Sheryl and I watched Rudy Giuliani tonight on Hannity & Colmes and were impressed. The two hosts, both of whom rate way up on the blowhard platitude scale, seemed to keep their mouths relatively shut for once, sensing they were in the presence of man with a certain amount of real, even good-humored, gravitas.
As of now, Giuliani appears to be leading in the polls for the Republican nomination and for the presidency. But every time I post about that, a number of people, usually more traditionally conservative types, jump on here to point out how Rudy will never win the nomination, that his views on abortion, gay rights, etc. are too liberal or that his private life (as opposed to JFK’s, FDR’s, Eisenhower’s, etc. ad nauseum) is too louche for the Republican faithful.
Well, I have to say to those commenters, with all due respect, get over yourselves. If today’s events have taught us anything – and I think most of us already knew it – we are, alas, only at the beginning of the Global War Against Islamofascism. More than ever we need a wartime leader capable of uniting as much of the country behind him as possible. For whatever his pluses and minuses, Bush has been weak in that regard. Giuliani seems to have more abilities in that direction, although that is not to say it will be remotely easy for him. But as of this moment, there is no one else but Rudy with the vitae and the charisma to do it.
And as we also all know, all those other issues that people clutch to their bosoms like so many sacred icons – from the economy to stem cell research – pale by comparison to the victorious resolution of this war. In fact, if we don’t succeed, they are all completely and forever irrelevant.
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52 Comments
1. Martin Hague:I am inclined to think you are right. He’s hard for the liberals to vilify, and he’s got steel where it matters for now and the coming decade.
Screw the abortion debate. That can wait. If we don’t destroy Islamofascism now, there won’t be an abortion debate.
Aug 10, 2006 - 8:04 pm 2. chriss:Amen. Lose this war and nothing else matters. Not gay rights, not stem cells, etc. From 9/12 — perhaps they waited until 9/15 or so — onward I liberals (and I was one on 9/10)have continually allowed their hatred to W. to inform their every decision, to the point of foresaking everything they claim to hold dear. For 2008 my greatest fear is that conservatives will hold so fast to domestic ‘moral’ issues that they will put forth a weak presidential candidate who loses to whatever Neville Chamberlain the dem’s decide to run.
Aug 10, 2006 - 8:09 pm 3. LarryD:As usual Roger, you are right on the money.
If Rudy will pledge to appoint strict-construnctionist judges, I think the socal conservatives will come on board.
As long as the judiciary isn’t ruling from on high, the socal conseratives are willing to fight it out at the ballot box.
McCain, on the other hand, despite his voting record, hasn’t got a chance.
McCain/Finegold alone would disqualify him, and he’s way too pandering to the press. He’d never be willing to suffer the bad press Bush has.
And we know where the press’s loyalty lies.
Aug 10, 2006 - 8:24 pm 4. alcibiades:I’m pro Giuliani and voted for him when I could, and would vote for him again – though I think, particularly in these times, he has to change his position on gun control – but let’s not forget that he was a divider not a uniter in NYC.
It’s somewhat forgotten now, but in those halcyon pre-Bush, pre-GWOT days, the narrative of Rudy the fascist destroying everyone’s civil rights was quite alive and well.
Aug 10, 2006 - 8:26 pm 5. Luther McLeod:Gut feeling, from one who has had to make life and death decisions based on same. There is just something off, undefinable, elusive, shadows in the light. I would vote for him versus any dem I can think of, but I would not be entirely comfortable doing so. He is/was good at immediate situations. Kudos. But we need someone above nuts and bolts. We need vision.
Aug 10, 2006 - 8:41 pm 6. Richard Nieporent:That person may not exist.
He’s hard for the liberals to vilify
We have such short memories. Before Giuliani decided not to run for Senator, liberals and the MSM were vilifying him because of his infidelity by being seen in public with another woman. They did this even though it was well known that Giuliani’s marriage had been basically over for a long time before then. Worse, they did this at the very same time that they were telling everyone that Clinton’s infidelities were his own private business.
Aug 10, 2006 - 9:23 pm 7. Steven:Have to agree with alcibiades. For the first 7 years, 8 months, and 10 days of his mayoralty, liberals in New York hated Giuliani almost as intently as they now hate Bush. I don’t think they would rally around him any more than they have rallied around Bush. If a Republican — any Republican — wins in 2008, liberals will be so furious yet again that they will simply transfer their hatred to the new president.
