Posted on 02/23/2007 7:05:51 PM PST by FairOpinion
I've never voted for Rudy Giuliani in my life. But I'm thinking hard about it now.
In both cases, I surprise myself.
The rest of America may know Rudy as "America's Mayor" for his ceremonial performance post-9/11, but for New Yorkers who lived through the Dinkins years, Rudy Giuliani is more than a guy who stands tall when the skyscrapers fall. By the late '90s, people were beginning to say that New York City was ungovernable: Remember the court-driven interest group spending, the disorder, the bums taking over the parks and the playgrounds and the street corners, spiraling welfare costs, the crime, the small business disaster, the high taxes, rent control, the South Bronx? New York was a disaster area, a poster child for what liberalism hath wrought.
The glittering cosmopolitan New York City we now live in, the one seemingly every college student in America dreams about moving to, is largely Rudy's gift, forged in the face of intense, daily, nasty invective from those who at the time insisted that to demand order and civility in a large city was to be a fascist.
Even Rudy's 9/11 performance tends to be misdescribed. It was not that he "stood tall" or didn't emotionally collapse. George Bush came to New York City and made graceful speeches about how we will rebuild the hole in the ground that still remains. What stood out for us in that dark time was not that the mayor of New York insisted we would triumph over this adversity, but that he didn't try to spin us about how unimaginably bad this sort of adversity was. He didn't try to soft-pedal the uncertainty, the chaos, the suffering the city was going through, and that gave us the confidence to believe that reality, terrible as it was, could in fact be faced.
I never voted for Rudy when I lived in New York City for one simple reason: abortion. I don't look for purity in politicians, just for some small pro-life reason to vote for a guy: Medicaid funding, parental notification, partial birth abortion. Throw me the slightest lifeline, otherwise I assume he just doesn't want the vote of people like me. Rudy never did. So I never gave him my vote. And of course it doesn't help now to recall the way Rudy treated his second wife, nor do I particularly want to imagine the third Mrs. Giuliani as Laura Bush's successor.
So I could have sworn, even a few months ago, that I'd never vote for Rudy Giuliani, in spite of my deep respect for his considerable achievements as mayor. So why would I even think of changing my mind? Two things: national security, and Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court appointments.
When I ask myself, who of all the candidates in both parties do I most trust to keep me and my children safe? The answer is instantaneous, deeper than the level any particular policy debate can go: Rudy Giuliani. And when I look ahead on social issues like gay marriage, the greatest threat I see is that the Supreme Court with two or more appointments from Hillary Clinton, will decide that our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, created a national constitutional right to whatever social liberals have decided is the latest civil rights battle. It's hard to see a state that George Bush won in which Rudy Giuliani will not beat Hillary Clinton. And he will put a whole slew of new blue states into play: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, to name just three. (The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Giuliani in a dead heat with Clinton in Connecticut.) Which puts people like me, who care very deeply about marriage and life issues, in the position of thinking hard about Rudy.
And who here doesn't?
If Rudy can beat Hillary, he can beat any of the other Dems too.
I don't like Romney, I detest McCain.
If Hunger of Newt could beat any of the Dem Candidates, I woudl enthusistically vote for them.
But if wishes were horses and all that. Newt said he won't run if Rudy is continuing to be the frontrunner.
Wake up and smell reality. It IS Rudy or Hillary. Pick one.
I'm not pretending anything. That would be your job. After all, it is you who is entertaining the delusion that a man who holds almost all of the views of the opposition party can hold together ours.
"The empowerment of leftwingers like Schwarzeneggar."
I guess you wanted to keep Gray Davis in 2003 and elect the guy Arnold beat last year whatever his name was.
False dilemma.
You are still sore that Angelides didn't win, are you?
And no one takes him series, or otherwise the bor...
But throwing a 30 day embargo on the products of a nation whose government who was holding a US aircrew, now ya talk'n!
Measures like that would tend to impress those who would wish us harm.
While I'm not a major contributor of the "R" party, my schedule allows me to take a week or two off and rent a posthole digger.
That time, plus my rippling 6 pack abs* allows me to set up roadside signs, supporting the political party which has the same goals that I have.
If the Party drifts away from my values, then there's no reason to make the effort. Particularly when the POTUS (who I voted for) chooses to ignore our laws and reward law breakers?
And frankly, I suspect I'll be giving Saint Peter an accounting of my time here on earth, long before I'm named in Paternity suit.
Where that sits on Maslo's Hierarchy of Needs, I don't know. But those are my values. If a abortionist heads the Republican ticket, then I'm a Third Party voter.
And the powers that be know that too. If Hillary raise taxes too high, I'll just hire a slicker accountant.
*Which have subsequently settled into a solid mass above my 35" waist :^(
Anyone who wants to turn the U.S. into another Mexico.
