Posted on 03/27/2007 12:02:11 PM PDT by FairOpinion
GUILIANI: If you're talking about a response of government, probably what government can do best is to try to limit spending and try to bring down government spending. We haven't done that in a while. We haven't done it in a concerted way. And it seems to me that's how the federal budget can have the best impact on the private economy. And make it clear that we're going to extend the tax cuts and it's not just a temporary thing so people can look forward to long term planning. And look for other ways in which we can put money back in the private sector.
GIULIANI: I regard myself as a supply sider for sure. I mean, watched Ronald Reagan do it and learned it, so it works. Taxes get reduced, more revenue come in. Practiced it as the mayor of New York. I'm the first mayor ever to do that. It's almost harder to do in New York than it is in Washington. There was less of an acceptance for it and more resistance to it. But I have lowered taxes 22, 23 times. I started with a $2.3 billion deficit and by lowering taxes, we cleared that deficit and we started building a pretty big surplus.
GIULIANI: I'm against most taxes. I think that taxes have to exist. They should exist at the lowest possible level and to the extent that we can, we shouldn't invent more.
If we were doing income tax for the first time. In other words, if we were starting off new back at the beginning of the last century, then probably we should go with a--we probably should've gone with a flat tax, maybe two levels of tax, but really simple.
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.realclearpolitics.com ...
I would highly recommend that those who are really interested in finding out where Giuliani stands, read the entire interview. You may be surprised how fiscally and economically conservative he is: bring down government spending, lower taxes, likes the flat tax, etc.
Sounds like a winner.
Bur he once dressed up as a woman in a theatrical performance, so he's toast.
Long, very interesting interview, definitely worth reading.
Rudy my be the most fiscally conservative person ever to walk on this earth, BUT, he is morally bankrupt, and will NEVER get my vote. Period.
Giuliani's is solid on economics, and has pushed forward conservative policies under daily attack in the most moonbatty of environments.
Giuliani wasn't in a political position to change everything, like rent controls, to take an example, but most of what he did do was pretty damn solid.
Giuliani looks especially good when we compare him to Duncan Hunter, a big government protectionist, or the current president, who creates big government right and left from prescription drug entitlements to No Child Left Behind.

Is a winner!
[Giuliani] says ruling out a tax increase is "political pandering." Newsday, August 31, 1989
And that negates his record how?
He's too statist and anti-gun to be a libertarian.
We know, and care, how he stands on other issues too!
I sure would love to interview him, I don't ask easy questions.
I'll second that!
Illegal immigration/Immigration
Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the citys sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to terrorize people. Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.
New York conveniently forgot the 1996 federal ban on sanctuary laws until a gang of five Mexicansfour of them illegalabducted and brutally raped a 42-year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens. The NYPD had already arrested three of the illegal aliens numerous times for such crimes as assault, attempted robbery, criminal trespass, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses. The department had never notified the INS.
Source: Heather Mac Donald
CNN clip:
Announcer: "Back in 1996, mayor Giuliani went to federal court to challenge new federal laws requiring the city to inform the federal government about illegal immigrants."
Rudy Giuliani: "There isn't a mayor or a public official in this country that's more strongly pro immigrant than I am. Including disagreeing with President Clinton when he signed an anti-immigration legislation about two or three years ago."
The New York Immigrant Coalition Press Release, August, 1989:
Rudy would continue to make city services available to all immigrants, regardless of immigration status.
Prohibit city workers from reporting undocumented immigrants to the INS, unless criminal activity is involved .
Make sure that city workers understand what benefits immigrants are entitled to .
Encourage outreach to immigrant communities to encourage their utilization of city services .
Support the use of interpreters and translators in city government
Support bilingual and bicultural education with goals of learning fluent English and maintaining native language skills .
Oppose making English the official language of the U.S.
Support adding alienage to protected class under Citys Human rights Law.
Additionally, he has supported Bush's guest worker program.
Guns
CNN clip
Rudy Giuliani: "I'm in favor of gun control"
Meet The Press:
Tim Russert: "How about registration of all handguns?" Rudy Giuliani: "You know I'm in favor of that. I've been on your show many times."
As mayor of New York City, Rudolph W. Giuliani became the favorite Republican of gun control advocates. He spoke in favor of a licensing system for gun owners that would require trigger locks and firearms training, and he lobbied Congress to outlaw most military-style assault weapons. He was the only Republican mayor to join a lawsuit by dozens of cities against the gun industry, and he complained that Southern states had lax gun laws that fed the illegal weapons trade in the Northeast.
Abortion
As mayor, Rudy Giuliani will uphold a woman's right of choice to have an abortion. Giuliani will fund all city programs which provide abortions to insure that no woman is deprived of her right due to an inability to pay. He will oppose reductions in state funding. He will oppose making abortion illegal. New York Times, August 4, 1989
On Partial Birth Abortion: Mr. Giuliani has said that New York State law should not be changed to outlaw the procedure. New York Times, January 7, 1998
Leaflets distributed by the Giuliani campaign .... said that he opposes restrictions to Federal Medicaid financing for abortions and opposes the Hyde Amendment, which is intended to deny support for that financing. New York Times, June 18, 1993.
