Posted on 05/12/2007 10:57:57 AM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum
Those familiar with this blog know that I usually post one essay per week. There are several reasons for this: I like my essays to be of quality rather than necessarily quantity and a week gives me time to think of a topic, an approach, and write and refine the product; having done all that, I don’t want to dilute my own effort by having more than one active essay going for people to read and comment upon; lastly it leaves me time to actually have a life outside the blogosphere.
However, an event that I consider of huge significance has just taken place, one that not only bears directly on an issue of intense debate here on the Townhall site, but that has potential ramifications for the very future of the GOP and consequently our country as a whole. With that in mind, I’m breaking my own rule, though I’ll take this opportunity to urge you to also read my immediately previous essay on the MPAA if you haven’t already done so.
On Friday 11 May 2007, at a speech at the Houston Baptist College, Rudolph Giuliani flatly stated his support for abortion rights, gun control, and gay rights, asserting this should not bar him from being selected as the GOP candidate for President. You can read the full LA Daily News/New York Times article here.
The debate between Republicans and conservatives over Giuliani’s candidacy has been over the issue of his liberalism, with Republicans taking the position that it was merely expedient for his tenure as mayor of NYC, that he wasn’t really as liberal as conservatives were warning, that he was better than anyone the Democrats were offering; and conservatives saying he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, that he was philosophically and ideologically identical to the Democrats, and a threat to GOP values.
On Friday, Giuliani himself removed all doubt. In doing so, he has thrown down the gauntlet to the Republican Party: what value do you place on your principles?
This will shift the thrust of the debate away from a question of Giuliani’s position on core GOP values and toward the more important discussion that will determine the entire future of the GOP, which is: will the GOP completely abandon its principles and party planks to accommodate the candidacy of a self-professed liberal, and what will that mean for the tenability of the party as a viable political entity going into the future.
On this blog, since last year I have been warning of the dangers inherent in a Giuliani candidacy, as have some (but not very many) others in columns and comments. It will be interesting to see if this story even gets much traction and notice. If it doesn’t, that will be a clear signal that party regulars are simply hoping it will go away unnoticed so the boat doesn’t start rocking.
Further, after this bombshell pronouncement, what can we expect from a Giuliani presidency? Obviously, no support for Second Amendment rights to private gun ownership. Giuliani will act on his already acknowledged support for taxpayer funding of abortions. But most important, in the past he’s stated he would appoint constructionist judges. Even putting aside his own record of appointing very liberal municipal judges as mayor of NYC, how can anyone, in light of his stated position on these issues, believe for one New York Minute (how fitting!) that he’ll do anything of the kind? To do so would be to work against the very issues for which he just expressed his support.
Let’s also contemplate the effect on the GOP. To nominate Giuliani would be to disavow the traditional Republican positions and planks on the very issues that define the GOP, and especially conservatism. These are key issues distinguishing the GOP from Democrats. That distinction would be completely erased with a Giuliani nomination.
Finally, as a practical matter of winning elections, Giuliani and the GOP will be able to expect absolutely no support from conservatives. The party will have consigned itself to minority status, as it can’t win without the conservatives. It will also have sacrificed its soul on the altar of expediency.
I would urge all conservatives to make sure the word of this speech spreads as far and wide as possible. I would also urge all Republicans to rethink any support for Giuliani they’ve been contemplating. Finally, I would urge the GOP to throw this poseur out on his ear.
On Friday, Giuliani himself removed all doubt. In doing so, he has thrown down the gauntlet to the Republican Party: what value do you place on your principles?
This will shift the thrust of the debate away from a question of Giuliani’s position on core GOP values and toward the more important discussion that will determine the entire future of the GOP, which is: will the GOP completely abandon its principles and party planks to accommodate the candidacy of a self-professed liberal, and what will that mean for the tenability of the party as a viable political entity going into the future. -----
Worth repeating
Thought you might find this interesting
save
Fixed that for ya.
L
Giuliani, or any other Republican who states support for abortion rights, gun control, and gay rights can go take a flying **** at the moon.
**** = jump, I assume? :-)
No - it starts with the letter “F.”
Thank Knitting - sums up my thoughts on the issue.
What I’ve been saying. Putting Giuliani in the White House would not just change the Republican Party, it would DESTROY it. And with it, the conservative movement, probably for the next twenty years or more.
Our two major parties have gradually morphed over the years. The Democrat party used to be the party of the working poor, among them almost all Catholics. They were in a coalition with the Jim Crow Democrats of the South.
The Republican Party was the party of the WASP establishment and the country clubbers. Rich people, businessmen.
All of that has changed completely. The Country Club Republicans still contribute a lot of money to the Republican Party, and thereby get to call a lot of the shots despite their small numbers. But the majority of the people who belong to the establishment these days are Democrats. The old WASP establishment is dead, and a new Limousine Liberal establishment has taken its place, having seized all the levers of power in academia, the media, and the entertainment industry.
Without its new conservative base, and the 50% of Catholics who have abandoned the Democrat Party, and the large and growing Evangelical constituency, the Republican Party couldn’t get anyone elected anywhere, after the dust settled. They would be toast. Conservatives would go elsewhere, but it would take them decades of work to rebuild a working party on the national level. Meantime the Democrats would finish billy jeff’s work of depriving us of our freedom and our right to vote, through judicial appointments, stacking of the bureaucracies, complete control of the polls, and resurrection of dead Democrats and illegals to keep them in power.
So. That means that Rudy MUST be defeated in the primaries. And if that fails, he MUST be defeated in the elections, regardless of who it puts into the Whitehouse, including the Hildabeast. Yes, sometimes you have to swallow your doubts and pull the lever for whatever (R) you are offered. But not this time. The stakes involve the future of the party, the conservative movement, and the country.
As a conservative Republican, I will vote my principles, values, beliefs and convictions. I will not vote for someone out of the juvenile fear and intense paranoia that others may have for the alternative choice. In this case, Rooty versus Hillary is a choice between two liberals. And as we all know, no good conservative votes for a liberal candidate. A vote for Rooty is a vote for liberalism.
Ping
Finally, as a practical matter of winning elections, Giuliani and the GOP will be able to expect absolutely no support from conservatives. The party will have consigned itself to minority status, as it can’t win without the conservatives. It will also have sacrificed its soul on the altar of expediency.
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What an article! Giuliani-supporters take notice!
That would certainly fix the issue but I am afraid that it's too late for that.
A military coup would be less bloody but the other solution is another civil war. I think it's going to have to come to one or the other.
What the candidates themselves say is probably important although it is still a long ways before voting time. What others say about the candidates at this time shouldn’t count for much. It’s too early and none of them have bothered to swing by here as yet. A campaign speech, the whole picture, in person, counts.
And for the life of me, I have no idea why folks keep clinging to the notion that Rusy is the only one who is qualified to fight the islamo nazis. He is actually uniquely unqualified.
Some reason, they seem to believe it’s got to walk and talk like a hillary clone to get voted in...that that’s where the heart of America is right now.
I cannot believe that, myself.
There you have it folks.
Any other expectation, IMHO is wishful thinking or projection of desire that it be otherwise. But when you look at what he’s worked for, it’s hard to believe he’d compromise his core values after getting elected. I believe lots of politicians will say whatever they need to say to get elected. That’s what looking at track records are good for. What does he do and stand for and vote for and work for when he has power?
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