Posted on 09/19/2007 4:26:24 AM PDT by IrishMike
Early in my career as a political speechwriter, a young but wise campaign manager explained why candidates from the same party too often tear each other to pieces in the primaries. He told me that when all the candidates of your party are shooting at the probable opponent from the other party, your frontrunner is going to get shot in the back. I thought of that analogy the other day as I read about Rudy Giulianis potent political attacks on Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democrats presidential nomination, stuck George Soros giant left foot in her mouth attempting to do the bidding of MoveOn.org. For the entire world to see, Hillary decided that a Senate committee hearing would be a good place to call a decorated war hero, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of American forces in Iraq, a liar. Parroting the same extremist nonsense that is rapidly making the folks at MoveOn the leading leftist nutters of the blogosphere, Hillarys comments landed with a clank in most parts of America, most notably at the Giuliani for President Campaign headquarters.
The previous week, the folks running the nations premiere agenda-driven newspaper, The New York Times, embarrassed themselves by substantially discounting the now-infamous, full-page, MoveOn ad calling Gen. Petraeus Gen. Betray Us. Apparently, The Times management doesnt realize that George Soros can afford the full rate.
Adding to their heartburn was former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who demanded and got the same $65,000 rate for what normally would be $165,000 worth of ad space. (Can you imagine anyone ever again paying the full rate for a full-page ad after this fiasco?) Rudy used the opportunity to excoriate Hillary for her cowardly submission to the anti-war Left and asked America who they trusted more, the senator or the general.
Rather than firing back at his opponents, Rudy is focusing on his likely Democrat challenger. Instead of answering the attacks of Mitt Romney and others in his party who are running behind him in the polls, Giuliani is acting as if he is already the Republican nominee.
Let me say again that even though Giuliani is tough on crime and terrorism, I dont like his domestic agenda at all. As a pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-Second Amendment Republican, I find him far too liberal on most social issues. As my son said to me recently, Rudy Giuliani is a just Democrat whos willing to blow stuff up.
I also find Giulianis personal life to be downright offensive. In some ways, he makes Bill Clinton look stable. At least Clinton never had Monica Lewinsky move into the White House and openly live with him like then-Mayor Giuliani did when he had his girlfriend (now his wife) move into Gracie Mansion while he was still married to the mother of his children.
Having said all that, going after Hillary Clinton is a brilliant strategy. It makes Rudy look presidential. It makes his GOP opponents look small when they attack him. And it creates its own momentum. The more Giuliani acts like the heir apparent to the Republican nomination, the more voters will become comfortable with him.
Those of us who were looking to Fred Thompson as the fiscal and social conservative who could wrestle the GOP mantle away from hizzonor are becoming increasingly alarmed by the efficiency of the Giuliani campaign. As I wrote a few months ago, just as Democrats must find a way to turn red states blue, the converse is also true, and Rudy could change the color of the map radically. Consider the electoral vote-rich states that could fall into the GOP column with Giuliani as the nominee: California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and, of course, New York. Thats a strong temptation to many Republicans who simply want to win.
Giuliani is leading in most polls largely due to his record as a tough mayor who cleaned up Americas biggest, dirtiest city and because of his leadership in the aftermath of 9/11. The war against Islamist fanaticism demands an alternative to Hillary Clinton. Rudy Giuliani firmly believes he is that alternative. An alarming number of Republicans seem to agree with him.
I made no mistake. You are trying to pretend otherwise, unless you can't grasp the meaning of "outpolled".
BUMP
Like I said - he never outpolled a carpetbagger.
I was born and raised in the Schwenksville/Collegeville area. You?
I was born in Ohio and moved all over the place when I was younger, but my mom’s side of the family is from the Valley Forge/Phoenixville area.
When I left PA in 1986, they had a Republican governor and state house and Penn State wasn't putting on Lesbian Fisting seminars. What the hell happened? LOL
Hope your rifle has a scope...that's a very short-sighted view.
You wouldn't recognize Schuykill Township (the one around Phoenixville) - it's pretty much almost completely developed now, and all the roads in the area are near-complete gridlock during rush hour.
Oh? So political domination by either liberal Dems or RINOS is the inevitable future, is it?
I disagree. Strenuously.
Thanks for the update. Wife’s parents used to live along Ridge (Rte.#23) Road, off of Rte.#724. Mostly farm land. Please don’t tell me ‘Seven Stars’ restaurant isn’t a great place to dine anymore.
Seven Stars is still doing fine. Still serving up those Flinstone-sized servings of prime rib.
But the development along 23 goes way past there now, well past Rt 100.
bookmark
Oooooh I'm so scared of the Hildabeest. Sometimes I question the masculinity of you FReepers whenever Hillary's name is mentioned.
Hillary Clinton was at least in a long-term marriage. ROFL
Hunter would not only turn down such an offer, he'd tell Rudy where he can shove it.
Liberals would not vote for Rudy. They hate Rudy because of his authoritarian and pro-war views. Ditto for libertarians. Conservatives would not support Rudy because of his social liberalism.
In 1970 James Buckley of the Conservative Party won the NY Senate race against the RINO and the Rat candidate. It's quite possible that in a similar 3-way race, both Rudy & Hillary would lose to a 3rd party conservative candidate.
Get real. All of the GOP candidates INCLUDING Ron Paul would be better on terrorism than Rudy, without none of the baggage. Even public pressure would force Hillary to deal with terrorism. You guys are like little kids crying for their mommas to leave the lights on because they see Hillary under the bed. I have no intention of supporting Rudy and I don't care if Hillary gets elected.
The idea Hillary would be guaranteed a second term is ridiculous. But, a Hillary Presidency would almost guarantee Republicans gain seats and probably take over Congress again. In fact, her Presidency, would pave the way for a conservative revolution.
If Giuliani reaches office, we're GUARANTEED not to have a conservative in the White House for eight years. A Giuliani Presiency would also guarantee a shrinking Republican minority in Congress and no effort by Republicans to block the many liberal pieces of legislation he would propose.
More recently, Jesse Ventura won a third-party race for Governor of Minnesota. But both Buckley and Ventura were running for statewide offices, not national. The degree of difficulty, the amount of money and organization necessary to wage an effective campaign, are very different.
Running a national campaign is no walk in the park. You need time, lots of money, a formidable organization from the national level down to the grassroots, candidates with national name recognition, a solid platform upon which you can stand and articulate a consistent position and vision that will appeal to the broad spectrum of voters it takes to win a national race.
Now, it is 14 months until election day. Do you really see a viable third-party candidate emerging and running a credible campaign in that time? Because if not, I am wondering how realistic it is to endorse such a strategy.
Rudy was never in the race. It was only speculated that he might enter the race.
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! That's funny.
1995-2000 Total Receipts: $23,511,768
1995-2000 Total Spent: $20,746,125
Cash on Hand: $3,014,241
Debts: $0
Date of last report: December 31, 2000
Source of Funds:
(How to read this chart / methodology)
Small Individual contributions (<$200) | $11,893,681 | (50.6%) | ||
Large Individual contributions ($200+) | $10,673,410 | (45.4%) | ||
PAC contributions | $389,988 | (1.7%) | ||
Candidate self-financing | $0 | |||
Other | $554,689 | (2.4%) |
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