flat out they have nothing to do with my issues.

[DKNY]

Well, from what I have seen here "they" really aren't happy about it!

[pissant]

Get it thru your head, millions more conservatives would sit on the sidelines for a guiliani nominee than for a Hunter. Also get it thru your head that we are a year out from the primaries. Talk to me next year.

[NormsRevenge]

rant

BumP

[isthisnickcool]

It is 634 days until the presidenal election. That's:

1 year, 8 months, 26 days
54,777,600 seconds
912,960 minutes
15,216 hours
90 weeks (rounded down)

It's going to be a LONG LONG LONG election cycle.

[Miss Didi]

The Italian cityboy better learn that fact and quick.

I'd watch the name-calling.

Signed,

Italian citygirl

[pissant]

I'm not worried, because I don't think Rudy will win the nomination.

[MEGoody]

Whether this forum likes it or not, the odds are pretty much in Rudy's favor to get the GOP nomination.

For now, perhaps. It's a long time until election day, and Rudy has some dirty laundry that could easily trip him up. That along with his social liberalism could be his 'death knell' as it were.

[Spiff]

The two biggest issues for me are judge-picking at defense/WOT, although there are of course many more issues

Please review Giuliani's record for picking judges or picking the committee that picks the judges for him. You'll have your answer about whether to support Giuliani or not.

[areafiftyone]

- Rudy tossed Arafat out of a city sponsored celebrations saying, "I would rather not have someone who has been implicated in the murders of Americans there, if I have the discretion not to have him there”.
- Rudy did the same to Fidel Castro.
- When a Saudi prince donated millions to 9/11 relief efforts and later suggested that United States policy in the Middle East may have been partially responsible for the attacks, Rudy returned the money.
- Rudy refused to meet with racial arsonist Al Sharpton.
- Rudy as mayor was strong on law and order. Rudy said that "government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering". And Rudy backed this all up by going after both quality-of-life crimes and serious crimes. Total crime went down by some 64 percent during the Giuliani years, and murder went down 67 percent. Auto thefts went down on average about 80,000 per year.
- Rudy supported the police when the police had to enter and deal with Muslims at a mosque.
- Rudy closed down many porn shops across the city and specifically shutdown porn shops in residential neighborhoods.
- Rudy went after both low level and high level drug dealers for the first time in the cities history.
- Rudy had zero tolerance for quality of life crimes such as squeegee extortionists, graffiti vandals, panhandling and public urination.
- Rudy launched a welfare revolution, removing illegal recipients, cutting the rolls by 20% the first year alone and dropping the welfare rolls by 600,000 over the course of his plan.
- Rudy launched a work requirement program for the remaining welfare recipients. The NY Times called it slavery.
- Rudy constantly spoke out against illegitimacy and fatherless families. One of many things that Rudy said on the subject was the following: " If you wanted a social program that would really save these kids, . . . I guess the social program would be called fatherhood."
- Rudy objected to affirmative action. Rudy ended the cities set-aside program for minority contractors.
- Rudy rejected the idea of lowering the job requirement standards for minorities and woman. - Rudy said. "it was unfair to expect middle-class kids to work their way through college by holding down jobs and going to classes while exempting students on welfare from working."
- Rudy reformed the public school system and forced out liberal chancellors who wouldn't install his reforms.
- Rudy tried to privatize 5 of the cities worst public schools.
- Rudy was for school vouchers. Rudy said, "The whole notion of choice is really about more freedom for people, rather than being subjugated by a government system that says you have no choice about the education of your child,".
- Rudy fought against public money for an art display that defiled Christ and he fought against other obscene so-called works of art.
- Rudy played hardball with city unions winning concessions from city workers that other mayors had failed to do.
- Rudy strong armed state leaders to merge the cities Housing Police and Transit Police into the NYPD saving the city hundreds of millions. Rudy did this by threatening to fire every housing and transit officer and rehire each as a city cop if legislative leaders did not go along.
- Rudy did the same with the city’s garbageman, many of whom worked only half days because the department was so overstaffed with union jobs. Rudy won $300 million in savings from them by threatening to contract out trash collection to private companies.
- Rudy cut or killed 23 levies and taxes, saving taxpayers $9.8 billion during his terms.
- Rudy cut NYC's top income-tax rate by 20.6%.
- Local NYC taxes on a family of four dropped 23.7% during Rudy's term.
- Rudy cut the commercial-rent tax.
- Rudy cut sales taxes, including taxes on clothing.
- Rudy cut the marriage penalty on taxpaying couples.
- Rudy cut taxes on commercial rents everywhere outside of Manhattan’s major business districts, and various taxes on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers.
- Rudy's expenditure growth averaged 2.9% annually, while local inflation between January 1994 and December 2001 averaged 3.6%.
- Rudy privatized municipal assets.
- Rudy sold WNYC radio for $20 million, WNYC-TV for $207 million, and NYC's share of the U.N. Plaza Hotel for $85 million.
- Rudy divested the the City from the New York Coliseum adding $345 million to city coffers.
- Rudy let the private Central Park Conservancy manage Central Park.
- Rudy cut NYC's hotel tax from 6% to 5%. Consequently, hotel tax revenues increased from $135 million in Fiscal Year 1995 to $239 million in FY 2001.
- When asked if Rudy would raise taxes after 9/11 Rudy said that would be "a dumb, stupid, idiotic, and moronic thing to do."
- A quote from Rudy on his economic philosophy: “City government should not and cannot create jobs through government planning...The best it can do, and what it has a responsibility to do, is to deal with its own finances first, to create a solid budgetary foundation that allows businesses to move the economy forward on the strength of their energy and ideas. After all, businesses are and have always been the backbone of New York City.”
- Construction permits increased by more than 50% in the city per year during Rudy's terms.
- Tourism increased 50% in the city per year during Rudy's terms.
- City jobs increased by 430,000 to an all time high of 3.72 million during Rudy's terms.
- City personal income increased 50% during Rudy's terms.
- The percentage income that city residence paid in taxes declined from 8.8 to 7.3 percent during Rudy's terms.
- Unemployment in the city went form 10.3% to 5.1% during Rudy's terms.
- Rudy was an outstanding leader during the 9/11 crisis.
- Rudy has been a strong supporting in our WOT including supporting the mission in Iraq.
- Rudy was chosen by Ronald Reagan in 1981 as an Associate Attorney General placing him in the third highest position in the Reagan's DOJ.
- In 1983, Rudy was appointed by Reagan to be U.S. Attorney for the SD of NY. In that position, Rudy amassed 4,152 convictions including the heads of NY's so-called "Five Families". Rudy also procecuted terrorists and illegal immigrants.

[zarf]

But I am pretty certain all this Rudy adulation is a vote of no confidence in McCain

McCain is the worst kind of politician. Obama has more integrity than McCain.

[kerryusama04]

Get ready, because if Rudy should win and nominate one of his Pro-Roe, "strict constructionists," we're going to be battling a stubborn President, and the National Review types and Party-hack talk show hosts. and they will shout everybody down again who objects.

That's a pretty astute catch. Hearing these "conservative" talk show hosts slobbering over Rudy and Romney makes me wonder if they actually believe what they have been saying all these years in order to rake in the dough.