Then again... perhaps not so much.
Posted on 03/02/2007 12:34:28 PM PST by meg88
CNSNews.com) - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday made a bid for the hearts and minds of wary conservatives by connecting himself to former President Ronald Reagan and extolling his own conservative traits in a speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC).
Giuliani, a frontrunner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, may have a tough time reaching more conservative voters who are unimpressed by his liberal stance on social issues such as abortion and homosexual marriage.
Giuliani had originally declined an invitation to address the mega-conference - his name doesn't appear on pre-printed schedules - but changed his mind at the last minute and used his speech as a chance to prove himself worthy of conservatives' support.
His 40-minute speech invoked the memory of Reagan, an icon for CPAC attendees, several times. "He is in fact one of my heroes," Giuliani said of the 40th president. "Ronald Reagan had a place he was going: a world free of Communism."
While he conspicuously avoided issues on which "traditional values" conservatives disagree with him, Giuliani painted himself as a tax-cutting, welfare-reforming, crime-fighting Republican.
As mayor of New York City, Giuliani said he cut taxes when other leaders proposed raising them to address a massive deficit. He also reformed the city's welfare system, which, at the time he took office, covered one in seven city residents. He attributed the city's still declining crime rate to the reform policies his administration implemented.
"We do believe in many of the same things," he said to a standing-room only crowd.
Many CPAC-goers cheer at the suggestion of abolishing the Department of Education. Giuliani didn't go so far as to advocate its demise but pushed strongly for more parental involvement in school choice and education policy.
He also defended the war on terrorism, saying the United States is "a peaceful country" and that the war "is not our war on them, this is their war on us." He said the war "is over when they stop planning to come here and kill us."
Giuliani extolled the virtues of the USA Patriot Act and electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, comparing Bush's terrorism-fighting efforts to those of the New York authorities in investigating and prosecuting the mafia.
But Giuliani may have a tougher time courting conservatives than his standing ovation implied.
While a handful of his supporters waved handmade signs during his ovation, outside the ballroom, scores of attendees waited in line with pre-printed signs for Giuliani's rivals Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.
Tancredo and Brownback, as well as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have campaigned hard during CPAC, with hundreds of college-aged volunteers distributing literature around every corner of the Omni-Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
All of the Republican contenders for the nomination except Sen. John McCain of Arizona are scheduled to speak at the conference. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will also address the group, although he has not announced whether he will seek the Republican nomination in 2008.
Rudy for President PING!
I might vote for this guy, but not because he claims to be a conservative!
((((((RUDY PING))))
He also defended the war on terrorism, saying the United States is "a peaceful country" and that the war "is not our war on them, this is their war on us." He said the war "is over when they stop planning to come here and kill us."
This guy is a statist to the nth degree.
Rudy says his personal 'social' beliefs will not prevent him from appointing Conservative judges....which I hope isn't his first fib.
Rudy is the guy for dangerous times against dangerous enemies....I truly feel that..
It was a good speech- the fact that he got such a warm ovation from CPAC shows there's much more openness to Rudy among conservatives than some on this board would suggest. I suspect most of those CPAC attendees won't vote for Rudy, but nobody was making them clap for him- they did that on their own. I wish we'd get away from the hyperbole on Rudy- he may turn out to be too liberal to get the nomination, but he's being treated very seriously and respectfully by conservative activists and I wish some of that would rub off on this board. Even if you don't support him.
In the name of full disclosure, I am not supporting Giuliani.
However, my purely objective take on this is that it was probably not helpful for him to deliver such a long speech as an effort to convert skeptics. For that length, you need lots of absolutely grade-A material, which I can't see him having for an audience skewing more conservative than he. Given his undisputed differences with conservatives on social issues, I think a speech that long would likely be seen by the unconvinced as trying too hard. If he could have made the case solidly in half that time, it would have been to his great advantage to do so.
No truer words will be written here today. Amen.
What about all the liberal judges you appointed, Gulliani?
Did he defend his "War on the Unborn"?
Freepmail.
We breathe air, we drink water, we walk upright...
You're probably right. But as much as I respect his political skills and ability to articulate a message, I think he's damaged goods as a Presidential candidate. He'd make a terrific cabinet member, though.
Then again... perhaps not so much.
Rudy makes it hard for folks to portray him as an "east coast socialist." Increasingly, they're reduced to simply posting pictures of him in drag.
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