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Giuliani Has No Real Chance With GOP Voters . . . or Does He?
The Washington Post ^ | March 4, 2007 | Dan Balz

Posted on 03/04/2007 2:13:52 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

The 2008 presidential campaign is just weeks old, but already an article of faith within the Republican Party -- the belief that no politician who favors abortion rights and gay rights can win the GOP nomination -- is being challenged by the candidacy of former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

...."This is the first Republican presidential primary since Sept. 11," said Ed Gillespie, ... "Rudy Giuliani is a candidate who can clearly test the proposition that a Republican who is more moderate on social issues can capture the nomination. He's testing it now."

....Whit Ayres, a Georgia-based Republican pollster, said he has been struck by the number of conservatives he has encountered who disagree with Giuliani on abortion or gay rights but are still attracted to him as a possible Republican nominee. ....

"It truly is the question in Republican presidential politics at the moment," Ayres said. "There are a lot of people with a more traditional view who think that his leading in the polls is just a mirage and that he has no real chance. I don't believe that. I think there's more to this than simply name ID. "

...A veteran Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly assess the situation, said he is among those who long believed that a Republican with Giuliani's profile would have no chance. He still believes the former mayor faces significant obstacles but said the odds of Giuliani winning the nomination are not as remote as they once seemed.

He gave three reasons: the absence of a strong, traditional conservative in the GOP field; continuing antipathy among many social and religious conservatives toward McCain; and the prospect of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) becoming the next president.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: duncanhunter; election; giuliani; politics
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To: EQAndyBuzz
"If he does win the nomination, will Conservatives come out to vote for him?"

There are only two ways Rudy would get my vote: he reverses his positions on gays, guns, and abortion, or he selects Newt Gingrich as his VP choice.

81 posted on 03/04/2007 3:36:26 AM PST by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

My friend, just some words for you -

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Regards, Ivan


82 posted on 03/04/2007 3:38:37 AM PST by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
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To: joseph20
"At a time when our nation is at war, there is no room for a protest vote."

Yeah, that's what conservatives have been told in every election since Reagan. Guess what---I'm not buying it anymore. I'll vote my convictions, and to hell with "vote for the "moderate" (actually RINO)" as the "lesser of two evils".

83 posted on 03/04/2007 3:39:14 AM PST by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel-NRA)
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To: MadIvan

No. Gradations were many. Look at the Welsh coalminers during that time. Serfdom, debt bondage, indentured servitude, and more all existed. Sorry, it is only in retrospect that we see things so clearly.


84 posted on 03/04/2007 3:41:22 AM PST by narses ("Freedom is about authority." - Rudolph Giuliani)
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To: MadIvan

Thank you friend.


85 posted on 03/04/2007 3:43:09 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: EQAndyBuzz
I know how you feel, lately I've been feeling a lot like Zell Miller but I'd hold on to it Andy, it's still very, very early in the cycle and without any conservatives sticking it out we don't have the ability to exert any influence. Remember the Harriet Miers nomination?

I'm still hopeful that with it being so early we'll see several surprises before it's all said and done.

So I still have my card but I make sure the (paid) fund raisers that call me understand I'm holding my money hostage. Sadly since they're paid and don't have a dog in the hunt they could care less but I figure if I say it enough some of it might filter up to the powers that be.

86 posted on 03/04/2007 3:44:48 AM PST by Proud_texan (Just my opinion, no relationship to reality is expressed or implied.)
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To: All
Giuliani's well-deserved celebrity appeal from his Sept. 11 response

Are we to believe that a "lesser" person would have run from the city? Excused the attacks? What? I am reminded of the decades old advertisement claim "ProductX gives you more!"

87 posted on 03/04/2007 3:45:04 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: All
Giuliani "looks like he can beat Hillary, make the party competitive again in the Northeast, competitive again in California

Yeah, like we're looking for Rudy SchwarzenKennedy. No thanks.

88 posted on 03/04/2007 3:46:14 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Take a look at New Orlean's "leadership."


89 posted on 03/04/2007 3:46:39 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Jim Robinson; All

***.... Mr. DeLay, the former House majority leader... criticized CPAC and other conservative gatherings for never offering plans of action to defeat the left. He said he is forming a Coalition for a Conservative Majority that would unite the various conservative interest groups into a single message for the conservative cause....***

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070304-120048-6857r.htm


90 posted on 03/04/2007 3:49:57 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: MadIvan

The first rule of a culture is to protect pregnant women and small children.
When a culture allows the planned murder of the most helpless, that culture will die in its own poison!

