Posted on 03/07/2007 12:19:59 PM PST by Ol' Sparky
Giuliani should drop out now
Posted Wednesday, February 23 2005 03:10:50 am
By Abraham Sisson
Senior Columnist
Americans elected George W. Bush to a second term on November 2nd, but it was even before that when pundits first started predicting who the key players would be in the 2008 election. For the Democrats, the answer seems clear. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed Hillary Clinton leading the field with a whopping 40 percent, a full 15 percentage points ahead of John Kerry, who is currently in second place.
For Republicans, however, the answer seems less obvious. According to the same poll that puts Clinton ahead of her fellow Democrats, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani leads the Republicans, barely edging out Arizona Senator John McCain by three percentage points.
In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, sympathy outpoured to the victims from people across America and around the globe. In the months that followed, New York City came to be known as America’s City – the embodiment of all the United States stood for. As a natural offshoot, its leader, Rudy Giuliani, became America’s Mayor.
When he went to bed on Sept. 10, Giuliani was probably contemplating his future. The 11th was supposed to be the beginning of the end for him – the day New Yorkers took to the polls to elect a new mayor, and Giuliani wasn’t on the ballot. Despite the excellent job he had done in cutting crime and stimulating the economy, Giuliani was known best across America for the scandal generated by his extramarital affair, and his tendency towards flying off in fits of rage at press conferences. The next morning, however, all that would change.
For various security reasons, President Bush faded in and out of sight on that fateful day, leaving Giuliani to fill the leadership gap. He took up the task spectacularly, and comforted New York, America, and the world with his confident rhetoric and steady presence. Later, Time Magazine would award him the coveted title of Man of the Year, but it was in the weeks following 9/11 that a political star was born.
Almost four years later, Republican delegates gathered together to nominate President Bush as their candidate for the ‘04 run, and several potential ‘08 nominees took the podium to speak. In sharp contrast to Senator McCain’s rather lackluster address to the Republican convention (which drew sustained applause only when McCain attacked filmmaker Michael Moore), Giuliani’s fiery, soaring speech sealed him a top spot in the Republican primaries of ‘08. Giuliani seems to be eager and willing to take up the American people on this opportunity, and spent the election cycle touring the country, endorsing various candidates. Despite the buzz he has been generating, the nomination of Rudy Giuliani as the Republican candidate for President would be a disaster from which the party may never recover.
Giuliani is a Republican, no doubt. But how conservative can one be while getting elected in one of the most liberal cities in America?
The answer, apparently, is “not very.”
When it comes to abortion, Giuliani is not merely pro-choice – he opposed the congressional ban on partial birth abortion, a view that puts him to the left of many Democrats. When he was mayor of New York City, he was viewed as a champion of gay rights – another turn off to social conservatives.
Compromise through moderate candidates should be a goal of the Republican party, but only when sticking to their guns would be useless. If a conservative Republican would have run in place of Giuliani for NYC mayor, they would have been slaughtered. In the solidly democratic state of California, only a liberal Republican such as Arnold Schwarzenegger could have hoped to win the gubernatorial seat. When it comes to the ‘08 presidential race, however, compromise is the last thing the Republicans should be doing. No doubt Giuliani has a solid hold on the terrorism issue, but that alone will not stop social conservatives from leaving the party in droves. If they establish a party based solely on reversing Roe (which is not unlikely), it will be hard for Republicans to woo them back when the next election cycle rolls around. Should Giuliani be the nominee, his affair will come back to the surface of public discourse, which would be damaging – especially coupled with his liberal social record. Could the Republicans possibly be so foolish as to nominate a candidate who has absolutely no claim on the moral values issue, when every analyst said a monopoly on that very issue gave George W. Bush his 2004 win?
Another debilitating problem: Giuliani’s liberal position on the second amendment. His ardent support of gun control has NRA members up in arms (though not literally). Many diehard supporters of gun rights could sit ‘08 out in protest or vote for minor third-party candidates, giving Democrats the boost they need to tip the balance in the South.
For the good of the party, Giuliani should stop campaigning in the way he is, and announce his intent not to run. Should he continue on at his present rate, he will gear the party up for a split that could spell the end of Republican influence for years to come.
