Watch out .....I'm running.
Posted on 02/10/2007 9:26:03 PM PST by FairOpinion
Republican primary voters should rally around the GOP field's most accomplished supply-sider, the all-but-announced Rudolph W. Giuliani. Having sliced taxes and slashed Gotham's government, New York's former mayor is the leading fiscal conservative among 2008's GOP presidential contenders.
Before Giuliani's January 1, 1994 inauguration, New York's economy was on a stretcher. Amid soaring unemployment, 235 jobs vanished daily. Financier Felix Rohatyn complained: "Virtually all human activities are taxed to the hilt." Punitive taxes helped fuel a $2.3 billion deficit.
Mayor-elect Giuliani sounded Reaganesque when he announced he would "reduce the size and cost of city government" to balance the budget. In his first State of the City address, he said: "We're going to cut taxes to attract jobs so our people can work."
Giuliani spent eight years keeping these promises.
"America's Mayor" cut or killed 23 levies, saving taxpayers $9.8 billion. Giuliani pared Gotham's top income-tax rate by 20.6%. Washington, D.C.'s CFO reported that between 1993 and 2001, local taxes on a family of four New Yorkers earning $50,000 fell 23.7%.
Giuliani cut the commercial-rent tax, curbed sales taxes, and curtailed the marriage penalty on taxpaying couples. Giuliani proudly shaved Gotham's hotel tax from 6% to 5 in 1994. Consequently, that tax's revenues soared from $135 million in Fiscal Year 1995 to $239 million in FY 2001.
Giuliani defends his supply-side instincts with bracing candor. Asked after September 11 if he would hike taxes, Giuliani called that "a dumb, stupid, idiotic, and moronic thing to do."
Giuliani's expenditure growth averaged 2.9% annually, while local inflation between January 1994 and December 2001 averaged 3.6%. His FY 1995 budget decreased outlays by 1.6%, while his post-9/11 FY 2002 plan lowered appropriations by 2.6%.
If President Bush had followed Giuliani's example and limited Washington's spending to 2.9% average, annual growth, the just-unveiled FY 2008 federal budget would cost $2.275 trillion, not $2.9 trillion, saving taxpayers $625 billion, the Cato Institute's Stephen Slivinski estimates. Such Giulianian fiscal discipline would generate a $386 billion surplus, not an anticipated $239 billion deficit.
Giuliani repeatedly privatized municipal assets. Giuliani sold WNYC radio for $20 million, WNYC-TV for $207 million, and Gotham’s share of the U.N. Plaza Hotel for $85 million. Divesting the New York Coliseum excised an eyesore from Columbus Circle and added $345 million to city coffers. Giuliani also let the private Central Park Conservancy manage Manhattan's fabled urban forest.
These eight years of tax reduction and fiscal responsibility helped hammer unemployment from 10.4 percent in 1993 to 5.7 percent in 2001. Simultaneously, personal income advanced 53 percent.
It's hard to compare a two-term ex-mayor, a one-term governor, and a four-term U.S. senator. Nevertheless, Cato's 2006 gubernatorial report card gives former Massachusetts chief executive Mitt Romney a "C." While the top personal tax rate fell 6 percent on his watch, thanks to a referendum voters approved before he arrived, Romney's first budget raised $140 million by closing corporate-tax loopholes. It also featured some $501.5 million in increased fees, including higher marriage licenses (from $4 to $50), pricier gun permits ($25 to $100), a $100 biannual fee for volunteer firefighters (rescinded under pressure), and a $10, previously free, ID card that lets the blind ride Boston public-transit gratis.
Few in Congress expose outrageous federal boondoggles as fervently as does John McCain. However, he is an ambivalent tax fighter. According to Club for Growth research, McCain opposed President Clinton's 1993 tax increases and supported his 1997 capital gains tax cuts. He also voted to extend President Bush's 2003 tax cuts. For 2005, McCain earned a 78% National Taxpayers Union rating -- an "A."
