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.
I am occasionally reminded lately of the end of the Whig party and the rise of the Republican party that replaced it...
Yep. And I’d be looking to sign up for the nearest available 3rd party that mirrored my views on social issues. And I’m not the only one... Principles over party, baby.
***Well, that makes you a follower of Satan, according to someone I was just corresponding with on this thread. Isn’t that special?
Thank you Moby, for confirming my theory of insane leftists stirring up irrational arguments on conservative web site.
You are a plant.
Probably a weed, come to think of it.
Don’t go away mad, little buddy. Just go away. You don’t add anything to the conversation and you obviously aren’t up to the challenge of defending your position, which is clearly moronic in any event.
Stop serving the interest of Hillary and her like. Though I don’t support Rudy you clearly support the hildabeast as better than he. That’s clearly either a part of Moby’s plan or an indication that you lack a firm grip on reality.
Either way, you are serving an agenda that I will oppose no matter what else you bring to the table (however poor that may be, based on your performance to date.)
It’s that simple.
So, you would rather have president Hillary or President Dennis Kucinich?
That's clearly insane.
That's the sum total of my argument.
I don't support Rudy, but given the choice I'll vote for him over any of the Dhimmicrats. Any other position is ludicrous.
The 100%ers gave us speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Your post means that you support that as a good thing.
Let's get over the fantasy world of what we'd like to see and deal with the real world, shall we?
Real people die when we don't do that.
If we screw up this time real civilizations die.
Save the cheerleader, save the world.
Great, that was 10 years ago. Now we have to deal with the world we have. Get on with it.
You can yowl til next year. You vote for that craven loser, Giuliani if you want, but I’ll never do it. I’m not voting for a liberal.
So, I gather that when you said, “End of discussion”, you didn’t really mean it.
Thank you Moby, for confirming my theory of insane leftists stirring up irrational arguments on conservative web site.
You are a plant. Probably a weed, come to think of it.
***Wow. Just Wow. That would make me one of the most successful plants in the history of... planting. In your view, I would have spent 9 years on a conservative website pretending to be conservative just so I could come up against you [who are defending a liberal] and generate irrational arguments in order to further Satan’s agenda because I post the truth about a liberal loser RINO. Wow. Sounds off-the-scale bizarre. Perhaps you need to start or stop some particular medication? You’ve really gone off the deep end.
Don’t go away mad, little buddy. Just go away. You don’t add anything to the conversation and you obviously aren’t up to the challenge of defending your position, which is clearly moronic in any event.
***Again I’ll ask you to forgive me that I won’t take your word for it. It must really be fun in your universe.
Stop serving the interest of Hillary and her like. Though I don’t support Rudy you clearly support the hildabeast as better than he. That’s clearly either a part of Moby’s plan or an indication that you lack a firm grip on reality.
***Clearly, huh? It also happens to be in alignment with the OWNER of this website, so that would make him a plant as well, since he signed up only 2 months ahead of me?
Either way, you are serving an agenda that I will oppose no matter what else you bring to the table (however poor that may be, based on your performance to date.)
***I am serving the same agenda as the owner of this website, the same website that you’re using to tell me that you oppose. You are against that agenda in your own words. You might as well just hang it up now. I can give you a few pointers on how some freepercides have a better remembrance than others. In fact, I would say that your particular freepercide by mod is one of the more memorable for me. I’ve never before been called a follower of Satan here on Free Republic. It’s utterly fascinating. I was on the bugzapper thread and read most of it, and as far as I can recall, no one else was ever called a follower of Satan. So this freepercide in which you are the process of finalizing does have a certain unique flavor to it. All in all, I’m guessing folks will be giving it about a 7 out of 10. We shall see.
It’s that simple.
***I like simplicity. KISS. Reading through your last few posts reminds me of the KISS of death.
To people whose god is politics, their political enemies are the devil. My God is God.
***Sounds pretty simple. I like simplicity. My God is God as well.
If we screw up this time real civilizations die... Save the cheerleader, save the world.
***Wow. That’s just... profound. You’re amazing.
Thank you for putting it so succinctly and clearly.
Don’t go away mad, little buddy. Just go away. You don’t add anything to the conversation and you obviously aren’t up to the challenge of defending your position, which is clearly moronic in any event.
A Lepoard can’t change it’s spots.
That’s the same weasel dung we’ve been hearing from the Giulianites for several months. You think a cross dressing, partial birth abortion supporting, gay right supporting, gun grabber should be our presidential nominee, then I have to think you aren’t all that conservative.
Giuliani used the NYPD to harass strippers and homeless men. He’s an authoritarian nut. He’s a far left liberal. The views he expressed just this week prove that.
I have enough trouble with Bush’s handling of the supposed WOT. Harassing me for a half hour in an airport rather than letting me take off my watch. We are becoming a police state and Giuiliani would be very qualified to lead it. He’s an elitist’s elitist. He’s an unprincipled liar. If you EVER expect me to vote that, I have news for you. And you can count me as your eternal enemy too.
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