Good Impressions of Rudolph Giuliani

Scripps News ^ | 4/20/07 | Thomas P.M. Barnett

[areafiftyone]

With former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani consistently leading early polls for the Republican presidential nomination, pundits have spilled an ocean of ink concerning his electability. Having recently sat down with the man, let me tell you why I consider Giuliani a candidate wholly appropriate for our times.

As someone who spends a lot of time thinking and writing about globalization and security, I was brought in recently by the Giuliani campaign to discuss these topics with the mayor. This is standard practice as presidential candidates gear up, and Giuliani's camp is the fourth I've visited in the last year.

I'll make no attempt to describe the mayor's positions on anything we discussed, because that's his job as candidate. Let me instead give you a sense of what it was like to engage him over a couple of hours on my areas of expertise. I've interacted with numerous government, military and corporate leaders over the past couple of decades, so I'm able to draw some comparisons.

First off, Giuliani is a serious and wide-ranging reader, not just a skimmer of "bullets" prepared by his staff. When he reads your stuff, you better remember what you wrote because this guy really absorbs material.

Second, Hizzoner engages you directly versus having his subordinates draw you out. Typically, you brief the senior player only to have staffers toss out most of the follow-on questions. With Giuliani, you lay out your basic argument briefly and then it's off to the races. As an experienced prosecutor, the questions flow quickly and to the point.

Third, the mayor's been around this world. No matter where the conversation wandered, Giuliani had personal contacts or experience or knowledge to draw upon. Better yet, when something came up that he didn't know, the mayor was quick to admit it and toss out questions that drove further exploration.

Fourth, Giuliani likes intellectual debate but doesn't need to dominate. Everyone around the table has the same opportunity to chime in, but don't expect to be asked. So the atmosphere is competitive but open. For a famous egoist, I was surprised to find the mayor doesn't mind being interrupted. With a lot of big names, that's strictly verboten in such venues.

Fifth, the mayor seems unusually focused on how to get things rolling as opposed to where things will ultimately end up. Many senior leaders focus on defining goals to the n-th degree while short-circuiting the how-to-get-there discussion, but Giuliani clearly likes the "how" as much as the "what."

Lastly, as veteran politicians go, when viewed up-close Rudy Giuliani comes off as one happy warrior. He gives off neither the "angry outsider" nor the "appointed by fate" vibe. Instead, he seems genuinely thrilled at the prospect of tackling a lot of tough issues on a scale even grander than those found in New York City.

The man will never sport a tan, but he's definitely relaxed and ready.

One reason why the current race seems so wide open is that _ in historical terms _ sitting senators have a very hard time getting elected. Typically, Americans choose their chief executives from the ranks of governors and wartime heroes, two life experiences that naturally display desired leadership characteristics.

In this age of globalization and our long war against radical extremism, Mayor Giuliani is unusually credentialed to serve as president.

Thomas P.M. Barnett is a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee's Howard Baker Center and the senior managing director of Enterra Solutions LLC. Contact him at tom(at)thomaspmbarnett.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.

[areafiftyone]

((((RUDY PING)))

[eastsider]

Thomas P.M. Barnett is a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee's Howard Baker Center ...

Interesting endorsement.

[areafiftyone]

Check out the link on him at the end of the article. Very interesting person.

[Spiff]

Rudy Giuliani Supports Partial Birth Abortion
Republicans Do Not!!!

Click HERE for Video of Giuliani in his own words.

[GEORGE] WILL: Is your support of partial birth abortion firm?
Mayor GIULIANI: All of my positions are firm. I have strong viewpoints. I express them. And I--I do not think that it makes sense to be changing your position....
ABC News February 6, 2000

---

TUCHMAN: Giuliani was then asked whether he supports a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions, something Bush strongly supports.
GIULIANI: No, I have not supported that, and I don't see my position on that changing.
- CNN December 2, 1999

---

BLITZER: If you were in the Senate and [President Clinton] vetoed, once again, the [ban on the] so-called partial-birth abortion procedure, you would vote against sustaining that against the -- in favor of the veto in other words, you would support the president on that.
GIULIANI: Yes. I said then that I support him, so I have no reason to change my mind about it.
BLITZER: All right. So the bottom line is that on a lot of these very sensitive issues whether on guns, abortion, patients' bill of rights, taxes, you are more in line with the president and by association, with Mrs. Clinton, than you are against them.
- CNN February 6, 2000

---

MR. RUSSERT: A banning of late-term abortions, so-called partial-birth abortions--you're against that?

