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Rudy Giuliani: Because Beggars Can’t Be Choosers
NY Observer ^ | 3/14/07 | Steve Kornacki

Posted on 03/14/2007 6:47:10 AM PDT by areafiftyone

If pragmatism prevails in the Republican primaries and caucuses next winter—a questionable proposition for a party that once dutifully lined up behind Bob Dole—then Rudy Giuliani will roll to the G.O.P. nomination.
 
Simply put, the former Mayor would flip to the Republican column several deep, dark blue states that the G.O.P. has barely bothered to contest in recent election, gobbling up territory that is pivotal to any Democrat’s hopes of corralling 270 electoral votes. And he could do this without ceding an inch of safe G.O.P. turf to the Democrats. Sure, they may loathe his social liberalism, but will Mississippians really hand their six electoral votes to Hillary Clinton over Rudy?
 
As it stands now, Republicans are in grave danger of losing the White House in 2008. There is a pattern to American politics that has prevailed, almost unblemished, since the Second World War: One party controls the Presidency for eight years, then the other party does. It was the Democrats’ turn in 1992 and 1996, the Republicans’ turn in 2000 and 2004, and—well, you see what that means for ’08.
 
And it’s not as if voters are inclined to buck history: Fatigue with the national G.O.P. is unusually high—and, with every passing, seemingly futile month in Iraq, growing. Against such a backdrop, a Republican Presidential nominee who appeals to the usual G.O.P. cheering sections and antagonizes the familiar Democratic constituencies is going nowhere.
 
To win next year, Republicans need to nominate a map-changer—a candidate who can attract support in unlikely areas and overcome the significant built-in handicaps.
 
Enter Rudy. Say what you will about whether he truly deserves them, but his Sept. 11 tough-guy hero credentials position him perfectly to lead election-swinging Reagan Democrats back into the Republican fold.
 
Consider the electoral map, which has subtly shifted in the Democrats’ favor in the last two years due to Republican bumbling on the national and state levels.
 
Ohio, for instance, famously put Mr. Bush over the top in 2004. Months later, though, that state’s Republican governor, Bob Taft, pleaded guilty to four criminal misdemeanors in an ethics case, precipitating the total collapse of Ohio’s G.O.P. establishment. Now, early polls show Mrs. Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards poised to turn Ohio blue in ’08.
 
Against Rudy’s G.O.P. rivals, the Democratic front-runners would have little trouble doing so. John McCain’s fortunes will be tied to public opinion of the war he has so tirelessly promoted. And Mitt Romney’s politics of convenience—now a conservative, he built his political career in liberal Massachusetts by telling wrenching personal stories about his commitment to keeping abortion legal—will only remind Ohioans of the double-talking governor who until recently occupied their own Statehouse.
 
But Rudy can run as a leader and a hero, the man who stood tall on America’s darkest day—just as the President went into hiding for a few hours. He can call himself a results man too, the mayor who made New York safe for suburbanites again. That appeal frees him from the liabilities of his party or from the kind of single-issue identification that figures to doom Mr. McCain.
 
And Ohio is only one example.
 
Look at Mr. Giuliani’s home region. He’d have a hard time, perhaps, in New York itself. But he’d be favored in New Jersey, a state filled with blue-collar, ethnic Catholics who loved him even before 9/11. At the same time, his social liberalism won’t scare off the state’s affluent, educated suburbanites like George W. Bush’s religious rhetoric has. The same is true of Connecticut, another bedroom state that has turned on the national G.O.P. as it has morphed into a party for Christian conservatives from the South.
 
Between them, Connecticut and New Jersey have 22 electoral votes, and neither has voted Republican since 1988. Before he’s even left his backyard, then, Rudy could produce a 44-vote swing in the electoral math, potentially decisive in itself. And that’s not even touching Pennsylvania, whose blue-collar masses have lined up with the Democrats for four straight elections. And so on.
 
We’ve been down this road before, of course. In 1996, Lamar Alexander, then a likable and somewhat moderate former Tennessee governor, donned a checkered shirt and told Republicans that his campaign was as simple as ABC: “Alexander Beats Clinton.” No one short of Colin Powell could have defeated Mr. Clinton that year, but surely Mr. Alexander would have fared better than the soporific Mr. Dole, who Republicans nonetheless tapped. Similarly, had the G.O.P. simply nominated Mr. McCain in 2000, it would hardly have taken a Supreme Court decision to hand the White House to the party.
 
Maybe, given his well-documented history as a social liberal, it’s naïve to think that Mr. Giuliani will be able to count on Republican support in 2008. But if Hillary Clinton ends up defeating Mitt Romney, the G.O.P. will have no one but itself to blame for the Clinton restoration.
 
Steve Kornacki works as an organizer for Unity08, a group that advocates a bipartisan Presidential ticket in 2008.


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1 posted on 03/14/2007 6:47:14 AM PDT by areafiftyone
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To: Blackirish; Jameison; Sabramerican; BunnySlippers; tkathy; veronica; Roccus; Jake The Goose; ...

((((((RUDY PING))))


2 posted on 03/14/2007 6:48:17 AM PDT by areafiftyone (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP)
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To: areafiftyone

It appears that an assumption is being made that Giuliani will actually keep all the Red states. That assumption should not be made at this point in time.


3 posted on 03/14/2007 6:50:30 AM PDT by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: areafiftyone; TommyDale

Just admit it..you two are living together..no way otherwise he manages to hit all your posts 30 seconds after..