Aug 10, 2006 - 9:35 pm 8. Lem:From the current cast I can’t think of a better captain for the coming showdown with that nutjob Ahmadinejad in Iran. We are very likely going to have to go eyeball to eyeball with Mahmoud. Rudy fits the bill. I would not be surprise if ala post Reagan election Iran decides to come back in the sand box and play ball.
Aug 10, 2006 - 9:47 pm 9. David Thomson:I support Rudy Giuliani for president of the United States. Fighting the war on terror must be our first priority. All other issues are of secondary importance.
Giulianiís views on the social issues should not logically deter traditionalists from voting for him. The overwhelming likelihood is that Giuliani will appoint judges who reject an ìevolvingî post modernist approach to legal issues. Dennis Praeger rightfully points out that Roe vs. Wade would have almost certainly been overturned if pro-abortion advocate Lawrence Silberman had been confirmed. The latter gentleman considers the infamous 1973 Supreme court decision to be a legal abomination.
Aug 11, 2006 - 3:04 am 10. Terrye:I would support Rudy but the Micheal Moores never will and neither will the Minute Men.
I know there will be pissy conservatives everywhere outraged that one could put the Minute Men and Michale Moore in the same sentence. But the fact that one can is part of the problem.
We keep blaming whoever is at the helm for not uniting the country when maybe we ought to be blaming the country. I know people on the right who swear they will sit out the upcoming election, terroriris…shmerrorism they say Bush and the Repubicans have not laid line mines on the southern border. And of course there is the fact that he has not gutted social spending and let those bothersome old people fend for themselves. Spending and immigration are more important to them than the war on Islamic terrorism.
Buchanan would be proud.
Meanwhile there are people on the left who believe the entire plot to blow up the airlines was just a ruse to take away from their stunning victory in Conneticut against a Democrat, Joe Lieberman. After all, which is more important?
Paranoid and delusional.
Then there are those of us in the middle, who on occasion stray left or right on this issue or that issue. I know I who would feel more comfortable with the extremes if they would just stop and realize there are more important things in the world than their pet issues.
Really, there are.
Aug 11, 2006 - 3:25 am 11. nutiket:There were some major questions about Churchill’s “social policy” positions in the 30s, particularly his support of Edward VIII and his disdain for Indian autonomy. How quickly they faded in the dark shadow of impending doom.
Guiliani’s accomplishments which include bringing down organized crime, cleaning up our biggest city, and rallying that devastated city, show him to be by far the best proven leader for the job at hand. He is also obviously smart as hell in a practical sort of way.
We have 535 national legislators and 9 judges who can debate social policy while Rudi leads our forces to attack and destroy those who would destroy us. He won’t have time to lead the abortion rights movement or perform gay marriages in any event.
Aug 11, 2006 - 5:27 am 12. MikeInJersey:Roger –
I think you are right on the money, sort of. Rudy Guiliani will unite everyone in America who thinks that crushing Fascislam is job number 1, and number 2, and number 3 and 4 and 5. That is a large majority, I believe. The rest will HATE him. But so what?
As far as I’m concerned, I want to elect someone who will avenge 9/11 and do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Rudy strikes me as exactly that person. I don’t care if he opens “Rudy’s Abortion Clinic and Gay Marriage Chapel” in his backyard. I want him to win WWIII for us. When that has been done, we will all breathe easier and go back to focusing on the other issues in America.
Aug 11, 2006 - 5:47 am 13. jedrury:In the “give and take” of TV interviews, Rudi parses with finesse; bobbing and weaving like Sugar Ray Robinson. Far more congenial than in past days, Rudi has acquired an amicable gravitas. How can the voter not view him respectfully; the image always is Rudi walking on a smokey New York City street on 9/11. He is smart and as an experienced former appellate lawyer and prosecutor, he dances around questions to out fox any interviewer; yes, that means the overrated Chris Matthews and highly inflated Tim Russert. Compared to an appellate argument before the Second Circuit, they are dog food to Rudi. He comes with baggage beyond his less than conservative politics; his messy divorce, a new wife, his friendship with Bernie Kerik and what lurks in the seedy alleys of New York City politics.
Aug 11, 2006 - 6:02 am 14. syn:Hard for the liberals to vilify?
Remember the Left portrayed Mayor Guiliani as Hilter over some crappy tax-funded art work at the Brooklyn Museum.
The Left is the party of National Socialist and they will do anything and everything to protect the purity of their ideology whether Guiliani supports gay marriage/abortion or not.
To the Left it isn’t about domestic issues it’s about the power to maintain absolute control over the Other.
