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Your litany on Rudy's liberalism doesn't worry me in the least. On abortion, for instance, while he privately is pro-choice, he has publicly promised he would appoint strict constructionists. This would effectively cancel out the effects of any personal liberal position. I personally don't give a rat's behind about what his private view is--as long as he acts publicly in a way that supports the Constitution. Right now abortion is legal. The way around this is through the courts and through the courts only--as Rudy appreciates. That's good enough for me.

His position on gay rights and on gun control is to keep the federal government out of these issues and leave them to the local governments. Again, fine by me. On immigration, his view is the same as Bush's--he's for a guest worker program. Nothing especially alarming about that--many good conservatives hold this view--and it's certainly not an unusual position for the former mayor of a city which depends on immigrant workers to keep its hotels and restaurants running and its tourist industry thriving.

Here are some of Rudy's conservative credentials, based on Al Simmons' excellent run-down which appeared on another post. I've summarized it here.

Rudy has stated, for instance, that "government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering". That is quintissentially the conservative position.

So too is support for law and order. Crime in NYC plummeted to around 64% as a result of Rudy's administration, the murder rate alone declining 67%. Rudy shut down porn shops throughout the downtown tourist areas and kicked them out of residential neighborhoods. He went after drug dealers as well--something unheard of in NYC.

He also went after the welfare cheats, removing illegal recipients, cutting the outlay for welfare by 20%. Over 600,000 recipients were dropped from the roles. At the same time he began a work requirement program for remaining recipients.

He ended the set-aside program for minority contractors, refused to meet with Al Sharpton, and otherwise refused to be cowed by racial politics. He refused to lower job requirements for minorities and women. He pushed to reform the city's schools and supported school vouchers--another view that went against the liberal grain. Ditto his fight against using public money for anti-religious art displays. And on and on it goes.

He saved hundreds of millions of dollars by reorganizing the police force and transit authority and trash collection agencies. He cut taxes and levies over and over, saving billions for taxpayers. He cut NYC's top income-tax rate by 20.6%. Local city taxes on a family of four dropped 23.7%. He cut the commercial-rent tax. He cut sales taxes, including taxes on clothing. He cut the marriage penalty taz. He cut taxes on commercial rents and on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers. He privatized municipal assets, selling city-owned radio and television stations and divested the City from the New York Coliseum adding $345 million to erase the City's red ink. He cut NYC's hotel tax from 6% to 5%. Tourism increased 50% in the city per year during Rudy's tenure. Personal income increased 50%. Unemployment in the city went form 10.3% to 5.1%.

In all of this he was fought by the liberal media, beginning with the NYTimes, every step of the way. But he fought back and won over public opinion time and time again. Nor was he just successful as mayor. As a U.S. Attorney in the Reagan administration, Rudy amassed more than 4,000 convictions, including the five family heads of NY's notorious Mob. He went after Wall Street white collar criminals. He also prosecuted terrorists and illegal immigrants.

What other candidate has such a resume?