Posted on 10/22/2007 11:09:26 AM PDT by freedomdefender
Rudi Giuliani’s campaign depends to a great extent on his clean-up of crime in NY City in the 1990s. It allows him to cover up a multitude of his non-conservative policies. Consider this exchange from yesterday’s GOP debate:
Fred Thompson: Mayor Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortion. He believes in sanctuary cities. He’s for gun control. He supported Mario Cuomo, a liberal Democrat, against a Republican who was running for governor; then opposed the governor’s tax cuts when he was there.
Rudi: I had the most legal city in the country. And I took the crime capital of America and I turned it into the safest large city in the country. The senator has never had executive responsibility. He’s never had the weight of people’s safety and security on his shoulders.
Well, whatever Rudi did in NY City, across the country crime also fell sharply in the 1990s:
According to new research by a University of California, Berkeley, law professor, the crime rate dropped dramatically during the 1990s, falling 40 percent in cities and states across the country and in all major crime categories from homicides to auto thefts, producing the longest and deepest crime decline in the United States since World War II.
And besides, since when is local crime a federal responsibility? We need to get rid of all federal involvement in local police matters, including cutting off all funding using U.S. taxpayers’ money.
Finally, most Americans just don’t like NY City. They hate the Yankees baseball team. They don’t like the pushy attitude of New Yorkers. And they don’t like paying for the vast federal subsidies that go to the city.
Maybe Rudi can be Hillary’s running mate.
I won[t be voting for Guiliani under any circumstances I can foresee.
That said, what he did in New York City was amazing, given the circumstances, as mayor.
I visited NYC routinely before Guiliani was mayor, and have done so twice since. The difference can’t be denied by anyone objective.
And, the crime rate began dropping in New York in the early 1990s before he took office.
...and there you have it.
I’ve been saying this from the begining. The horror of the 9/11 attacks were barely enough to bring us together for the fight. If they had attacked another, more beloved city, the American people wouldn’t be losing their nerve. It’s a harsh observation but I think it is true. I guess I’m not alone.
Or, as we like to say down here: “We don’t care you y’all do it in the North.”
It's also worth noticing that when Rooty Toot talks about the abortion rate dropping in NYC and the adoption rate going up, NYC was following national trends in both cases.
Adoption rates are somewhat difficult to pin down; but nationwide abortion rates during the 1990s dropped nearly 25%, well ABOVE the 17% that Rooty is claiming.
I don’t know about Rudy, but Thompson puts me to sleep. He is one big bore. By the way, did you know that Thompson backed the the Trail Lawyers/Tort lobby right down the line to defeat Tort Reform on every effort during his time in the Senate. He was a trial lawyer before he was elected to the Senate and returned to that profession after he left to include defending Pro Choice. I am beginning to believe Huckabee may offer the best alternative.
Huckabee has zero chance of gaining the nomination. Thats the reality of the situation. I like him, and Hunter, but they’ve both had countless opportunities, and so far haven’t been able to take advantage of them.
Damn shame, but it is what it is.
Crime rates started dropping nationwide as more and more areas went to mandatory sentencing and eliminating parole. When the criminals are in prison, crime rates drop.
Re that “under any circumstances I can foresee”...
What are you going to do if the National Committee
selects Rudy as the GOP candidate? Better not
close your mind totally. I face the same quandry
with Rhino McCain and/or Far-rightist Paul.
THEN...how would a Romney/Giuliani
or a Thompson/Giuliani ticket grab you?
Was Giuliani in New York City?
You’re right, as much as I would like to see someone like Hunter or Huckabee win the nomination, it’s looking like the only candidates who have a chance are Rooty, Romney and Thompson. (However, at this time four years ago, Dean was seen as a foregone conclusion.)
I’ll write my own name in.
Sorry, just as I refused to support the GOP in 2006 to thwart Nancy Pelosi, I won’t vote for Guiliani to ‘thwart’ Hillary Clinton.
My decision matrix is very simple when it comes to Presidents.
Taxation, USSC nominations, Second Amendment, National Defense. IN no particular order, btw.
Guiliani fails using this ‘matrix’ just as Clinton does.
If the GOP is that stupid, they’ve left me, not the other way around. Reminds me of Ronald Reagan’s reason for leaving the Democratic Party.
Rest assured you are not alone in your assessment. However, sadly New York seems to have captured the American imagination, possibly more through Hollywood movies than through 9-11, and may very well give us both the Democratic and Republican nominees.
well that's good enough for me...I'll take a bore. That way he won't "inspire" legislation and worry about "legacy" building.
Rudy may run as a Republican. He can just do it without me.
.....If Hillary wins, I'm good with that. I'll make money like I did with the "Blow job isn't sex" Clinton. Short the medical and pharmaceutical stocks. Then when they bottom out buy all of them back and hold them.
Clinton gave us the House, most of the state legislatures, and brought about the rise of the conservatives. He couldn't save welfare, signed off on NAFTA and basically spent his time yacking about how evil Republicans are while stuffing his pockets with money and zipping his pants up when Hillary walked into the White House.
I'd rather have an enemy in front of me with known tendencies than a RINO at my side with his arm around my neck and a pistol in my ribs.
No Rudy, No way, at all.
If I have to, I will vote third-party.
If the GOP picks Rudy, they have walked away from me, I did not walk away from them.
Some people will NEVER get it. Rudy warts and all took on the liberal establishment in NYC, politicians, union mobs, teachers, the whole lot of them.
And he beat them so badly every which way just by employing common sense they will never, ever forgive him.
They hate him more than the social conservatives here. And they have real reasons even more to take it personally.
He just about destroyed them completely in NYC.
And when it comes to tort reform, Thompson is totally States Rights. Check this out from an email I received...
“Historically, tort laws have been matters for decision by the states. Not all states deal with such matters in the same way, and problems that exist in some states may not be present in others. What is a problem in New York may not be a problem in New Mexico, and the approaches to problem solving may be different in Tallahassee than in Topeka.
Conservatives have traditionally respected the rights of the states to identify and address their own problems. They have typically opposed one-size fits all solutions dictated by Congress, believing that people who have their feet on the ground in their communities are in a better position to deal with their problems than bureaucrats who are far from the scene in Washington, DC.”
Put this against the flopping of Mitt and McCain, the liberalism of Rudy, the immigration stance of Huckabee, I’ll take Thompson.
Thompson put the wood to the roooooty last night.For him being boring he sure got my attention.
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