Posted on 03/03/2007 10:04:21 PM PST by FairOpinion
The man who was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is now leading in a slew of national polls and testing whether cultural and religious conservatives in the GOP will support a candidate who offers strong leadership on security and terrorism rather than ideological purity on social issues.
Whit Ayres, a Georgia-based Republican pollster, said he has been struck by the number of conservatives he encountered who disagree with Giuliani on abortion or gay rights but are still attracted to him as a possible Republican nominee. The issue is whether that appeal can survive through a long campaign in which Giuliani's New York record, his position on issues, his three marriages and his complex business dealings will be subjected to withering scrutiny.
The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Giuliani leading McCain by 44 percent to 21 percent, with former House speaker Newt Gingrich at 15 percent and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at 4 percent.
Many GOP strategists still question whether Giuliani can survive the scrutiny and develop a message that appeals to voters across the spectrum of Republican conservatism. In his speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Giuliani highlighted his record as a tax cutter, crime fighter and welfare reformer. But he offered little resembling a traditional conservative agenda for the future, other than saying the United States must remain on offense against terrorism. The speech won a polite but hardly enthusiastic response from the audience of activists.
(Excerpt) Read more at unionleader.com ...
Then you're giving up without a fight, IMHO.
There are seveeral candidates who fill the bill, and are more conservative Republicans than Rudy.
You know what I think?
I think you're backing the odds on favorite because you're more interested in regaining power, and afraid of losing, so you're willing to set aside your principles on the hope that once Rudy gets in office you'll be able to affect changes from within.
You're playing the same old game that has always been played.
Business as usual.
Giuliani is a Democrat but in name only. Reagan defined what it meaned to be Republican.
Giuliani ain't no Ronald Reagan.
You loved all 8 years of Bill Clinton; just admit it.
rudy is going to sign that...that news was released today
That's a stretch. Ronald Reagan had led the conservative movement for years before being elected. He ran a solid conservative campaign against Gerald Ford. He had real credentials going back to the Goldwater campaign. Rudy has none of that. He has been a solid leftist for years. He has some rightward tendencies, very few of them, but he is not a conservative. You are attempting to compare the leader of contemporary conservatism, a ground breaking idealist, with an eastern liberal of dubious morality and integrity. It doesn't work. He may be acceptable to you. That's fine. But his views are closer to Arlen Specter's than Ronald Reagan's.
Your tone this thread is very condescending. You won't persuade anyone being that way. I've interacted with you and know we can be civil. My best to you.
If you don't even know THAT much, why should anyone take you seriously?
We'll see. Most people I know have no beef of any kind with Mormons. Funny, it's Catholic Guiliani whose had three wives, and Mormon Romney whose had one.
...but he's far more CONSERVATIVE, on the most important matters, than Ron Paul, for one, is.
Please show me just how CONSERVATIVE Rudy is on the most important matters....cuz I just dont see it.
MM
Hehe Yup rudy beats all the dems. Its a shame that he basically is a Dem. where does that get us? Id atgue that Bill Clinton was as far right as Rudy
"you're more interested in regaining power"
You bet I am.
Aren't YOU intersted in regaining power from the Democrats?
Now you're just proving your provincialism; or is this an act?
well..isnt that special?
Yep. Rudy's beloved perverts began setting fire to buildings, including the Stonewall Inn itself, to draw police that they could then ambush.
I'm a California Catholic who supports Rudy....there are many very very conservative people in CA who are supporting Rudy
Twice elected in NYC. Thats a "BIG" NYC
"
NYC aint Peroria
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