MAYOR GIULIANI: I'm against it in New York, because in New York...

MR. RUSSERT: Well, if you were a senator, would you vote with the president or against the president? [Note: President Clinton was in office in 2000]

MAYOR GIULIANI: I would vote to preserve the option for women. I think that choice is a very difficult one. It's a very, very--it's one in which people of conscious have very, very different opinions. I think the better thing for America to do is to leave that choice to the woman, because it affects her probably more than anyone else....

MR. RUSSERT: So you won't change your view on late-term abortion in order to get the Conservative Party endorsement?

MAYOR GIULIANI: It isn't just that. We shouldn't limit this to one issue. I'm generally not going to change my views
- NBC Meet the Press, February 6, 2000

---

***Note: the version of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban that Giuliani opposed in 2000, that he said he supported Bill Clinton in vetoing the Republican-controlled Congress's legislation, contained the exception for the life of the mother that Rudy is now trying to pretend is a prerequisite for his support of it.

[Spiff]

Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison
Issue	Giuliani	Clinton	Dem Platform	GOP Platform
Abortion on Demand	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Partial Birth Abortion	Supports Opposed NY ban	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Overturning Roe v. Wade	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Taxpayer Funded Abortions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Federal Marriage Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Defined at state level	Supports
Gay Domestic Partnership/ Civil Unions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Openly Gay Military	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Defense of Marriage Act	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Amnesty for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Special Path to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Tough Penalties for Employers of Illegal Aliens	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Sanctuary Cities/ Ignoring Immigration Law	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Protecting 2nd Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Supports bans	Supports
Confiscating Guns	Supports Confiscated as mayor. Even bragged.	Supports	Supports Supports bans	Opposes
'Assault' Weapons Ban	Supports	Supports	Supports
Frivolous Lawsuits Against Gun Makers	Supports Filed One Himself	Supports		Opposes
Gun Registration/Licenses	Supports	Supports		Opposes
War in Afghanistan	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports	Supports
War in Iraq	Supports	Varies Voted for it	Supports Weak support	Supports
Patriot Act	Supports	Supports Voted for it 2001 & 2006	Opposes	Supports

"Most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." - Rudy Giuliani

[Spiff]

Move on from abortion? Not on your life!
vanity | April 20, 2007 | Jim Robinson

Posted on 04/20/2007 9:51:11 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

I hate to say it again, but guess it has to be said:

Free Republic is a conservative site.

As a conservative site, we are pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-liberty, pro-America.

Like-minded folks know immediately what this means and why we will never "move on from abortion" as Rudy Giuliani and his supporters ask us to do.

Think about it.

You might as well be asking us to deny God. To deny the Creator that gave us life and liberty. To give up our children. To surrender our country to the left. To give up our freedom. To give up our faith and our belief in God's Word.

Why insult us like this?

IMHO, the root difference between conservatism and liberalism IS our belief in God. For the most part, we conservatives defend our Christian/Judeo founding and our God-centered traditional American society and family values system, and the belief that our most fundamental rights were bestowed upon us by our Creator. Rights given by man can be taken by man. Rights bestowed by God are unalienable rights.

Liberals, on the other hand, especially the Marxist/socialist liberal leadership and the big leftist feminist, homosexualist, abortionist, anti-religion organizations deny God exists. They deny our Christian/Judeo heritage, work overtime to destroy our traditional family values, and seek to destroy our freedoms, including, and especially our right to the free exercise of religion.

