Giuliani Has Front-Runner Aura - GOP presidential candidate Draws Crowds Of Admirers In Las Vegas

Review Journal ^ | 3/29/07

[areafiftyone]

They held out things for him to sign: Political fliers. Books. A baseball. Yankees hats. NYPD hats. FDNY hats. A girl's crayon drawing of an American flag on looseleaf paper. One woman even held out her checkbook.

They told him they loved him and wanted to vote for him and couldn't wait to see him in the White House.

They snapped him with their digital cameras and camera phones, shoving their children into the frame.

Moving through the aisles of the store on West Charleston Boulevard, Giuliani alternated a mock-serious survey of store shelves with posing for pictures, his rabbity, dimpled smile frozen in place.

From the $10 Value DVD rack, Giuliani selected "Remember the Titans," then waded in for more photo ops.

He stocked up on deodorant and Zone nutrition bars, batteries and lotion.

He picked up a book by Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, whose last name, properly pronounced "vee-ZELL," he pronounced "WISE-ull."

A young woman stopped Giuliani to tell him she'd just moved to Las Vegas from New York, where she was on the 73rd floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

"My brother was there too," 27-year-old Jill Moran told Giuliani. "We both got out."

Moran articulated the reason everyone remembers Giuliani, the reason everyone seems to love him.

"He changed our lives," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "He's the reason we went back to the city. He's the reason we went back to work."

Giuliani makes it clear he's hoping to parlay his post-9/11 leadership into the presidency.

Asked in an interview what Nevada voters want, he said, "I think they're looking for the same thing people in New York are looking for, or Texas, or South Carolina, or Iowa or New Hampshire. They're looking for a leader. They're looking for somebody who can give the country direction, focus, at a time in which we're at war."

Those aren't necessarily qualities the current leadership lacks, Giuliani said.

"I think President Bush as president has really remained very, very focused on dealing with these terrorists and kept us on offense. But I think that's something that will be continually even more important as this moves along. Iraq is only one part of this whole terrorist war against us, and I think we've got to understand that we have to be on offense, and I think the American people are going to want a strong leader who can handle terrorism, and I think I probably have the most experience doing that."

That experience isn't limited to the legendary few months after 9/11, when Giuliani was credited with holding New York together in the wake of historic trauma, but comes from his long service as a federal prosecutor, Giuliani said.

"I handled all kinds of criminal cases, including terrorism," he said. "I investigated (former Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat before anybody knew who he really was. I dealt with Nazi war criminals and had them sent back to be held to account for the crimes, acts against humanity. I've got a very, very long history of dealing with severe criminality and terrorism."

Giuliani was in Las Vegas just before the November election, stumping for Gov. Jim Gibbons. On Wednesday, Giuliani said he loves to play golf here, and that Las Vegas reminds him of New York City, from the tourists on the Strip to the 24-hour rhythm.

Giuliani said he was aware of the safety concerns with the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain and "somebody would have to take a good look at that."

When pressed, he did not rule out the repository, however.

"One of the things you've got to be real careful about with nuclear power is you've got to make sure it's really, really safe," he said. "Frankly, some of the problems that have occurred with Yucca Mountain are matters of grave concern, so you'd have to take a good look at that."

Those concerns should not kill the nuclear power industry, he said.

"We're going to have to find a way to expand nuclear power, because it's one of the ways in which we can give ourselves (energy) independence and also not have it impact on the environment, on pollution, global warming, the things that concern people," he said.

In polls, both nationally and in Nevada, Giuliani has a strong and steady lead among Republican voters in these very early days, long before the 2008 election. And yet the conventional wisdom in political circles is that he can't win the Republican nomination.

Is it just a stereotype to assume that Republican stalwarts won't support a thrice-married Italian-American with a brusque New York accent?

Or are the pundits right when they say all that adulation will fade when people get to know the Giuliani who is no right-winger when it comes to abortion, gun control, immigration and homosexuality?

Asked how he planned to get through the primary, Giuliani shrugged.

"Right now we're ahead," he said, laughing. "So we'll see if it stays that way."

[mkjessup]

I'm OK with acknowledging that "celebrity" is part of Rudy's political persona. Just don't tell me its not also equally true for Thompson. If he weren't a popular character actor, he wouldn't be under consideration.

