Posted on 05/15/2007 7:30:17 AM PDT by jdm
Rudy Giuliani, who at last count was leading the field in the Republican presidential scamper, is earning profile-in-courage points for taking a deep breath and admitting that, yes, he does still support lawful abortion, gun control and gay rights.
Sorry, no points here. The moment was more like a profile in necessity.
Giuliani's positions on those politically loaded social issues put him crossways with the mix of religious and social conservatives and reactionaries who have come to make up his party's voting base and provide its election-time foot soldiers.
From the start of his campaign for the GOP nomination, he has tried, with visibly worsening desperation, to fudge his positions without quite repudiating them and to make them somehow seem less "liberal."
The effort reached its nadir in the recent debate among Republican candidates. Trying to dance around the problem, Giuliani's feet were flying in so many directions, he looked like a centipede on hot coals.
So Giuliani has put down his bet. He's betting his reputation as a tough law-and-order guy and as a cool head and firm hand in the 9/11 crisis will chill the hot buttons enough to get him safely past the party's several ideological interest groups that demand doctrinal purity.
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, a Christian conservative outfit, said the candidate sounded like Hillary Clinton, easily one of the right's top five devil figures. The president of the Southern Baptist Convention's policy arm, Richard Land, said Giuliani's self-affirmation "shows a moral obtuseness that is stunning."
Giuliani polls more strongly so far against each Democratic contender than any other Republican. He has potential with the independents and possible crossover Democrats generally accounted essential for victory.
So Giuliani has given his party's establishment, and especially its big corporate and rich-guy funders, a problem. Do they want to risk losing their otherwise sure-thing social conservative voters in a gamble for moderates who might, or equally might not, be swept up by a Giuliani candidacy?
Rudy Giuliani is challenging his party to rethink and remake itself, and to do that on the fly. To say he is asking a lot is a way-understatement.
LOL
Rudy reinvents Republican just like the Titanic reinvented the concept of the unsinkable ship.
That's another good point in the article. What sheer arrogance. "It's all about me. Change your beliefs overnight for me... please?"
Rudy wants to be president because he WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT, as far as I can see.
No one wants to do it for their country, like Ronald Reagan.
It is a good line.
“Rudy reinvents Republican”?
More like “Rudy in desperate attempt to redefine GOP”.
Well Rudy, you just lost the South!
Fred Thompson.
Rudy Giuliani will not be the Republican nominee for President, period.
To see that he is an egotistical and selfish man (and no, Rudybots, not all politicians are like that), we need only to ask his former wives and children.
“Rudy reinvents Republican”
Translation: Rudy goes Democrat
There sure are a lot of Rudy stories on this site. Isn’t anyone else running?
There are two GOP candidates running for the office of President elected in the past with pro-abortion support: Giuliani and Romney. Giuliani has determined to take the more credible view of maintaining his previous stance (while at the same time trying to make it a non-issue with his rhetoric about supporting strict contructionist judges for the Supreme Court). For that he gets points for consistency and honesty, but that is offset by the abortion stance itself.
OTOH Romney has taken a less credible view of an election year conversion on abortion trying to make folks think he is a solid conservative. (If he is a solid conservative, thats a new stance for him; he could not have been elected governor of MA as a conservative.) He gets points for switching to pro-life, but at the expense of credibility.
IMO it is a wash and neither candidate should be the head of next year’s Republican presidential ticket.
and Republicans invent a new Party
A Giuliani nomination will complete the liberal neo-con takeover of the GOP to match their control over the Democrat Party. They pick the two candidates, you get to ‘choose’. I won’t waste my vote, I choose Third.
“No one wants to do it for their country, like Ronald Reagan.”
Fred Thompson?
Exactly!
Question to candidate: Will you stand up for OUR principles? (Smaller less intrusive government, individual liberties and economic freedom)
Watch the news coverage of the Fair Tax rally!!
A few choice phrases on the Rudester here!
Rudy is looking more and more like a dried up turd at the starting line with his RINO leanings and connections to the North American Trade stuff.
I think Rudy represents the liberal, Northeastern Country Club Republicans who USED to run the party. The conservative wing led by evangelical Christians took over in the late 1970s and elected Reagan. Taking back the Republican Party from the liberal Republicans is a matter of leadership, hard work, and MONEY. Abandoning the Republican Party simply assures that the dims will take complete control of our country again, and THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE. Believe me, the dims are ecstatic at the fratricide they see developing within Republican ranks. If conservatives really want to regain power, they better start volunteering for Hunter, et al, and shelling out serious money. All of the negative talk is destructive; we win by our positive actions. Its not who we oppose but who we support.
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