If either Hitlery or Giulianni wins in 2008, the liberals will have won the White House either way. For now, I'll support the only real conservative on the ticket.
Bump.
Fresh news.......
Rudy is just the man for the job!!
From what I've heard, Rudy believes the federal government should keep it's nose out of gun control. The state and municipal level is where he thinks it should be, if desired by the states or municipality. He wants the Feds out of that business. But if gun rights keeps people for voting for Rudy, then they will help get a real gun grabber elected, Hillary!
It's already happening on FR. Look at all the ardent pro and anti-Rudy postings.
Well, the abortion issue is serious. But let's get serious about the rest of this hit piece. Rudy was more than a one day mayor. The way he showed himself to the nation on 9/11 was pretty much the way he showed himself to the city all through his tenure as mayor. It wasn't just a lucky accident.
Try to picture some of our other mayors--Philadelphia, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, almost any of our big cities--acting the way Giuliani did. He is an unusually fine leader. He took charge as he is accustomed to taking charge. He can't be faulted in those areas.
Abortion is another question, which he needs to deal with somehow.
Congressman Billybob
Oh, he's dealt with it all right. He's "personally opposed, but . . . " or so we keep hearing. I can believe a good many other FReepers find that acceptable, but I cannot imagine that you do.
Lets see if I follow this logic. Rudy has more than 40% of the conservative vote and is more than twice any other candidate (McCain)and he easily beats Hillary in all polls and he should drop out to make room for some nobody like Duncan Who? who still only has one percent in the polls. Geez. Can I sell you a bridge to nowhere?
Thanks for the warning.
Leaving this quagmire thread now.........
The Party is ALREADY split.. George Bush did it on immigration..
Giuliani is only splintering it even more.. on several other issues..
But Bush started it and is continuing it.. ON PURPOSE..
WHY?... Yeah thats a good question..
Thats WHY Hitlery WILL BE elected..
Most republicans won't even know this split has happened till 2009..
Rudy was on Hannity recently and declared gun ownership "must be regulated". His remarks are posted all around FR and Jim even wrote a piece addressing Rudy's remarks. Since we only have New York as a historic basis to logically premise our opinion - MANY law abiding citizen gun owners would have been instantly made criminals had they not forfeited their Second Amendment right to Giuliani's "regulation."
So if one votes for Rudy one, in essence, tells every conservative Republican and every pro-gun Independent or rightly-tilted Democrat it's okay to "regulate" our firearm ownership rights. Also said to them is it's okay to side with the pro-abortion lobby, the homosexual lobby, and the nanny state expansionists.
A vote for Rudy implies to every elected official those Conservative positions are no longer important to defend, so we're saddled with the question, "Is this the direction in which we want America to go? the direction in which we wish to aid steer it?" As for me, the answer is a resounding "NO!"
My position is this before the primaries and will remain so even after the general:
With Republicans like Rudy, the damage done to Conservative ideals would take decades to overcome. Numerous years worth of gains made since Reagan's influence proving leaders can at the same time be fiscally and socially conservative would be immediately tossed.
Liberal Republicans like Rudy are more dangerous than liberal democrats,,,,,
because liberal Republicans BLUR THE DISTINCTION between liberalism and conservatism,,,
making LIBERALISM MUCH MORE ACCEPTABLE.
That is precisely what you said, but you stated it so much better!! This country just does NOT need two political parties to the left of center. JulieAnnie would accelerate that movement!
Bravo.
I will not support Rudy. My only decision is whether to openly oppose him or not.
Your post pushes me more towards open opposition.
I'd much rather have the party regroup at the corral and retool our strategy based on sound reason as the faithful defend the battlefront in preparation of a later victory battle. Giuliani just isn't right, literally or figuratively.
LOL. You might want to listen a little harder.
Better yet . . . Go back and check out his well-documented track record on this specific issue when he was mayor of New York City. It will help avoid all of the confusion that has been deliberately sown in our path by the "reconstructed Rudy Giuliani" hacks* in the media.
* This means you -- Sean Hannity, Deroy Murdock, Steve Malanga, etc.
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