Our deeply rooted conservative belief in God and refusal to roll over for feminism, abortionism, homosexualism, socialism, etc., is the only thing stopping the left from completely overwhelming us with their godless, socialist perversions and completely wiping out our traditional Christian/Judeo God-centered free society.

If we cave-in to the left by nominating a supporter of abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, illegal aliens, etc., as our candidate for the presidency and de facto leader of the Republican party, then we will have destroyed our own pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-liberty movement and will have destroyed all of our prior pro-life, pro family, pro-liberty work. The Republican party will have made itself a joke. It'll be left standing for nothing. Worse, it'll be left standing with NARAL, NOW, the ACLU, and every other feminist/homosexualist Marxist/socialist communist group.

Surrender to the abortionists? Not on your life!

This is Free Republic. We ARE the dissent! We fight for life and liberty! We fight for our traditional American family values! We proudly and diligently defend our Christian/Judeo heritage, our country, our constitution, and our right to be free and to freely worship our God!

IMHO, those of you who cannot or will not understand these simple truths will never understand what FR is all about, what the pro-life movement is all about, what conservatism is all about, or even what freedom is all about.

[areafiftyone]

Spiff I know you tried to ping the Rudy people and directly to your nasty post on that post by JR. But I don’t care! OKAY? I got your message and I DON”T CARE!! How blunt do I have to be?

[tumblindice]

Barnett’s credentials in his Wikipedia entry are very impressive.

[areafiftyone]

Yes they are.

[dforest]

There is nothing here to change any conservative minds about Rooty.

He is a liberal Republican, a gun grabber, pro abortion, pro gay candidate, who is at odds with what is Constitutional. A man that is also at odds with the Religion he claims to be his faith. He has humiliated his ex wife and children.

The writer of this piece has chosen to omit the many failings of Rooty.

[areafiftyone]

He has humiliated his ex wife and children

That wife humiliated herself by going on TV doing a crying jag in front of the world and letting everyone know her personal problems. (quite an actress she is when everyone in NYC knew her marriage was over the day she refused to attend his second mayoral inaugruation). Also by using the office of the Mayor to further her acting career. Also his kids are getting good lessons from their Vagina Monologues mom by returning gifts of holy bibles from Judith Giuliani.

[tkathy]

These are unique times, and Rudy is a unique leader. All the chaff will soon blow away from the wheat pan and what is left will be GRAVY!

[Oliver Optic]

So Rudy is a persuasive, effective leader.

Frankly, that is not a plus for me, given what his agenda is.

Why should I want to elect someone who will persuasively and effectively implement a liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights agenda?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Good impressions of roooody....IF YOU ARE A LIBERAL IDIOT!

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Good impressions of roooody....IF YOU ARE A LIBERAL IDIOT!

[KATIE-O]

Great article!

"....Having granted numerous interviews since 9/11, Tom Barnett has been described by U.S. News & World Report's Michael Barone as "one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time...."

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

But I repeat myself

[dforest]

That wife humiliated herself by going on TV doing a crying jag in front of the world and letting everyone know her personal problems. (quite an actress she is when everyone in NYC knew her marriage was over the day she refused to attend his second mayoral inaugruation). Also by using the office of the Mayor to further her acting career. Also his kids are getting good lessons from their Vagina Monologues mom by returning gifts of holy bibles from Judith Giuliani.

Now we are attacking his ex wife. I saw a very lovely campaign ad she did for him in his mayoral quest. She may be no saint, but then she wasn't running around with a social climbing, home wrecking, puppy stapling sleaze bag while he was hizzoner.

When you get right down to it. Rudy chose Donna Hanover, the women he chooses must just be a reflection of poor judgment by Rudy.

[ellery]

That’s exactly my concern. I absolutely agree that Giuliani is persuasive and will get things done.

His record shows that the things he wants to get done are in many cases the opposite of what I want, and the way he gets things done is to refuse to be constrained by Constitutional limits on govenment.

And in the WOT he has tended to take more of a crimefighting (surveillance, gun control, etc.) than a warfighting approach.

If he were incompetent or a poor communicator, he would be much less dangerous to our Founding documents and our fundamental liberties.