[hellbender]

"As George Will said on “This Week,” “His eight years as mayor of New York were the most successful episode of conservative governance in this country in the last 50 years, on welfare and crime particularly."

George Will seems to have forgotten Ronald Reagan already. Welfare and crime are about all Rudy can boast about. His philosophy is a complete repudiation of most of what Reagan Republicans believed. Reagan did not compromise on abortion or other fundamental issues, but he drew in millions of independent and Democrat voters. This idea that we must move left to win national elections is not new; it's what the country clubbers and RINOs told us for years and years. Reagan proved all that was a lie.

[wbill]

IMHO, I think that Reagan was one of the best presidents of the modern age because he understood what it meant to be president. That is - always to act the part of a leader, surround yourself with good people, and let them do the heavy lifting.

Realistically, for a president to actually review 1% of what he's responsible for would be a Herculean undertaking. That (among other things) was the downfall of Bill Clinton. He surrounded himself with a bunch of people that were as amoral and corrupt as himself, and he largely destroyed the prestige of the office.

I think that Rudy understands how to act like a leader (seeing him after 9-11 proved that). I'm not sure about the other two pieces of the puzzle yet - that'll come out in the campaign.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

His philosophy is a complete repudiation of most of what Reagan Republicans believed.

So when Rudy spoke out against single women having babies out of wedlock and kids growing up without fathers, that was straight from the liberal playbook. Gotcha.