Posted on 04/15/2007 2:11:55 PM PDT by NapkinUser
It is hard to shock New Yorkers, yet Rudy Giuliani teetered close to the line when he sauntered onto a stage wearing a platinum-blond wig, a face full of makeup, white gloves and a pink gown filled out in all the right places.
His appearance at an annual political roast was exactly 10 years ago. At the time, the idea of the tough-talking mayor in a ball gown raised eyebrows but was mostly accepted as a good joke -- all part of the shenanigans at the roast known as the Inner Circle dinner.
After winning re-election that year, Giuliani took his feminine side to a national audience. While hosting ''Saturday Night Live,'' he appeared as a bosomy, gray-haired Italian grandmother, with stockings pulled halfway up his calves.
Now that Giuliani is running for the Republican presidential nomination, experts and political observers are wondering whether those well-photographed and widely documented performances -- and others -- could damage his campaign. Some say conservatives won't get the joke. Political observers say many voters associate a macho demeanor with Giuliani's post-Sept. 11 image -- an image that could lose its power if he's dressed as a woman.
His take: 'I enjoy having fun'''People think of him as a leader and a tough guy, and he has this image as somebody who tamed the city of New York and made the trains run on time, and seeing him dressed up like a girl would run contrary to all of those things,'' said political science professor Neal Thigpen of Francis Marion University in South Carolina.
South Carolina has one of the nation's earliest presidential primaries next year, and as the first Southern contest, it could set the stage for the region. With conservative voters dominating presidential primaries, some experts say the footage of Giuliani cavorting about in women's wear could damage his chances. The images are showing up on the Internet, including a mock campaign ad on YouTube.
Others say the gender-bending gags won't matter. In Nevada, another state with an early caucus, Republicans would be unfazed, said Heidi Smith, chairwoman of the Republican Party in Washoe County. Giuliani impressed Reno citizens in a campaign appearance there last month that included a trip to Costco, during which he mingled with shoppers. ''That meant more than seeing him in drag,'' Smith said. Giuliani's first drag appearance, in 1997, featured a Marilyn Monroe impression. In his most famous appearance, a spoof of the musical comedy ''Victor/Victoria,'' in which a woman pretends to be a man pretending to be a woman, Giuliani quipped: ''I already play a Republican playing a Democrat playing a Republican.
For conservatives le backing Giuliani because of his support for abortion and other positions on social issues, the dresses may remind them of his support of gays -- despite the fact most cross-dressers are not gay.
A poison-pen mailer or an e-mail could easily imply a connection, observers say. ''I'm imagining the negative ads -- they could use this as sort of an oblique reference,'' said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard.
Asked this month about his theatrical past, Giuliani told Fox News that it shows voters another side of him.
''I think what they'll find out about me is I enjoy having fun,'' he said.
“South Carolina has one of the nation’s earliest presidential primaries next year, and as the first Southern contest, it could set the stage for the region. With conservative voters dominating presidential primaries, some experts say the footage of Giuliani cavorting about in women’s wear could damage his chances.”
Neoconservative David Frum, ex-speechwriter to President Bush, put it bluntly when asked about Giuliani’s shot at the nomination. “He has one obstacle in his way: the social conservatives. And he shouldn’t just assume he can get past it,” Frum said. [New York Daily News, 11/15/06]
Buchanan said, “I just don’t think Rudy can do it. I may be wrong, but I’m not usually.” He added, “I’m telling you, as Giuliani — if he should get somehow the nomination, as he marches to the podium, the Republican Party explodes right in the convention hall. The Republican base cannot go along with Rudy Giuliani, his views on social and cultural and moral issue, the background, the record. The party would explode, Joe. It would come apart. You would have a third party candidate, and that would kill Rudy in the South.” [”Scarborough Country,” MSNBC, 11/14/06]
Will someone put a picture of Dufusani up in one of his dresses please.
Label it “Leader of the Free World” (wannabe)
Our enemies would love that picture and having such a person as US President. Almost as much as having another Clintoon in the White House again...
Didn’t one of the Clintoons say “we are the president”? Ok then, two terms are the limit. lol
W
Not the kind of behavior I’m looking for in a Republican Presidential candidate.
More like something a liberal Democrat would find amusing.
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