It's a bit more than that, Thompson won Al Gore's old seat in the Senate, a seat that had been safely in 'Rat hands for many a year, Thompson knows the political ropes and he has none of the many negatives that your boy Rudy brings to the national stage.

[DocH]

Good one mkjessup, but the rudyBOTS, rudyMITES, rudyPHILES, and RINO-rudy-ROOTERS MUST be anti-gun (given their support of RINO-rudy, GUN-GRABBER-EXTRAORDINAIRE), and thus would not condone the handling or use of the firearms (including an evil "assault weapon") depicted in the picture you posted.

[mkjessup]

And I bet you watch every day, too, don't you!

Don't have much of a choice, you RudyBots keep forcing the majority of Freepers to watch and listen to your insipid rah-rah for Rudy, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, and you never say anything new except that mainstream media polls show your boy leaping tall demographics at a single bound, destroying all opposition in his way, blah-blah-blah.

While scarfing down your Captain Crunch and banana

Don't you worry about my banana. Worry about where Rudy's banana has been, that should be more of a concern to you, I suspect there are plenty more skeletons in his closet that have yet to make their appearance, and if perchance he DOES become the GOP nominee, they will all be dragged into the public spotlight courtesy of the same MSM whose polls YOU are bowing before right now.

And then it is off to the sand box.

Yep, I'll try not to let the cat cover up Rudy.

[dforest]

I enjoyed that. LOL

[UncleSamUSA]

Fred Thompson is a nice actor and a decent gentleman.

He has also never been the Chief Executive of anything in his life.

Rudy ran the largest city in the US of A for 8 years.

There is no comparison.

[DocH]

Rudy-Fred would be a great ticket.

That would be like pouring sh*t (liberal RINO-rudy) on vanilla ice cream (conservative Fred Thompson).

[mkjessup]

Good one mkjessup, but the rudyBOTS, rudyMITES, rudyPHILES, and RINO-rudy-ROOTERS MUST be anti-gun (given their support of RINO-rudy, GUN-GRABBER-EXTRAORDINAIRE), and thus would not condone the handling or use of the firearms (including an evil "assault weapon") depicted in the picture you posted.

Ahhh you don't understand Doc, the furry fiends from RudyBot Street had just CONFISCATED those legal, lawful weapons from law abiding conservative Americans like you and me, because that's the way Rudy will do it, to protect us from ourselves, you know: like LIBERALS want to do. ;)

[DocH]

Ahhh you don't understand Doc, the furry fiends from RudyBot Street had just CONFISCATED those legal, lawful weapons from law abiding conservative Americans like you and me, because that's the way Rudy will do it, to protect us from ourselves, you know: like LIBERALS want to do. ;)

I SEE, said the blind man.

[mkjessup]

There is no comparison.

Oh I don't know about that, Thompson never welcomed NARAL to Washington (or to Tennessee), praised the eugenics queen Margaret Sanger, nor did Thompson receive any political donations from the pro-abortionist lobby like Rudy did.

I'd say there's quite a contrast, and one Thompson can be proud of.

[mkjessup]

btw, love that tagline! :)

[DocH]

Is that a new pair of panties the guy (in the picture at the top of the 1st page) is scanning for the cross-dressing liberal RINO?

That MUST be why RINO-rudy has the shiite-eating grin.

[areafiftyone]

Good morning! You are quite welcome!

[DocH]

Thanks.

It IS fitting for this northeastern-corridor, inner-city, liberal RINO bureaucrat/lawyer.

[RockinRight]

I don't care if Rudy was the damn president of Microsoft, he's still a statist, liberal gun grabber.

[areafiftyone]

Is that a new pair of panties the guy (in the picture at the top of the 1st page) is scanning for the cross-dressing liberal RINO?

You know we can always count on you to bring a lot of class to any thread! (/sarcasm)

[oceanview]

Thompson, if he is the nominee, will have the exact same electoral strategy as Bush did. Which means if he can't win Ohio, he can't win the presidency. And he also has to stop a Richardson-VP Dem ticket, from taking NV and CO as well.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I agree Richardson is a wildcard certainly worth keeping a close eye on.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Thompson is far more electable. Isn't that all that matters?

[rintense]

Let's see... running NYC for 8 years doesn't compare to 8 years in the Senate? You're joking. Tell you what... why don't you go look at Rudy's record as mayor versus Thompson's record and leadership posts in the US Government, and get back to me, k?

[Fierce Allegiance]

Nice find! That will be used again!