His recent whimperings notwithstanding, it’s difficult for me to tell Mr. Giuliani apart, ideologically and policy-wise, from, say, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Except on the war, Mr. Giuliani would fit reasonably comfortably in the mainstream of the Democrat party, and that mainstream is liberal.
“There is one thing I fear more than a ‘Rudy/Clinton’ election, and that is a Clinton presidency. Oh, there’s one OTHER thing I fear: A ‘Rudy/Clinton’ election where the conservatives all stay home but Rudy wins anyway.”
In my own view, any election where the two major party candidates are Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Giuliani is already lost to actual conservatives.
If Mr. Giuliani wins without conservative support, then it will show that conservatives are effectively marginalized, and can be ignored with impunity, as we are powerless to affect the outcome of the general election.
If Mr. Giuliani wins with conservative support, then it will show that conservatives are effectively marginalized, and can be ignored with impunity, as we can be taken for granted because we “have nowhere else to go.”
“But once the primary is done, if Rudy is our candidate, ACTIVISTS need to focus on energizing the conservative base even though we’d have a crappy presidential candidate, in order to support down-ticket conservatives. We won’t do that if all the conservatives are staying home.”
I have no intention of staying home. I’ll go out and vote for every office on the ballot. And with the exception of the presidency, it will be a straight-Republican ticket.
For the presidency, I’ll vote third party.
I won’t vote for a baby killer for president.
Just not gonna do it.
sitetest
I would agree with you if his current WORDS are ignored. But if he wins with conservative support, we can rightly say he won BECAUSE he changed his mind, and embraced the conservative cause. Then we can hold his feet to the fire and make him live up to his promises.
If he doesn’t, we aren’t “marginalized” because we were lied to.
That’s why I wouldn’t vote for a Linc Chafee, because we’d deserve what we got, as he’d be doing what he promised.
It’s why I give some people a hard time when they attack Bush for immigration — because Bush said during the campaign exactly what he was doing as President. He didn’t “turn out” differently in that case.
I’m not saying Rudy is SAYING all the right things either. But he is saying a LOT MORE right things than Hillary, and if he lived up to what he says he’d be a lot more conservative than Joe. For example, Joe would never appoint John Roberts, Scalia,or Thomas.
I don’t know if Rudy would either, but he SAYS he would, and people who have always been trustworthy on the abortion issue that are associated with Rudy SAY he is telling the truth.
It’s not enough for me to support him in the primary, but it’s enough for me not to stay home in the general election.