Free Republic

 Saturday I attended a private meeting of conservative leaders during the Family Research Council Washington Briefing, a Salt Lake City II if you will, to discuss dilemmas we face with the 2008 presidential candidates. Instructions were given not to speak to the media, and since I am the media, I took that to mean details discussed were off-the-record and, of course, I'll honor that. But speaking in generalities, two dilemmas were hashed: Which Republican primary candidate should pro-lifers rally behind? What if Rudy Giuliani ends up the nominee? Generalized outcomes of the meeting: Most in the room supported Mike Huckabee....

Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign is increasingly concerned that the controversy swirling around former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik could negatively impact his White House aspirations. Kerik pleaded guilty in 2006 to state conflict-of-interest charges for accepting $165,000 in gifts from an allegedly mob-linked construction firm. He currently faces a possible indictment from the U.S. attorney’s office for tax crimes and other offenses stemming from renovations to his Bronx apartment from the firm Interstate Industrial Corp., while he was corrections commissioner under then New York City Mayor Giuliani. Giuliani’s law partner Marc Mukasey has now been told to monitor...

I, a conservative Christian, am partly responsible for passing one of the most pro-gay agendas in American history. Starting January 1, 2008, California will implement SB-777, a bill that goes far beyond the old standard of public schools not being able to do anything that would “reflect adversely” on homosexuality. Now, the new standard is you can’t do anything that would show either a “discriminatory bias” against homosexuality or anything that would favor heterosexuality. Let me put this in simple terms. Textbooks that now refer to “mother and father” or “mom and dad” or “King and Queen” will soon have...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new CBS News poll has bad news for pro-abortion Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. It shows that Americans who self-identify as evangelical voters are strongly pro-life and will not support a pro-abortion candidate for president. The poll, released on Friday, find 79 percent of evangelical voters take one of three pro-life positions opposing abortion. They either oppose all abortions, all abortions except those rare one to save the life of the mother, or support abortions only in the rare cases of rape, incest or to save the mother's life. But the poll also asked, "Is...

CBS Evening News, Feb 24, 1997 Rudy says there is a constitutional right to travel but we still put reasonable controls on the driving of an automobile. He says it's irrational to put more controls on the driving of automobiles than on the possession of guns ("attack weapons").

... With a focus on holding power and playing politics rather than delivering on conservative values and legislation, the Republican Party has seen itself swept from control of the U.S. House and Senate. Now, all that remains for the Democrats is the White House and a filibuster-proof Senate -- both of which are within reach. Conservatives must eventually come together and get a clue! There is too much at stake. ... Will I vote for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani over Hillary Clinton? Yes! ... When the dust settles, one will emerge as the Republican nominee. I will support that nominee....

"So-called 'pro-life Republicans' that are endorsing Rudy - like TX Governor Rick Perry, or NY Representative Pete Sessions, are typical treacherous politicians. They have betrayed innocent blood to support a child-killer; we can only wonder what 30 pieces of silver' they are seeking." Randall Terry"Pro-life Republicans are on trial, to see what we value more: life or power; principle or party." Randall TerryContact:  Mr. Randal Terry, Operation Rescue XX, 904 687 9806MEDIA ADVISORY, Oct. 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, will hold a press conference in Boston, Mass. to discuss efforts to derail a Giuliani Nomination, and...

Fears that values voters will walk away from the GOP if a pro-abortion candidate is nominated for president continues to animate election discussions. And it should: if the Republican Party's base of conservative voters isn't with the party during the campaign, America will definitely elect a Democrat president in 2008. With the stakes so high, and with the negative numbers for Democrat front runner Hillary Clinton so high why is there so much controversy on the Right? Robert Novak's column at TownHall.com examines why Christians who know Giuliani 's positions on the issues are less than excited about him:...

It’s the middle of October and Rudy Giuliani is still leading the race for the Republican nomination. His old enemies in New York can’t understand it. “It’s totally unbelievable,” said Charles Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation and a longtime adversary of Mr. Giuliani. “I refuse to believe that this could possibly happen to our country. I have too much confidence in our country to believe that this could really happen.” All presidential candidates have some element of hometown opposition—constituents angry about a factory closing, politicians spiteful about losing a bill or an election. But no candidate...

