C'mon, Darkwolf, even as someone who has written well-read vanities here about the plausibly conservative values of Giuliani, I have to assert that the "scandals" brought forth by Giuliani opponents are largely reasons to question his conservative values. And, besides, now is the time for Giuliani to show he can weather the storm of scandals... not after he's won the nomination and is facing the Big Democratic Media Machine.
The photos of Giuliani dressed as a drag queen aren't personal peccadillos, they illustrate a decision by Giuliani to embrace the homosexual radical left. The three ugly marriages don't merely call into question his personal life, but they are intriguing evidence on whether Giuliani merely went pro-choice because he needed to to govern NY, or whether he has apostacized from his once pro-life values.
If Giuliani is flipping back and forth for electability on conservative issues, I want to know that any latest positions which seem he has remained a conservative at heart (i.e., promising to nominate a candidate like Roberts, Alito or Scalia) are because he has decided that being a conservative is the way to rule as President, not just the way to get the Republican nomination.
I'm open to voting for Giuliani; I'm particularly encouraged by his comments about the USSC, but he's got to talk to us.
"... (i.e., promising to nominate a candidate like Roberts, Alito or Scalia)..."
Yes, he does promise that. I have no reason not to believe him.
On the other hand, Thompson was chosen by the president to walk Roberts through the confirmation process...
That's just silly.
I've never described Giuliani as a conservative--he's not. But he's far preferable to the alternative--Hillary. And as much as I'd like to be one of those FReepers who "stand on principle" and allow the democrats to take congress and possibly the White House rather than vote for a "real conservative," I see many on the right, particularly those who see through a screen of religion, taking this party down the toilet just as fast as the RINOs.
I don't believe in purity tests, and neither do most Americans. The time to get a real conservative is in the primaries, but what good is that if he's destined to be slaughtered? Giuliani would be a good leader in the WOT--that's the #1 issue for me, and for everyone who understands the gravity of the Islamofascist threat. I'm sorry, being pro-life hasn't done the movement very much good under Reagan or two Bushes, and one's stand on abortion is meaningless if we're all dead by Muslim nukes.
People LIKE Giuliani better than HRC. My personal choice would be Thomson, but can he beat HRC? I know many here WANT to believe he can, but if he can't, I don't want to hear any bitching from the religious right, who did all they could to stop Rudy so we could get HRC as our president.
dangus wrote: "I want to know that any latest positions which seem he has remained a conservative at heart (i.e., promising to nominate a candidate like Roberts, Alito or Scalia) are because he has decided that being a conservative is the way to rule as President, not just the way to get the Republican nomination."
the problem is, Rudy want s conservatives to take him at his word on appointing originalist judges. His record is one of appointing mostly liberals to the bench. According to the LA Times, hardly a conservative newspaper, some of the appointment Rudy made to the bench are real eye-openers:
"But there is no question that Giuliani's appointment record has already drawn concern from some conservatives.
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.