Conservative think tank lends helping hand to Giuliani

Monterey Herald ^ | March 29, 2007 | William Douglas

[FairOpinion]

In his drive to be the first politician to go from City Hall to the White House, Republican Rudolph Giuliani is being schooled on issues by a conservative think tank that helped him dramatically reshape New York City's public policy during his mayoralty.

Giuliani is once again leaning on the expertise of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative brain factory. It was founded nearly 30 years ago by Antony Fisher, who was a mentor to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a friend to Reagan administration CIA chief William Casey.

Before Giuliani's first successful mayoral run in 1993, he sat through hundreds of hours of seminars set up by institute members, where he embraced a "zero-tolerance" approach to crime and a tough-love welfare policy that became hallmarks of his administration.

Giuliani says the new approach contributed to the huge crime drop that New York experienced while he was mayor. Homicides in the city plummeted from 1,927 in 1993 to 671 in 2000, according to FBI statistics. Major crimes - which include aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, rape - fell by 57 percent

Fans of the institute say it lives up to its motto of "Turning Intellect into Influence" by forcefully advocating a conservative free-market agenda of tax cuts, privatization, school choice and strict law enforcement - and by aligning itself with rising political stars such as Giuliani to carry it out.

[FairOpinion]

This should also please conservatives.

[Pox]

Not a chance in hell. RINO Rudy should never be allowed in the White House, IMO.

A vote for RINO Rudy is a vote for liberalism.

[FairOpinion]

Rudy ping.


"In his drive to be the first politician to go from City Hall to the White House, Republican Rudolph Giuliani is being schooled on issues by a conservative think tank that helped him dramatically reshape New York City's public policy during his mayoralty.

Giuliani is once again leaning on the expertise of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative brain factory. It was founded nearly 30 years ago by Antony Fisher, who was a mentor to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a friend to Reagan administration CIA chief William Casey."

[TitansAFC]

---"The Manhattan Institute has grown to a 25-scholar operation with a $12 million budget and a reputation for using New York City as a laboratory for its ideas."---

25 people? Wow!

All current New Yorkers, too. I'm shocked!

[FairOpinion]

I guess you don't let the facts stand in the way of your opinions, even if that will put Hillary into the White House.

You don't care how many conservatives endorse and support him -- even with shaping his approach towards conservatism.

[Sonny M]

This is pretty sad. He actually needs to learn "conservatism"?

Granted, thats just the tone the article gives off, he does know conservatism, he just disagrees with it on all social issues and agrees with Hillary and Obama on social issues.

I can't vote for him, because there are just to many issues where I disagree with him and since he has the same stance as liberals on those issues, there would be no point voting for him then.

[NeoCaveman]

and strict law enforcement -

Except for Immigration Law

Just ask Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute.

[FairOpinion]

"Giuliani is once again leaning on the expertise of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative brain factory. It was founded nearly 30 years ago by Antony Fisher, who was a mentor to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a friend to Reagan administration CIA chief William Casey. "

[sageb1]

"Giuliani is being schooled on issues by a conservative think tank"

reprogrammed?

[dforest]

It a damn shame he has to be schooled in how to fool conservatives. Is he going to renounce and apologize for being a big ole RINO?

Maybe they are going to "man school" him.

[Peach]

Great news. They gave him good advice during his term as Mayor. They focus primarily on domestic and urban issues, so I wonder who he'll turn to regarding national security?

[mikeus_maximus]

Remind not to give flip for anything this "conservative" think tank every says again.

[WakeUpAndVote]

"Giuliani is being schooled on issues by a conservative think tank"

reprogrammed?

____________

Wasn't this what Al Gore (manbearpig) had done to him back in 2000 by the libs?

[ex-snook]

Maybe you mean a neo-con thinkless tank.

[TitansAFC]

---"You don't care how many conservatives endorse and support him -- even with shaping his approach towards conservatism."---

Good, then you accept the facts:

1.) Rudy's own team confesses serious problems getting Conservatives on board for the "ground game."

2.) A whole lot of SoCons and Gun Conservatives will work for his defeat (not Hillary's victory, Rudy's defeat) in the General Election if Liberals like yourself are successful in forcing an abhorrent candidate upon Conservatives.

3.) You see Hillary as much worse than Rudy - YOU DO. That does not mean that WE DO. He's not much better than Hillary at ALL, and the damage he would do to the Conservative movement in this country actually makes him the preferred losing candidate in a Rudy vs. Hitlery matchup in 2008 (or should I say Tag-Team instead of matchup?).

4.) You may not care that he lies, flip-flops, and holds staunchly Liberal views. It is probably the reason you support him. But many of us do care.

5.) You will meet with no more success selling Rudy to those of us who FEAR him as the GOP candidate during a General Election than you are having now during the primaries. You may dream that everyone will suddenly see what a stalwart, historic, unwavering Super-Conservative Rudy is (and suddenly see how ALL of our issues don't matter at ALL anymore), and come rushing to his rescue all for the virtue of his Authoritative leadership instead of Hillary, but it WILL NOT HAPPEN.

5.) Conservatives aren't supporting Rudy. That's why every time there is anyone even marginally Conservative who announces support for Rudy, there is a Press Conference, mass of blog postings at Conservative websites, and parades down Madison Avenue with Rudy in a float. "LOOK THERE"S A CONSERVATIVE IN AMERICA SUPPORTING RUDY, WOO-HOO!!!!!

6.) There will be few greater days in the HISTORY of the Conservative movement than the day that Rudy Giuliani is forced to waste his time going to the GOP Convention (remember how he said this?) to endorse the ticket of two Republicans who aren't him in 2008.

7.) Liberals like yourself will never have a candidate Liberal enough for you in the GOP. So why do you purists persist at Free Republic?

[dirtboy]

Giuliani is once again leaning on the expertise of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative brain factory

Heather MacDonald is one of the most well-known members of the Manhattan Insititute. Here's what she had to say about NYC's sanctuary city policy that Rudy championed:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html

Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s 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 Mexicans—four of them illegal—abducted 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.

[FairOpinion]

TitanAFC: "3.) You see Hillary as much worse than Rudy - YOU DO. That does not mean that WE DO. He's not much better than Hillary at ALL, and the damage he would do to the Conservative movement in this country actually makes him the preferred losing candidate in a Rudy vs. Hitlery matchup in 2008 (or should I say Tag-Team instead of matchup?)."

Thank you for admitting your support for Hillary. Anybody who doesn't think Hillary is the worst thing, the very worst thing that can happen to this country and isn't actively trying to prevent it, IS NO CONSERVATIVE. PERIOD.

[TitansAFC]

---"Thank you for admitting your support for Hillary. Anybody who doesn't think Hillary is the worst thing, the very worst thing that can happen to this country and isn't actively trying to prevent it, IS NO CONSERVATIVE. PERIOD"---

You're a fraud, LiberalOpinion.

Nobody has ANY legitimacy to even COMMENT on anyone else's Conservatism when they, like yourself, have come out in favor of the single most Liberal Republican Presidential candidate in history - during the PRIMARIES.

You're a Liberal pushing a Liberal, you think that crying "Clinton" excuses your Liberal-pushing. It doesn't.

[ClaireSolt]

I am impressed with this outfit and enjoy their website. phttp://www.city-journal.org