Actually, there was a conservative in the race. Sorry I have to remind you. If it wasn't for the sellouts in the GOP, he would have been Governor, too. The most qualified man for the job in the entire state. Instead you elected a liberal comic book character.
Guess you also missed Arnold defending Hillary just today, eh?
"Hunger of Newt "
Hunter or Newt -- back to typing class for me for all the typos I've been making lately.
Actually, thanks to you and yours, he pretty much did.
If you actually believe a conservative could have won in California last year then I'm wasting my time with you. I might as well go talk to a rock. Good night.
"Dont like" doesnt count.
Solid record and positions that are more emphatically conservative, good character and great executive leadership. It's worth considering:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~unmarkedpackage/
I wont argue on McCain. But he is a real conservative on many more issues than Rudy.
"If Hunger of Newt could beat any of the Dem Candidates, I woudl enthusistically vote for them."
Reality is that Newt is the most articulate defender of conservative ideas we have. Bar none. He should not be underestimated as a candidate.
"Rudy is continuing to be the frontrunner. " If you are just voting for the winner for the sake of being on the 'winning side', why bother voting at all?
"Wake up and smell reality. It IS Rudy or Hillary. Pick one." That's not reality, that's braindead reductionism. I will tell you right now that the chance it is Rudy v Hillary is less than 1 in 10. IMHO Hillary has better than 50/50 chance of NOT being the candidate, and Rudy, once his baggage is exposed and his non-conservativeness questioned, will be far from the frontrunner. Anyone looking at polls now as 'reality' is smoking crack. they mean nothing; voters have no clue. What matters are the essential levers in the voting decision.
Read this:http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2007/02/who-should-be-our-next-president.html
Tell me honestly how Rudy matches up and meets the test. If he passes, he's in. If he doesn't, time for another candidate.
The primary is NOT between Rudy and Hillary - the primary is WHO IS THE BEST CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN.
We compromised when we voted for Arnie - and I think we'll have to apologize for the recall by the time he's done with things. We've got a socialist insurance plan he's trying to introduce, we'll see if he stays anywhere close to mid-center on homosexual extra rights and indoctrination in the schools. He sort of talks a good talk on immigration, but it's just talk. The new enivromental things he's pushing forward are a nightmare.
I'm not willing to do that again, especially not on a national scale. National security is important - and Hillary not being the president is important - but even though everyone is saying it's a done deal - it's far from it. I just don't see her or Obama getting in there - I see a sneak attack from the Al Gore camp -
I want a conservative to throw my support behind! Not just someone who's lower case republican with scare tactics of "what if?". What a stupid way of thinking.
Reagan didn't use scare tactics - he gave us a vision of what could be - He made us proud to be Americans, not that we were voting second best because it was better than nothing. I don't see a vision or an excitement of what America still has to offer! Why not?
Why isn't anyone calling this what it is, a fight to death with Islam - Reagan did it with communism and for the most part won the battle, there's very pockets in the world that are truly communist anymore. Why don't any of the candidates support this and commit to finishing the fight - and maybe going even further then what is currently being done rather than armchair quarterbacking on what didn't get done....tell us what they will. Why aren't any of the candidates TRUMPETING the economic reports, the consistent strong economic factors and say "there's more of that coming!" There's all kinds of things that a true conservative leader could bring to the table that even if we didn't agree with everyhing, we'd be happy to get behind the one who will move us forward.
I just don't understand the fervor of trying to convince everyone that Rudy must be the answer, we just have to overlook our convictions and bite the ballot bullet!
The primary is about choosing the person who is most likely to beat the Dem candidate. Period.
"Sure, that's what some said about the 2006 election: "Pelosi scaremongering" and look what the Dems are doing after barely a month in power."
I WAS THERE. I TRIED IT. IT DIDNT WORK. VOTERS IGNORED THE PLEAS. REMEMBER?
" Just think what will Hillary do."
That DOESNT WORK. Dont tell me what Hillary will do - tell me what the REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE will or wont do. If Rudy wont help on half the issues I care about, should I work half as hard for him as I did for W in 2004?
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2007/02/who-should-be-our-next-president.html
Yep---If the GOP candidate was McCain or Hagel.
aw yes, another pro illegals from PA.
safe and tucked away from the illegal hords.
I live in San Diego, the largest City and county in the U.S. over 3 million pop. with Mixico at our border.
It is costing us tax payers mega millions of dollars a year for health care, food, crime,education.
I watched in person when over 50,000 Mexicans marched here with the Chea t shirts, Mexican flags, and Gringo go back to Europe, this is our country.
And they wonder why we are conservative
a. Refrain from character assassination of any GOP candidate, and to
b. Enthusiastically support whoever the GOP nominates to take on 'das Beast' in November 2008.
How about you - err - non-Rudy supporters - will you join us in this oath?
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