Do you understand the difference between a citizen and a subject?


91 posted on 03/04/2007 3:54:09 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Vote for RINOS, lose and complain by sending a self-abused stomped elephant.)
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To: All
his complex business dealings will be subjected to withering scrutiny

I just love euphemized reports.

Mr. Giuliani, what are your connections, if any, to Carlos Slim and Carlos Hank González? Any other of Mexicorruption's rich and powerful that we should know about?

92 posted on 03/04/2007 3:54:54 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

The first rule of a culture is to protect pregnant women and small children.

The first rule of a culture is to protect pregnant women and small children.

The first rule of a culture is to protect pregnant women and small children.

(I figure if it keeps getting said, it might sink in!)


93 posted on 03/04/2007 3:55:36 AM PST by narses ("Freedom is about authority." - Rudolph Giuliani)
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Ask Kerik!


94 posted on 03/04/2007 3:56:01 AM PST by narses ("Freedom is about authority." - Rudolph Giuliani)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

He doesn't have an icecube's chance in hell.


95 posted on 03/04/2007 3:59:42 AM PST by Maeve (Do you have supplies for an extended emergency? Be prepared! Pray!)
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To: jim35
"To say the least. I'm really about fed up with this new America that has sprung up over the last couple of decades.

I'm sick of the PC, the anti-Christianity, the defining down of deviancy, the constant encroachments on our freedoms, etc.

If the GOP can't do any better than nominating a pro-gay, anti-gun, pro-abortion, liberal-judge appointing RINO... then as far as I'm concerned, it's over for America.

We might as well join the EU.
"

IMO, that's almost exactly the pool of mindsets trying to mold our Republican Party into another party like that of the Democrats: EU mentalities. Too many people have been advocating for their various Euro-identity efforts instead of advocating for America. ...too much about heritage preferences for countries like Britain and Italy, and too many public rants against various American religious and ethnic groups. Why are we not seeing more positive and less negative material about different religions and ethnic groups in our USA? It appears to me that members of each of several religions (including Atheism) and ethnic groups are trying to take control of our government and make it over in their image. We're being little-balkanized instead of being Americans. We're being steered toward socialism by people who cling to the worst philosophies of old Europe.
96 posted on 03/04/2007 4:00:54 AM PST by familyop
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To: MadIvan
I don't believe even the dems would be stupid enough to select Gore as their representative...but hey, they still have the likes of Byrd and Kucinich...so who knows...rational thinking isn't their strong suit...in fact, it's not even in their hand.
97 posted on 03/04/2007 4:09:19 AM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
If he does win the nomination, will Conservatives come out to vote for him?

Let's see how he does in the primary contest first. Then we can answer that one.

98 posted on 03/04/2007 4:13:23 AM PST by Glenn (Annoy a RudyBot...Think for yourself.)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Do you understand the difference between a citizen and a subject?

Sound and fury signifying nothing. In my passport, it says "British Citizen", not subject. I believe this change was made during the 1980's.

Now, let's return to the remainder of your post - you're having the argument with the wrong person. As a Roman Catholic who opposes abortion, I want to see it ended. What I am trying to tell you is that having a pro-life President does not mean it will end. You've had a Pro-life President for all but 8 of the past 27 years. Is abortion gone yet?

The truth is, that the best a President can do is appoint the appropriate judges - that is something Rudy has promised, and should be part of any compact that social conservatives make with him. Secondly, getting rid of it is going to require much harder work than electing a President - it will require drip feeding what it actually means into the electorate's consciousness so that there is a groundswell from below to get rid of it.

Ivan

99 posted on 03/04/2007 4:16:12 AM PST by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
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To: All
Mr. Giuliani, you said that you "understand" the Second Amendment rights. Do you "understand" the concept of a Nation of Laws not Men?

The mayor failed in federal court to overturn a 1996 federal law which declared that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS.

According to "Crime & the Illegal Alien. The Fallout from Crippled Immigration Enforcement" a June 2004 report by Heather Mac Donald (www.cis.org)

"On September 5, 2001, [Mayor Giuliani's] hand-picked charter revision committee ruled that New York may still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later . . . ."

Yes, I know that most if not all of the 19 entered legally -- ILLEGAL aliens include those who overstay their authorization. Yes, I know that they did not fly out of New York City but I can imagine what would have happened if they had and they had been stopped on the way to the airport; to wit, "Oops, sorry sir. The mayor says we can't touch you but you really ought to touch base with the INS. Have a good day, sir."

100 posted on 03/04/2007 4:16:53 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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