Posted on 01/26/2008 5:31:02 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
In four days, on the night of January 29th , Rudy Giuliani will know the fate of his political career. The Republican Presidential candidate and former Mayor of New York City is pushing all of his chips into the middle on the state of Florida. Anything but a first place finish will for all intents and purposes end the former frontrunner’s chance at the Republican nomination. Just two short months ago Giuliani led Florida by a full 20 percentage points over Mitt Romney, but as of today Giuliani trails McCain and Romney by an average of about 5%. This represents a 25 percent nosedive in the polls.
So what the hell happened? This is the man that cleaned up the capital of the western world and bravely helped his city recover after the devastating attacks of September 11th. Well, what happened was the voters began to pay attention. While Rudy was enjoying the perks that come with being the GOP front-runner, the rest of the candidates were busy carving out their niche in the election by championing an issue to give their campaign a distinguished voice. Mitt Romney is the accomplished venture capitalist with business savvy and mannequin good looks. McCain presented himself as the war hero who will not let the troops come home, this makes him “tough on terror.” Mike Huckabee branded himself the “Christian Leader” and has tried to keep a cross hovering over his shoulder as often as possible. Fred Thompson was the champion of gun rights who honed his political wit on the set of Law and Order and Law and Order: SVU. Ron Paul has gone against the grain by telling the American people the truth and he is the Champion of the Constitution.
Rudy’s issue became not cleaning up crime in New York City, but simply holding the title of mayor at the time of the September 11th attacks. The majority of the American people have yet to make the connection of how that would make him a great President and I don’t see it either. Even Tancredo made a name for himself with immigration.
Then just as the American people began to realize that Rudy didn’t have an issue the scandals began to roll in one after another, and they would not go away. Bernard Kerik, Giuliani’s former driver who worked his way up to New York City’s police chief under the close tutelage of Mayor Rudy, was indicted on Federal corruption charges. This scandal single handedly exposed Giuliani’s lack of judgment when making important decisions because Giuliani not only promoted Kerik to Police Chief but he also recommended him for Director of Homeland Security. The American people began to worry that if Rudy’s right hand man was facing a laundry list of federal indictments, then what would his eventual Presidential cabinet would be a nightmare.
The Kerik scandal was just one of many scandals to plague Rudy’s campaign. Others included having New York City’s finest walk his mistress’s dog, allowing his law firm to do business with sworn enemies of the United States…the list goes on and on.
And this is not to mention that the man suffers from uncontrollable giggling fits. He has been heard giggling during important moments of GOP Presidential debates. He also giggled his way through most of an extremely important Meet the Press interview. The general feeling towards Rudy after such pathetic performances was pity and embarrassment because nobody enjoys watching a man publicly self destruct.
But don’t feel too bad for the guy he will always have the lecture circuit and quite honestly, I think we will be more comfortable there. He will also get a chance to catch up on his reading.
You know he was doing it for a ‘charity’ event. I already see your lack of charity.
No way that schtick would play in Sc or FL, tried to tell the Rudyites...
Not being competitive in NH sank him, leaving SC was the bottom of the barrel, and if Hunter or Fred couldn’t do it, no way Rudy could, he didn’t even have a bit of Nixon in him.
Rudy is why REAL Americans put our 2nd Amendment FIRST!!
Well, his tax plan is great. I will say that much.
Epic Fail
That is probably most of it, and a perception of arrogance for
not campaigning in the early states.
Sorry, I'm as anti-abortion as anyone but that isn't what tanked Rudy. He's suffering from the same problem that afflicted Fred Thompson. In today's presidential campaigns, you can't sit out this state or that one and hope to come back in the next.
The electorate is so ill-informed, so shortsighted and so dependent on its MSM daily fix, that your support evaporates if you miss more than two or three of the proverbial news cycles. Thompson's strategy sounded fine to me and, I've got to say, Rudy's seemed sensible, too.
We've turned our presidential campaign into a remake of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and only the seriously insane have a chance of winning.
Well, you may be right. My take on it is that the media tried to keep him alive, but his numbers began to tank about the time he made all those comments about abortion, including a woman’s constitutional right to have the taxpayers pay for her abortion. He dropped about 10 or 15% right there.
The media liked him (except for the NYC papers, which still bore a grudge). But they turned to McCain when it was evident that Giuliani wasn’t making it.
Rudy's strategy was not to avoid campaigning in states prior to Florida like he's been saying.
Rudy's strategy was to campaign in all of the states and to SAY that he was not campaigning in states prior to Florida. He campaigned extensively in Iowa and New Hampshire. In fact, there was only one candidate (Mitt Romney) who made more trips to New Hampshire than Rudy.
Rudy was rejected by the voters on the basis of who he is. He's clearly not fit to be Commander in Chief.
It is a total lie. Rudy’s campaign HAS NOT COLLAPSED far from it. The absentee’s were sent out when Rudy was the only one in Florida, Rudy was the only one in Florida when all of them were returned. We are talking about a huge number. So huge Rudy will win Florida.
Uh, Rudy was doing this more than just for "charity" there bub.
“So huge Rudy will win Florida.”
Can you share your drugs?
OK Nostradamus, I got this thread bookmarked and some beer-battered crow in the freezer.
Thank God Rudy managed NYC better after 9/11 than he’s managed his campaign. The. worst. ever.
I agree, but how sick is that??
Wrong. The electorate are not well informed. They are spoon fed by MSM and the likes of Chrissy Mathews. If the electorate had any sense none of the current contenders would still be in the race and the ones who are out would be dueling for the nod.
Rudy will make a fine AG for Mitt.
Like Rudy's love for unborn children, right?
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