There are many instances where pragmatism has its place. In its purest sense, pragmatism is simply engaging in conduct that emphasizes practicality. For example, if I decide to spend $60 for a pair of pants that will last me several years rather than spend $20 for a pair that may not make it past the first outing it could be said that my decision involved the exercise of pragmatism. That may work for pants but it doesn’t work for principles. Pragmatism may work well in the fashion world but it has no place in the world of public policy. There...

MANASSAS, Va., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big-Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause (Bonus Books, 2006) (http://www.conservativesbetrayed.com/), issued the following statement regarding Mayor Rudy Giuliani and conservatives' potential support for a third-party presidential candidate: "Rudy Giuliani's insistence that America is doing well with a two-party system shows that he still doesn't grasp how discouraged, disheartened, and disillusioned the GOP's conservative base is with the Republican leadership. "Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, on the other hand, showed that they are walking in step with the party's grassroots. Neither would...

Would Rudy Be Good for the Courts? Well, Meese was good for the courts, and Giuliani didn’t think much of him. By Robert Alt After a disappointing performance in the first Republican presidential debate, Rudy Giuliani walked away from last night’s debate as the clear winner. Not only did he play to his strengths, reclaiming the mantle of America’s mayor by shaming Ron Paul for his “blame America first” comments, but he finally appears to have settled on a more politically palatable answer to the abortion question by emphasizing a reduction in the frequency of abortions. (An answer which, by...

Rudy Giuliani has found his groove in attacking Hillary Clinton. Whether his barbs will help him beat her in the general election, we don’t know yet. But they will help him to win the Republican primary. The major reason for anyone to vote for Rudy Giuliani is that he has the best chance — we would say the only chance — to defeat Hillary Clinton. And beating Hillary is very, very, very important! It is only through the terror issue that the Republicans have a chance to win in November, 2008. If Americans retain their current complaisance, the GOP will...

May 15, 2007 Questions are being raised over Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's policy on terrorism, after a report revealed he has strong ties to two foreign investment consortia working to own or lease U.S. toll roads, including the Trans-Texas Corridor 35, which is identified as part of the I-35 "NAFTA Superhighway."

So what should a mayor do? Just let constituents call his weekly radio program on WABC — the one called “Live From City Hall ... With Rudy Giuliani” — and whine and complain and get in his face without answering back? Puh-leeze. When Joe from Manhattan called in 1998 to complain about the city government giving special parking privileges to a white-shoe law firm, Mayor Giuliani emitted an audible groan into the microphone. “Well, let me give you another view of that rather than the sort of Marxist class concept that you’re introducing,” Mr. Giuliani said. When a National Rifle...

Rudy Giuliani is getting out in front of next week's CNBC presidential debate with a seven-day media blitz touting his record as an economic conservative. In it, he claims to have cut taxes 23 times as mayor of New York. And he says New Yorkers had a 17% reduction in tax burdens during his tenure. Giuliani takes credit for cutting taxes on everything from property to sales of clothes — even coin-operated amusement devices. But a closer look at the numbers show he's claiming credit for some tax cuts that weren't his idea to begin with. And others that he...

SACRAMENTO — A Democratic group on Monday filed formal complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, accusing Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani of violating campaign laws, including money laundering. The complaints, made by Californians for Fair Election Reform, accuse Giuliani, through his friend Paul Singer, of establishing a Missouri "front" organization to solicit illegal donations to support a ballot measure that would overturn California's winner-take-all system of allocating electoral votes. Such a change would provide the Republican presidential nominee a chance to pick up roughly 20 electoral votes by dividing them up by congressional districts....

From Rossputin: Historically, the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary have received the perception of being, if not president-makers, at least highly reliable launching points for presidential aspirants. Indeed, these early contests correctly predicted the final choice of nominee five out of seven times for each party. Iowans’ views were not shared by the rest of the country on the Democratic side in 1992 (Tom Harkin won) and 1988 (Dick Gephardt), and on the Republican side in 1988 (Bob Dole) and 1980 (George H.W. Bush). New Hampshire didn’t create a victor on the Democratic side in 1992 (Paul Tsongas)...

Here we are as conservatives expending an enormous amount of energy to effectively punish candidates for agreeing with us. Since when did it become a bad thing for a candidate to realize the influence of conservatives (and hopefully the correctness of their views) in the nominating process and react accordingly? Now, after excoriating Romney for becoming pro-life, we are seeing the entire foolish process repeated with Rudy becoming anti-illegal immigration. I can understand why the campaigns, angling for every advantage, do this, but why do conservative outsiders have to play along? Both Romney and Giuliani have a good chance to...