Unfortunately, McCain opposed President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. McCain voted against repealing the Death Tax in 2002. Also, in 1998, McCain embraced former Sen. Tom Daschle's (D.-S.D.) motion to approve Big Tobacco's Master Settlement Agreement, including a $1.10-per-pack cigarette-tax increase.
"I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues," McCain conceded to Wall Street Journal editorialist Stephen Moore. "I still need to be educated."
Conservatives seeking a proven leader to lasso taxes and rein in runaway spending have a natural choice for President: Rudolph W. Giuliani.
I would never quote anything by them as gospel, heck the only poll I believe in is one that would poll 300 million Americans. But I sure as hell would not quote the WPO or ABC.
Add me to the ping list.
I still haven't made up my mind as to who to support. This is an important debate to have before 08.
Rudy is definitely a supply side Friedman/Reagan economic disciple. He is also strong on national defense and the WOT.
Granted, there are some issues that social conservatives will find unpalatable...I'm as pro-life as anyone. But if he pledges to appoint a strict contructionist to the Supreme Court (without mentioning the abortion issue specificaly, it's politics after all) I think we should give him a chance.
OK, let's here it now. What is his word worth? He was married 3 times yada, yada, yada. Come on, have you ever heard one of Donna Hanovers' rants? You can't blame the guy for getting out of there like a bat out of hell.
Sorry ladies. I think the women out there know what I mean. Women are much better judges of human nature than men. They have a much better intuition. That's why I don't believe this nonsense that they would vote for Hillary just because she is a "woman". They can smell a phony better than we can.
Would you happen to have a link to your post #18?
Done!
Welcome to the Rudy Ping List. :)
It's not Rudy vs. Hillary. We're still early in the primary season. Rudy is tainted goods. let him go.
When a conservative arises, who can beat Hillary, I am all for him. But until then, Rudy is our best chance to beat Hillary.
I admire your spirit and your passion. I've read every biography of Barry Goldwater (including his autobiography). There is indeed something to be said for a man who stands up for his principles, knowing damn well he is going to go down in a blaze of glory.
Goldwater advanced the conservative ideology in defeat, and he is revered till this day by people like me.
But there is a time and place for everything. This is not the time nor place for Barry II.
Maybe I'm a hypocrite. I've berated the RINO's in Congress who brought disgrace to the idea of limited government. I wish Ronald Reagan could come back and lead us. But a great communicator like Reagan who can convince even stupid liberals and closet Socialists that right wing, limited Government is in their best interest only comes along once every century.
How about Duncan Hunter Jr. in 2048? Seriously, I understand your frustration. There are some candidates that are non-starters for me. See Mike Huckabee.
Watch out .....I'm running.
And he IS going to win!
I won't make this long; just hit on a few points.
First of all, most people no longer watch both parties' primary speeches, debates, or even the nomination conventions. You just admitted that you don't. ERGO, nobody will "see" nor hear ANY similarities between Hillary and Rudy.
Neither would there be ANY "similarities" should both garner their party's nomination and they debate each other. NEITHER NOMINEE GETS TO WRITE THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT ANY DEBATE!
Rudy will NOT skip any early debates; Hillary might, though she needs to be on top EARLY! The primaries are front loaded, this time. Nobody can skip Iowa and N.H. and then just bid their time. By Next year, at this time, it really WILL be more or less all over but the cheering.
I would heartily suggest that you dig deeper into your chosen person's background. He is being investigated by the DOJ and has been, for a long time. He isn't "Mr. Clean" at all and could very well wind up in a cell next to Duke Cunningham.
I'll save you from taking the test. :-)
I just posted on this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1783241/posts
Do you have a link?
I and others ( though not any of Hunter's supporters here ) have read the Federal documents. It'll take a bit of GOOGLING, but you too can find this and a lot of other things about Hunter as well. You just have to do more than read his website.
I am NOT here to smear him; especially because I doubt he'll even be in the running a year from today. I just wish that his supporters would do some research on him and learn that he isn't what or who they are assuming him to be.
Maybe he just puts his country before a stupid war that has created a new terrorist-ridden state of Iraq.
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