Posted on 05/04/2007 12:25:34 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
HENNIKER, N.H. -- Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani defended his positions on a late-term abortion procedure and gun control Tuesday as he faced skeptical GOP voters who questioned his sincerity.
"I don't think there's an inconsistency," the former New York mayor said of his long-standing support of abortion rights and his affirmation last week of the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortion, a measure he opposed in the past.
Once an advocate of strong federal gun controls, Giuliani also disputed the characterization that he advised President Clinton on the matter, talked of leaving the issue up to states, and said: "I agree with the Second Amendment. I always have. I think people have an individual right to bear arms."
On both hot-button issues, Giuliani is advocating more conservative positions than the moderate stances he embraced as mayor. The GOP front-runner in national polls is seeking to mollify conservative voters who make up the core of the Republican Party's base in presidential primaries _ and whose support he needs to win the nomination.
Talking about terrorism at an evening speech in Manchester, N.H., the Republican suggested that the country could face another major attack if it puts a Democrat in the White House in 2008.
"If one of them gets elected, it sounds to me like we're going on defense," Giuliani told the Rockingham County GOP. But, he said, if a Republican wins, "we will remain on offense" trying to anticipate what the terrorists are going to do and "trying to stop them before they do it."
Earlier, Giuliani faced some wary Republicans among the several hundred people who attended a question-and-answer session at New England College in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
Molly Smith, 27, of Hooksett, N.H., a Republican who says she supports former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, noted Giuliani's backing of abortion rights as well as his response last week to the Supreme Court ruling.
"How can we trust you on this issue?" Smith asked.
"I think you can be personally opposed to it, hate abortion, respect somebody else's conscience who might make a different decision, and also believe that particular form of abortion is wrong," Giuliani said.
Peter Bearse, 65, a Freemont, N.H., Republican who said he isn't yet backing a candidate but is leaning toward Arizona Sen. John McCain, asked how Giuliani planned to survive a GOP primary given that his past and current positions on abortion and gun control are in conflict. That, Bearse said, raises questions about "believability."
"I'm older than most here, so I remember certain things," Bearse said, recalling that the ex-mayor had advised Clinton on the issues.
Giuliani vehemently disputed that characterization: "The fact is, I never advised President Clinton. I wasn't an adviser to President Clinton." However, Giuliani and Clinton did talk in the 1990s about establishing uniform national gun control laws.
On the late-term abortion procedure, Giuliani said he opposed it when it was discussed during Clinton's presidency because he didn't feel it made an exception in the event a mother's life was in jeopardy. But the ban Clinton vetoed _ and which Giuliani supported _ did include such an exception.
Last week, after the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech, Giuliani said it "does not alter the Second Amendment" and emphasized state-by-state gun control measures, which contrasted with his past enthusiasm for a federal mandate to register handgun owners.
A tense moment came when Marty Capodice, 64, a registered independent of Hopkinton, N.H., questioned Giuliani about what he called the Bush administration's violations of civil rights in the name of national security.
"Just about every personal right has been abridged in the war on terror," he said. "When will you say that's as far as I will go?"
"I think you have grossly exaggerated the case," Giuliani responded. "And you didn't point out the other fact, and that is we haven't been attacked and we've been safe."
Repeating a core part of his campaign speech, Giuliani said the United States must remain on offense against terrorists and defended the administration's domestic wiretapping program, tough interrogation techniques and the USA Patriot Act.
"So, no rights," Capodice said.
That drew a sharp retort from Giuliani: "That's hardly no rights!" he said. "You have more freedom than anyone in this world has ever had _ and no one has taken that from you!"
At an earlier campaign appearance, Giuliani said he couldn't evaluate whether President Bush's 10-week-old troop increase in Iraq was working. "I don't know the answer to that," the ex-mayor told reporters after speaking with a group of business leaders in Nashua, N.H.
That wasn’t a debate, it was show and tell in my fifth grade class.
This was posted and discussed 10 days ago, when it first appeared.
Can’t you find any fresh anti-Giuliani material?
Yep. Waffle, waffle,...
If Giuliani is elected America would have it’s first full-fledged dictator. He’s downright scarry. Himself and Hillary should not ever be within 100 miles of the White House.
I’m Just Waitin’ On A Fred
Watching girly-men go passing by
It ain’t the latest thing
I’m just standing in a doorway
I’m just trying to make some sense
Out of these girly-men go passing by
The tales of sellout men
I’m not waiting on the Rinos
I’m just waiting on a Fred
His smile relieves a heart that grieves
Remember what I said
I’m not waiting on the Rinos
I’m just waiting on a Fred
I’m just waiting on a Fred
Don’t need a whore
I don’t need no boozer
Don’t need a Mormon priest
But I need someone I can cry to
I need someone to protect me
Making war and breaking heads
It is a game for few
But I’m not waiting on the Rinos
I’m just waiting on a Fred
Himself and Hillary should not ever be within 100 miles of the White House.
...So I take it if it comes down to Rudy and Her Heiness, you’d vote for neither, thus essentially giving the hildebeast a half-vote...
I’m getting the sense freepers think Fred Thompson is the perfect choice...so do I. However, probably better than half the people in this country have no clue who he is, dimming if not dooming his chances...also, my perception is that the Republican candidates are light years more acceptable at any level than the ridiculously inept Democrats, whose standard bearer would be baking cookies if her spouse hadn’t been POTUS...
Rudy likes abortion, as mayor of NYC and as an ex-prosecutor and law and order type – he knows that legal abortions were one the main reasons why the violent crime rate declined significantly. This is well documented in the recent best-seller ‘Freakonomics’ (2005).
But Rudy, this won’t get any points for this.
I agree, and neither will get my vote. I’d vote third party before I’d compromise my principles that badly. The guy doesn’t even like the press writing anything that shows him in a bad light. He was always fighting with the press in NY City. It’s interesting to see him writhing around altering his positions, trying to appear as though he has been conservative all along. I hope the American people don’t get fulled by this guy.
Please show it to me, as I did a title search before posting it. Are you afraid of the truth about your candidate?
Rudy has nothing but baggage : )
So Rudy can lie as glibly as Clinton, why am I not surprised? For a man who can support the horror of partial birth abortion, lying is just a minor character flaw.
If you want to look at it that way I would also be giving Rudy a half vote, but that's not the right way to look at it. I don't owe either one of them my vote, so I would actually be denying each of them my whole, undivided vote.
However you want to twist it, it doesn't bother me, I won't vote for either of the two because I view both of them as totally unfit for high public office. I won't break my string of voting in 12 straight presidential elections. In all 12 previous election I voted for the Pub, but if Rudy is the best the Pubs can offer for my 13th I'll vote for the most conservative of the 3rd party guys.
PING!
if comes down to a choice between "rudy, the RINO" & "the hillery-BEAST", i will "go fishing" rather than vote for a:
anti-2d Amendment radical,
"gay rights" devotee,
PRO-abortion extremist and/or
Republican in name only.
fwiw, i will be ONE of MILLIONS of traditional southerners, who will "go fishing" if "rudy" is the candidate. (trust me on that!)
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
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