Giuliani for President - Leadership Inspires Early Endorsement.

National Review ^ | 2/15/07 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[areafiftyone]

It is the greatness of the United States that daunting challenges inevitably summon to the fore leaders with the steel to rise to the occasion and the grasp to raise us up with them. Leaders whose confidence and command cut through the noise and the naysayers. Leaders who stir us not only to the urgency of action but to the achievability of victory through America’s exceptional gifts.

Rudy Giuliani is such a leader. In our perilous times, his is the unique combination of vision, guts, and perseverance that we need in the Oval Office. That’s why I hope we have the good sense to make him the next president of the United States.

The 2008 election is still 21 months away, and one recoils from the prospect of so long a contest. Still, last week’s announcement that Mayor Giuliani is seeking the presidency was welcome. Our government is adrift. Vigor and course correction will have to come from outside — from a presidential campaign’s demand that we open our eyes and choose sides.

Though our nation is profoundly threatened, never before has our security been so cavalierly politicized. The new Democrat-controlled Congress does not merely oppose fighting a war it would be disastrous to lose. Without the courage of its stated conviction that America’s mission in Iraq must end, it lacks the gumption to match its anti-war rhetoric with meaningful action. As Rome burns, our heroes are Neros, fiddling with oxymoronic “non-binding resolutions.”

No, Congress doesn’t dare de-fund the mission. So this craven display of “resolve” accomplishes only three things: It tells our troops in harm’s way that the people’s representatives think their sacrifice is pointless; it informs the Iraqis being pressed to make hard choices that Americans may not be around to back those choices; and it reveals to our firmly committed enemies that we neither understand the stakes nor have the stomach to fight for them.

Meanwhile, the once-shining clarity of the Bush Doctrine has dimmed. The great calling of our age, President Bush declared while smoke billowed from 9/11’s wreckage, was to defeat jihadists and quell the rogues who might abet them. He couldn’t have been more right. Five weary years later, though, the administration seems at times to be running on empty. The answer to our great calling has tapered to stabilizing Baghdad — while we abide Russia and China’s enabling of Iran, promote Fatah terrorists in their standoff with Hamas terrorists, and indulge Kim Jong-il’s remaking of the same dozen-year old promises whose flouting has graduated North Korea from extortionist to nuclear extortionist.

It’s hard to blame the president. He’s got to fight for every inch now. He is trying to move forward by meeting his critics halfway — decency they meet with bile. But he is in this fix because his administration has failed to rally the American people to the cause, to make them own it, rather than delegate it to 150,000 of our best and bravest while the rest of us go shopping. The Left has gleefully filled that void. With the help of its media allies, it daily saps the national will to stay on guard and take the fight to those determined to kill us.

I don’t think a President Giuliani would let them get away with it.

As a young prosecutor in the 1980s, I was privileged to work for him when he was the United States Attorney in New York City. By the sheer force of his intellect, his energy and his ability to inspire, he accomplished things that others before him had dared not try — like vanquishing the long entrenched mafia, which has been an epigone ever since his onslaught.

But Giuliani’s greatest asset may have been his unique understanding that success in any great endeavor hinges on the capacity to explain, relentlessly, what you are doing and why. With that, the public can understand and support you, the bad actors are under no illusions about your commitment, and those on the fence are apt to think better about choosing the wrong side. It is a Reaganesque gift.

Mayor Giuliani grasps the global nature of the jihadist challenge. He has demonstrated in spades — especially by his leadership in a New York City ravaged by the enemy on 9/11 — that he has the fortitude and constancy that will be required for victory. But just as much, he gets both the advantages and the obligations of the bully pulpit. He will make the case, cogently and compellingly, day in and day out: Why we are fighting and why it is vital to win.

This was on display last Monday in New York, when he told Sean Hannity that, as Iraq-centric as we’ve become, the war is still about a lot more than the Battle of Baghdad — whether we choose to see it or not:

[H]ere's the reality of it: We're at war. And we're at war because they're at war with us…. [W]hen you listen to these debates in Congress, and you listen to the politicians debating, you sort of get the impression that they think we're in control of whether we're at war or not. It doesn't matter what we think. They're at war with us. They want to come here and kill us. And they did on September 11, and they did a long time before September 11. Way back in 1993, they came to this city and killed people.

