Posted on 02/16/2007 1:58:44 PM PST by Spiff
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, has become the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination despite a personal life that his own staff once conceded opened him up to accusations of "weirdness".
A USA Today/Gallup poll gave Mr Giuliani a 16-point lead over his rival Senator John McCain and showed him trailing Hillary Clinton, the leading Democrat, by just a single percentage point.
But the extent of his task to persuade Americans he can lead them was underlined this week when a remarkable 450-page "vulnerability study", compiled by aides in 1993, emerged. His current advisers fear that his colourful past and his liberal social positions could scupper his candidacy.
The study listed all the former prosecutor's perceived weaknesses as part of a "tough and hard-hitting" assessment.
Mr Giuliani, who subsequently became a national hero as mayor of New York after the September 11 attacks, ordered all copies of the document to be destroyed. But it was obtained by a reporter working on a book about him and posted on the Smoking Gun website.
According to the document, chief among his problems as he sought re-election as mayor was that his "personal life raises questions about a "weirdness factor". This stemmed from a 14-year first marriage to his second cousin that was annulled by the Roman Catholic Church.
"When asked about his personal life, Giuliani gives a wide array of conflicting answers. All of this brings the soundness of his judgement into question - and the veracity of his answers."
Mr Giuliani, who has twice married subsequently, was also vulnerable to claims he avoided service in Vietnam by receiving "special treatment from a friendly federal judge" and later "hypocritically prosecuted draft dodgers".
In an interview with CNN's Larry King Live on Wednesday, Mr Giuliani conceded that there was lots of material with which the press and opponents could attack him. "The way I deal with that is, hey, I'm a human being," he said.
"You know, I made mistakes. I'm not perfect. I keep trying to learn from them. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I keep working on that. I keep trying to learn from them. I'm a human being, much like, I think, everybody else." Mr Giuliani confirmed that he was in favour of abortion rights and against gun control - litmus-test issues for many conservatives - but emphasised that he personally hated abortion.
He would also "select judges who try to interpret the Constitution rather than invent it" - a notable reassurance to conservatives who fear presidents who use judicial appointments to engage in what many see as liberal social engineering via the courts. Whereas Democrats often reject a front runner during the party primaries, Republicans tend to coalesce around a leading candidate who they feel is electable by the broader populace. Mr Giuliani, 62, is vying to be that candidate in place of Mr McCain, 70, the early choice of the Republican establishment.
The document was the second to hand Mr Giuliani's White House rivals an arsenal of ammunition against him. Last month, a 140-page campaign battle plan setting out budgets, fundraising plans and details of possibly "insurmountable" problems with his candidacy was leaked to a New York tabloid.
Colourful past threatens Giuliani's lead
The Daily Telegraph
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 2:04am GMT 16/02/2007
McKook is the poster boy for weirdness.
It's a sad day for America when the front runners are Giuliani, McCain, Hillary and Obama. It's like people of principle have gone extinct.
It's not the deferrment, it's the hypocrisy of dodging the draft deferrment and then prosecuting draft dodgers.
The same hypocrisy he displays while supporting abortion and receiving Holy Communion.
Or the hypocrisy of purchasing an anullment from the Catholic Church after 14 years of marriage.
I really don't know how this can be defended but I'm sure it will be.
Nobody forced you to click on the thread and being from texas you should know the difference between red meat and spam.
Yeah, he's been going to RA - RINO's Anonymous - without falling off the wagon. "Hi, I'm Mitt Romney, and I have not praised Roe v. Wade for six months!"
"You know, I made mistakes. I'm not perfect. I keep trying to learn from them. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I keep working on that. I keep trying to learn from them. I'm a human being, much like, I think, everybody else."
Giuliani's campaign slogan:
"I'm a human. Really, I am!"
Hmmm...seems to be lacking that certain something...
It won't be defended. I am convinced that the Rudy strategy is to fend off the critics for as long as possible, try to use 9-11 to deflect his past liberal issues, say the right focus-tested comments that have no connection to his past actions ("strict constructionist" being the most recent example"), and then saturate the airwaves with Rudymercials in the short period leading up to all the front-loaded primaries in hopes that his opponents can't keep up.
Which could well win him the nomination. However, in the general election, the Dems are just as good at raising money and three times better at bull****. And they won't even need the bull****. They will form phantom 527 groups to drive the GOP apart by simply repeating Rudy's liberal past over and over again. And they will show pro-life and pro-gun Dems that there is no difference in that department between Rudy and the Dem nominee and convince them to stay on the Rez. And that will be that.
One of Giuliani's biggest problems is that he tends to remind most Americans why they hate New York City so much.
I don't care. Vietnam was over 30 years ago. Times and people change.
I know others care. I don't. I care about today and the future.
If his campaign staff had legitimate fears that he was too "weird" to run in New York City, you can rest assured that this guy is such a dysfunctional freak that he'd make the Clintons look normal.
When things like that get on my nerves, I figure it's time to take some time away from the board. Or, at least avoid certain threads. Give that a try
You may not care but I'll bet republican primary voters gonna care in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas et al are gonna care.
Republicans were relentless in criticizing Clinton as a CIC who dodged the draft. Carville and Begala must be laughing their asses off over this one.
Jim, you might find this of interest.
Setting aside his pro-abort views, I believe he's divorced (from wife #2) and remarried (to wife #3) in a civil ceremony, which would make him ineligible to receive communion in the Catholic church.
(So would his pro-abort views, IMO, but the marital irregularity is easier to prove.)
Wrong, it's already being defended. Nobody cares. :-}
Sounds like the clinton at work trying to hurt Giuliani.
He is a better person that they could ever hope to be.
Lordy-what-a-prescient-post BUMP
Maybe, maybe not. Rudyis, if nothing else, a very smart guy. Not a bad time to run the dirty laundry through a wash cycle and see if the stains come out.
Well, with the marrying his cousin part, I would have expected someplace more like West Virginia. :-))
Huh? The 450-page document described in the article was a confidential campaign document from Rudy Giuliani's 1993 Mayoral Campaign. The document was created by Giuliani's own people. It outlines his major vulnerabilities and then describes the spin that they're going to use to whitewash the issues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.