Posted on 02/23/2007 1:43:05 AM PST by MadIvan
Surrounded by firemen, medics and police officers in a small fire station in the Deep South, Rudy Giuliani was introduced by local dignitaries as "the face of the 9/11 response" and the man who "was there when the twin towers were hit".
He is running for the White House in 2008 but it was that fateful day in 2001 that will define his candidacy. "On September 11, 2001, the terrorists who attacked us wanted to achieve two things," he said as the South Carolina audience hushed. "They wanted to kill a lot of Americans and they wanted to break our spirit."
More than five years after the al-Qa'eda attacks, amid gloom and division over the Iraq war, there is a nostalgia for the heroism and solidarity that they sparked.
As New York's take-charge mayor, Mr Giuliani is seen as the epitome of a spirit that was not broken.
That memory of him, etched in the US psyche, has propelled Mr Giuliani, 62, into his surprise position as early front-runner in the Republican field for 2008 as he presents himself as a leader who can be trusted "when they attack us again".
His advisers calculate that his 9/11 image, combined with his success in cutting crime and taxes in New York, will trump concerns about his views on abortion, gay rights and gun control, which conventional wisdom dictates should sink him in the Republican primaries.
Whereas his rivals John McCain and Mitt Romney are engaged in attempts to disavow previous statements and recast themselves as social conservatives, Mr Giuliani's pitch is that "for most it's never about one issue" and consistency is preferable to pandering.
"I believe you've got to run based on what you are, who you really are," he told The Daily Telegraph. "I find if you do it that way even people who disagree with you sometimes respect you."
Mr Giuliani noted that his pro-choice abortion position had not changed in nearly two decades. The former mayor declined to draw the contrast himself, but Mr McCain supported the Roe versus Wade abortion ruling as late as 1999 and Mr Romney was pro-choice in 2004 but now declares himself pro-life.
"I'm just telling you the most honest answer to the question, which is the same answer I gave in 1989," Mr Giuliani told The Daily Telegraph. "I would advise my daughter or anyone else not to have an abortion. I'd do anything I could to help and assist with an adoption. I would like to see it ended but ultimately I believe a woman has a right to choose."
Whereas the Democratic contest has already descended into angry exchanges between advisers to the three front-runners, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, the Republican contest has remained gentlemanly thus far.
"No comment on anybody else's candidacy," Mr Giuliani said firmly when he was invited to criticise his opponents. "We've got some terrific people that are running."
Paradoxically, Mr Giuliani is able to appear as the candidate of optimism by repeatedly referring to America's darkest day. He even injected notes of humour into his 9/11 stories as he spoke against the backdrop of a massive US flag that had been flown in an A-10 Thunderbolt over Afghanistan. He told how a fire crew drove 700 miles to New York from Indianapolis to help, and he saw a Chicago policeman directing traffic in Manhattan. "Probably he was sending people up to the Bronx that are still driving around trying to figure out where they are," he said.
Mr Giuliani suggested there had been divine intervention in the way the hijacked United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania just a mile from a school. "Just a hand of God had that plane come down in the field rather than on top of a school and our tragedy would have been even worse."
He also cited his record of running a city with a population of 8.1 million and getting things done. "I hate to toot my own horn but that's what I'm good at. I'm good at taking problems that have hung around for a long time with nobody doing anything about it.
"That's what I did about the problem of crime in New York, the problem of welfare, the problem of cleaning up the streets."
After being made an honorary fire chief of South Carolina, a traditionally conservative state where a crucial early primary will be held, he mingled among the crowd, signing so many photographs and copies of his book Leadership that his hand began to tire.
When told that the Queen has a machine to sign official documents for her, he laughed and responded: "Is that true? That's not fair."
Several Republicans said they differed from him on key issues but would vote for him nevertheless. "I don't like his position on gun control," said Ken Crenshaw, 63, a retired soldier. "I've belonged to the National Rifle Association for 35 years so I'm pro-gun. But he's a proven leader so he's the right man at the right moment."
There seems to be a organized tag team of posters for Rudy, so much so, I think they need there own forum.
Just because Jim runs the forum doesn't mean he's not allowed to have an opinion.
He's a human just like the rest of us.
A very good man (after all, look what he's done for the cause of conservatism), but a man.
If he's holding back his opinions, that's his perogative.
Paul
"Just because Jim runs the forum doesn't mean he's not allowed to have an opinion.
He's a human just like the rest of us.
A very good man (after all, look what he's done for the cause of conservatism), but a man.
If he's holding back his opinions, that's his perogative.
Paul"
I didn't mean to accuse him of anything. I simply was surprised to see him posting in the forum, and I wasn't completely sure that was his name. I'm sorry for seeming to be curt or accusatory.
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