4 posted on 03/14/2007 6:52:00 AM PDT by ken5050 (The 2008 winning ticket: Rudy/Newtie, with Hunter for SecDef, Pete King at DHS, Bill Simon at Treas)
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To: TommyDale

That is just this guys' opinion. But he is right. We have a slim chance of winning in 08. The party is deeply split.


5 posted on 03/14/2007 6:52:28 AM PDT by areafiftyone (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP)
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To: areafiftyone
If pragmatism prevails in the Republican primaries and caucuses next winter—a questionable proposition for a party that once dutifully lined up behind Bob Dole

Say what? That makes no sense whatsoever. Senator Ethanol was a horrible choice, wasn't much of a conservative either, but the party pragmatically lined up behind him because of the perception it was his turn.

6 posted on 03/14/2007 6:52:31 AM PDT by dirtboy (Duncan Hunter 08)
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To: areafiftyone
"...given his well-documented history as a social liberal, it’s naïve to think that Mr. Giuliani will be able to count on Republican support in 2008"

Wise choice of words.

7 posted on 03/14/2007 6:52:49 AM PDT by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: areafiftyone
..excuese me, when did we become beggars?

We have a lot of potentially great candidates who have the same marketing appeal as Rudy, yet w/ better values. Just because they aren't making the news like the Hillary/Obama ticket doesn't mean we are desperate.

The challenge is for us not to eat each other alive before we even get to the primaries.

8 posted on 03/14/2007 6:53:13 AM PDT by mnehring (Virtus Junxit Mors Non Seperabit)
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To: areafiftyone
Time will tell...but I am no beggar, and I will be supporting the likes of Hunter or Thompson in the primaries.

I cannot speak for others, but beyond that, Rudi could not and would not get my vote in any case on principle. I will not cast any vote for anyone who supports abortion, the gay agenda, is against the plain language of the second amendment, or who continues to abet the illegal invasion of our nation, or who will not prosecute the war against the islamo-fascists with extreme prejudice.

Any one of those five issues loses my vote on principle, and Rudi only holds down one of those spots. The candidate I vote for will hold down all five.

9 posted on 03/14/2007 6:53:25 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: areafiftyone
Steve Kornacki works as an organizer for Unity08, a group that advocates a bipartisan Presidential ticket in 2008.

You've got to be kidding me...
10 posted on 03/14/2007 6:53:48 AM PDT by JamesP81 (Eph 6:12)
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To: ken5050

LOL! Maybe I am on someone's ping list?


11 posted on 03/14/2007 6:54:03 AM PDT by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: TommyDale

And there is where the party will split in two. Republicans and some conservatives will go for Rudy, McCain and Romney and the Hard core conservatives will go for the people like Duncan Hunter. It's that simple.


12 posted on 03/14/2007 6:54:05 AM PDT by areafiftyone (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP)
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To: areafiftyone

Did you see the news today..Kerick's in big doodoo..The left/DemsMSM are going to try and hand him around Rudy's neck for the next 20 months..


13 posted on 03/14/2007 6:54:19 AM PDT by ken5050 (The 2008 winning ticket: Rudy/Newtie, with Hunter for SecDef, Pete King at DHS, Bill Simon at Treas)
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To: TommyDale
It appears that an assumption is being made that Giuliani will actually keep all the Red states. That assumption should not be made at this point in time.

That's worth repeating.
14 posted on 03/14/2007 6:54:27 AM PDT by JamesP81 (Eph 6:12)
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To: JamesP81
I've heard Kornacki is pushing for a Clinton/McCain ticket. But that wouldn't really be bipartisan would it???

::steps back and waits for the stones::

15 posted on 03/14/2007 6:55:16 AM PDT by mnehring (Virtus Junxit Mors Non Seperabit)
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To: mnehrling

We are beggers when we start begging other candidates like Fred Thompson and Newt to join the race. That gives true conservatives like Duncan Hunter NO Chance whatsoever.


16 posted on 03/14/2007 6:55:29 AM PDT by areafiftyone (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP)
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To: areafiftyone

Ohio, for instance, famously put Mr. Bush over the top in 2004. Months later, though, that state’s Republican governor, Bob Taft, pleaded guilty to four criminal misdemeanors in an ethics case, precipitating the total collapse of Ohio’s G.O.P. establishment.


The '06 election was about dissatisfaction with Iraq and ethics. Yes the Democrats are just as dirty but the GOP kept their mouths shut about that which is probably issue #3. Now the GOP thinks they can run such a tainted candidate as Giuliani to overcome this?


17 posted on 03/14/2007 6:55:54 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Duncan Hunter: pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-border control, pro-family)
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To: TommyDale

You??.."Consorting" with the enemy?...Nah...


18 posted on 03/14/2007 6:56:06 AM PDT by ken5050 (The 2008 winning ticket: Rudy/Newtie, with Hunter for SecDef, Pete King at DHS, Bill Simon at Treas)
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To: Jeff Head
"I cannot speak for others, but beyond that, Rudi could not and would not get my vote in any case on principle. I will not cast any vote for anyone who supports abortion, the gay agenda, is against the plain language of the second amendment, or who continues to abet the illegal invasion of our nation, or who will not prosecute the war against the islamo-fascists with extreme prejudice."

You can speak for me. I agree with every single point. You have to realize that those of us with principles are rare these days, right?

19 posted on 03/14/2007 6:56:14 AM PDT by TommyDale (What will Rudy do in the War on Terror? Implement gun control on insurgents and Al Qaeda?)
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To: ken5050

They can try all they want. Rudy knows how to handle the left.


20 posted on 03/14/2007 6:56:23 AM PDT by areafiftyone (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP)
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