So we've got to put Iraq in the context of a much broader picture than just Iraq. And getting Iraq correctly, in other words, getting stability there is real important. And I support what the president asked for support to do [in surging combat troops] and what General Petraeus has asked for support to do, not because there's any guarantee it's going to work. There's never any guarantee at war. But if we can come out with a correct solution or a better solution in Iraq, it's going to make the whole War on Terror go better. We got to get beyond it. We've got to get beyond Iraq….

Right in the aftermath of [an attack like 9/11], there's tremendous unity. We understand that we have to be on offense against terrorists, that we have to make it bipartisan, that it isn't about being a Democrat or a Republican. It's about being an American. Now you get further away, and that lesson isn't as vivid. And all wars have that happen. This is a difficult thing to do, but we've got to start getting beyond Iraq.

We've got to be thinking about Iran. We have to think about Syria. We have to be thinking about Pakistan and Afghanistan and making sure that the transition in Afghanistan goes correctly. We have to be ready for the fact that, whatever happens in Iraq, success or failure — success will help us in the War on Terror. Failure will hurt us. But the war is still going to go on. They're still going to want to come here and kill us.

Some conservatives worry about Giuliani’s positions on certain social issues, especially abortion. But his positions have not signaled conventional liberalism. He has governed as a limited-government conservative — a species Republicans would do well to rediscover. More to the point, he doesn’t pine for the courts to impose that which the public rejects. To the contrary, he vows to appoint justices who will stick to the individual rights we already have rather than invent new ones as they go along. Who will adjudicate rather than legislate. Who will be our umpires, not our rulers. No president can do more than that to promote conservative outcomes. Conservatism is where the public is. We win a fair fight, a democratic fight, and he is committed to giving us that.

No fight, however, matters as much as the one for our survival. No one will fight that fight better or smarter or more zealously than Rudy Giuliani. That’s why we need him.

— Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

[areafiftyone]

((((RUDY PING!!!)))

[meg88]

RUDY!!

[SJSAMPLE]

RINO !!!

[zarf]

Uh oh, seal the friggen hatches!

[stm]

God I hope this isn't the guy the GOP is pinning their hopes on.

[P-40]

the individual rights we already have

Like the right to go hunting? It's in the Constitution!

[Hydroshock]

Leading to the left, no thanks. I can never vote for him.

[areafiftyone]

ROFLMAO! I've got my sword ready! LOL!

[Gunder]

Wow, post #4. You guys are getting quicker. I'm impressed.

[meg88]

[Uncledave]

But Giuliani’s greatest asset may have been his unique understanding that success in any great endeavor hinges on the capacity to explain, relentlessly, what you are doing and why.

I couldn't agree more. How refreshing and critical this is. From living in the NYC metro area, and working downtown, during his administration, I'm comfortable in saying Rudy will make the tough decisions, stick by them, and do a terrific job communicating them to the people in a Reaganesque way -- something the present administration does not attempt which is most puzzling and frustrating.

[TitansAFC]

I'm shocked.....shocked to hear Social Liberals and Libertarians who are all war and tax cuts would endorse Rudy!

Shocked!

[Westbrook]

Maybe I'm just a country rube, but can somebody illuminate me on the substantive differences between Rudy-Tutti-Frutti, her Heinous Hitlery, and Osama-Obama?

Thank you.

.

[Vaquero]

Geeze Bill Buckley has gotten senile hasn't he.

Giulinai? Gore? whats the difference?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1785274/posts

[CrawDaddyCA]

Ah, the daily 'Rudy is our only hope' thread.

And to think, we only have about two more years of this...

[veronica]

LOL...

[Patrick1]

Again, on the issue of defending America I can vote for Giuliani. Is he my first choice? No. Would I vote for him over McCain no doubt, over Romney, yes. But most importantly to protect my family and my country I would vote for him over Hillary or Barrak Hussein Obama. I don't see how any conservative could do otherwise.

[areafiftyone]

We need a leader. I'm sick and tired of these wishy washy congress critters. That's why I voted for Bush and Reagan because they are and were leaders. Regardless of how low in the polls or whiny people get they stick to their guns!

[areafiftyone]

Now tell me what part of this list did Hillary or Obama accomplish in their term as Senator?

- 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 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 prosecuted terrorists and illegal immigrants.