Posted on 02/28/2007 9:56:17 AM PST by Peach
Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall a century ago has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber. But today ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement in reviving New York before 9/11.
An August story on the website Right Wing News, for instance, claims that Giuliani governed Gotham from “left of center.” Similarly, conservatives have been feeding the press a misleading collection of quotations by and about Giuliani, on tax policy and school choice issues, assembled to make him look like a liberal.
But in a GOP presidential field in which cultural and religious conservatives may find something to object to in every candidate who could really get nominated (and, more important, elected), Giuliani may be the most conservative candidate on a wide range of issues. Far from being a liberal, he ran New York with a conservative’s priorities: government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, he said, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering.
The private economy, not government, creates opportunity, he argued; government should just deliver basic services well and then get out of the private sector’s way. He denied that cities and their citizens were victims of vast forces outside their control, and he urged New Yorkers to take personal responsibility for their lives.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26604
What is all this crap? We don't go over to DU or MoveOn to claim that Lieberman is a Peace-at-Any-Price Liberal.
....by their fruits you shall know them....
Notice the word "recommending", and try getting your heart up off of your sleeve. I was recommending ALL Rudy threads go into one pile, not any specific adjective-Rudy threads.
And what, pray tell, would that "one" issue be?
Abortionillegalimmigrationgunsrightsconstitutionalism?
I don't think that the majority of Freepers agree here.....we did have a poll the other day and Rudy didn't fair well.
Its OK to trash him during the primaries, afterwards people will have a choice of either voting for him or the Beast or staying home.
Its that simple.
Seek help!
Anyway, being conservative is a way of life IMO. You might do one or two things different but overall, what kind of person are you is determined by your actions, but why is it so important that he has to be a conservative ? Why can't you just say he is a liberal Republican and be ok with that? Why do we need to be convinced?
....the Rudy haters can stay home...we do not want nor need their vote...
Oh, you don't need to be convinced. I'm not trying to convince you or any of those who have already made up their minds.
But every day lurkers come out of the shadows and sign up on the Rudy ping list and decide they do like him because they see that he's a law and order and fiscal conservative. It's for them that a lot of us keep posting.
They're invested in defeat. Simple as that.
I'm glad that you've finally provided a distinction between yourself and the conservative Republicans. So, if the conservatives are the "real, true" conservative Republicans, I guess that, by your own admission, makes you a "fake, false" conservative and Republican. I'm glad that you've cleared that up for everyone to whom it wasn't already abundantly clear.
so Reagan cut the budget while governor of California?
any locale with growing population, grows government services. look at Florida, and the other sun belt states that are growing population. that have to grow services also, and with that, expenditures.
Did Jeb Bush cut the Florida budget in real terms while governor? of course not, its impossible given the population growth in Florida:
http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=95
2001/2: 47 billion
2005: 64 billion
A 36% increase. Is Jeb Bush a liberal?
You're right. I'm opposed to your Rudy position, but that claim is despicable and the sort of all-too-common fallback when one is losing a debate on FR. I want to disassociate myself from that assertion emphatically. You deserve better, as do we all.
Thank you very much.
Some veterans around here were especially outraged at that charge and I know they will appreciate what you've said.
Exactly!
It's not a matter of what "kind" of conservative a candidate is. Rudy Giuliani has a credible conservative background on no more than 20%-25% of the issues that define a person's political philosophy.
He threw his "law & order" reputation out the window when he proudly and steadfastly violated Federal immigration law during his administration, and when he took it upon himself to decide that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was nothing more than a minor invconvenience for him in his attempt to force his anti-gun idiocy on this country.
Rudy Giuliani is no more conservative than Arnold Schwarzenegger is . . . and he's no more "law & order" than any jack@ss dictator would be under similar circumstances.
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