"I never called for the overturning of Roe vs. Wade." Rudy Giuliani, New York Newsday, September 1, 1989
From the FEC database: 04/24/1999 Donations
NEW YORK STATE NARAL INC WOMEN'S HEALTH PAC
NARAL donated exclusively to Democrat candidates with one exception----Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani accepted $1,000 from NARAL in 1999.
NARAL gave $250 to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
NARAL gave $1000---4 times as much-----to pro-abortion Giuliani.
The homosexual agenda
Giuliani said homosexuality is "good and normal." quoting Ray Kerrison New York Post, July 7, 1989
According to the New York Times, Giuliani has attended every gay pride parade in New York during his eight years as mayor. In 1992, during his first run for mayor, Giuliani took part in a homosexual pride parade that included a contingent of pedophile activists marching behind a banner for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love.
On Gay Domestic Partnership: "I have no objection to the concept of domestic partnership," said Rudy Giuliani on Informed Sources New York T.V. Show (PBS), May, 1992
On Gay-Rights/Gay Rights Bill: Giuliani favors extended civil-rights protection for gays and lesbians. Giuliani urged, by letter, to the New York Senate Majority Leader to pass the state's first ever gay rights bill, but did it privately. "I am writing to convey my support for the current legislation to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians, and to urge you to allow the bill onto the floor of the Senate for prompt action." ".......It is my belief that we can penalize discrimination [against gays] without creating any potentially objectionable special privileges or preferential treatment." New York Post, June 5, 1993
Judical appointments
A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular.
A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.
Cumulatively, Giuilani's record was enough to win applause from people like Kelli Conlin, the head of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, the state's leading abortion-rights group. "They were decent, moderate people," she said.
Source: Ben Smith, The Politico, 3/1/07
One judge approved by Giuliani, Rosalyn Richter, had been executive director of a gay rights organization, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, before being named to the bench. After her initial appointment by former Mayor David N. Dinkins, Richter changed the questions asked of potential jurors to be more welcoming to gay and lesbian couples. She was later reappointed by Giuliani.
Another judge, appointed by Giuliani to the criminal bench in 1996, Dora Irizarry, has called herself pro-choice and was later elevated to the federal bench with strong support from Democratic Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
A family court judge reappointed by Giuliani, Sheldon Rand, was excoriated on the conservative-leaning New York Post editorial page last week for ruling that city funds be used to pay for a sex-change operation for an indigent New York resident.
And a fourth judge, Paula J. Hepner, appointed initially by Dinkins in 1995, issued a ruling that allowed a lesbian to adopt her partner's child. Four years later, Giuliani reappointed Hepner to New York's family court bench. Hepner was subsequently married to another woman in a ceremony in Canada.
Source: om Hamburger and Adam Schreck, Los Angeles Times, 3/12/07
Global Warming
"I do believe there's global warming, yes. The big question has always been how much of it is happening because of natural climate changes and how much of it is happening because of human intervention. The overwhelming number of scientists now believe that there is significant human cause." -- Rudolph Giuliani, Feb. 12, 2007.
Taxes
[Giuliani] says ruling out a tax increase is "political pandering." Newsday, August 31, 1989
School Choice
"He doesn't support tuition tax credits and vouchers." Sandra Feldman, President of N.Y.C. Teacher's Union, 1993
Does he?
The National Journal's rating system put him at 56 percent conservative and 44 percent liberal on economic issues in 1996 and assessed him as liberal by 59 to 40 percent in looking at his social issues votes.
And, how economically conservative can he be when he refused to rule out a tax increase in 1989 as mayor and just last month came out and stated global warming was at least paritially man-made?
"THOMPSON: Gay rights? I think that we ought to be a tolerant nation. I think we ought to be tolerant people. But we shouldn't set up special categories for anybody.
And I'm for the rights of everybody, including gays, but not any special rights."
Next time someone insults me or anyone else for using the word "tolerant" maybe they should remember that the CURRENT favorite here at the F.R. used the same word on Fox New recently.
Fred says equal rights. Nobody, save for a few nutsos, thinks gays should have some sort of sub-citizen legal status.
Rudy, OTOH, lived with them, dresses like them (OK, I know that was all in fun and I don't really hold that against him) and wants them to marry.
You're kidding if you REALLY think Thompson and Giuliani have the same views on this issue.
I'll second that!
I 3rd that
I've done a similar estimates on a number of different threads, and I've estimated that Rudy Giuliani would probably get a rating of 20-25 if he were assessed by a group like the American Conservative Union.
Even so, the fact that this 40% is the absolute highest "conservative rating" I've ever seen for him speaks volumes about just how liberal he really is.
Pro-libertine, anti-liberty.
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