As much lip service as they give "small government", not many FReepers care that much about whether a candidate is pro-big government or not. Witness how many defenders President Bush has in spite of the fact that he's expanded government more than any president since Johnson.
I think that the problem that many conservatives have with Rudy is that they sense that the political pendulum is starting to swing back to the left after 12 years of being on the right. They don't like that, and so they want to put up some Great Conservative Hope like Duncan Hunter to help put the breaks on that.
The problem with that is that in the near future the candidates that are going to get elected are going to be from the Rockefeller/Business wing of the party, not the social conservative side.
I think that the problem that many conservatives have with Rudy is that they sense that the political pendulum is starting to swing back to the left after 12 years of being on the right. They don't like that, and so they want to put up some Great Conservative Hope like Duncan Hunter to help put the breaks on that.
***Baloney. We're pushing for our candidate because we agree with him. We hear a lot of tootyfruityrudybots pushing their candidate because he supposedly can win -- where's the passion for the cause? They're finding out quickly that just because he has good poll numbers with the MSM, it doesn't translate into base support. If Rockefeller republicans lose their energized base, they will get smoked by the democrats because it's so difficult to tell the two sides apart for the average voter. When the demorat party starts losing elections and knows that it needs to be more fiscally conservative, it will target the Rockefeller Republicans, not the social conservatives.