Terrye, as for ‘old people fending for themselves’ the abortionist movement is what is causing this problem every time they suck the next generation out of existence with a sterilized vacumn cleaner resulting of course, in the need for entitlement baby-boomers to insist upon a permanent underclass of illegal slaves to cross our borders so that self-indulgent aging baby-boomers, who thought they would never grow old and could party like there is no tomorrow, can have cheap labor.
If you think the treatment of old people is bad now just wait ten years from now when the problem of having over-populated elderly and under-polulated youths really collides.
Aug 11, 2006 - 6:10 am 15. notthisgirl:Have to agree with alcibiades. For the first 7 years, 8 months, and 10 days of his mayoralty, liberals in New York hated Giuliani almost as intently as they now hate Bush. I don’t think they would rally around him any more than they have rallied around Bush. If a Republican — any Republican — wins in 2008, liberals will be so furious yet again that they will simply transfer their hatred to the new president.
I second (or third, etc.) this. Rudi turned the city around on its ear. But the far-left always had something on him it seemed. I’m sure they have a box full of little goodies just waiting – and will absolutely transfer hatred. But I think Rudi shrugs that off about as good as anyone. It seems to have gotten to GW. He’s more “sweet” than Rudi (… if you will).
Interestingly though, New York, which we all know is very Liberal, still got him into office. Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, but, I think this bodes well for Rudi running for President/2008. Save for the far-leftos, I think many (national) Democrats are more like Liebermann when it comes to security; and will identify easily with Giuliani.
On the other side of the coin, I consider myself a conservative who is also against abortion. But I’m also not stubborn enough to overlook someone who is strong enough to stand up to these radical zombies.
BTW, He’s “IN THE HOUSE” again !!!!!! You probably knew; but in case you didn’t …
Aug 11, 2006 - 7:58 am 16. stumbley:http://hotair.com/
Rudy in a heartbeat. Preferably with Condi as a running mate.
Aug 11, 2006 - 8:40 am 17. Terrye:syn:
You completely missed my point.
I am saying that the extremes have their own agendas and national security is only number one when it does not interfere with those agendas. I am saying that there are people on the right saying they will stay home and let Democrats win the next election because of some disagreement on immigration or a pescription drug plan. And then ofcourse when the Democrats win the right will bitch some more because Democrats won.
Aug 11, 2006 - 10:53 am 18. syn:Rudy was voted into office primarily because NYers got fed up living in a crime-ridden hellhole. This is exactly the reason why I’d vote to Rudy again only this time for President. Like Clinton, Rudy is as free-loving good-time liberal as any player can be, but when necessary actions must be taken he until Clinton will get the job done.
If Rudy wants to make a idiot of himself in drag have a great time but the fact that he gave the Royal Oil Princes their check back I can overlook some of his liberally childish ways.
Aug 11, 2006 - 11:02 am 19. Eric_R:Maybe I’m a contrarian, but I’m a pro-war Democrat who just doesn’t think Rudy will go all the way.
I wouldn’t mind Rudy as President, not at all, but I think it’s more likely that John McCain will win the Republican nomination. McCain has military experience, unlike Rudy, and is more conservative and thus more acceptable to Republican primary voters.
I’m hoping a moderate wins the Democratic nomination and makes things at least interesting, but right now with the ridiculous purges being led by the left-wing nutroots that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
Aug 11, 2006 - 11:33 am 20. ms anne:what i like about john mccain is his core strength, purified in the crucible of north vietnam’s prison. like ghandi, sadat, and havel who spent time in jail, he had the solitude, pain, and time to define his character and his ability to triumph over external circumstances. that makes him a reliable and rock-hard leader. so he’s the darling of the press. so he’s smudged by financial shenanigans common to congress. so he cooperates with democrats. so he has a temper. he’s lived in the depths of humanity and he’s lived in the circles of u.s. power. that breadth is rare and contributes to the leadership that marked the other three i mentioned. i trust mccain to lead us in war and in peace.
Aug 11, 2006 - 12:21 pm 21. RogerA:i also like rudy and the impact he had in nyc as mayor and on the world after 9-11. i’m past wanting a perfect man to hold office. i want an effective, tough, smart, indomitable president. an american winston churchill.
I would love to see a Rudy-Condi ticket. There is something about Guiliani that makes me believe he has steel in his spine–I dont know what it is, quite frankly, and I am not usually given to first impressions–I hate to use the overworked “charisma,” but that seems to be it for me.
And Rudy also is the expression of security hawk, social liberal that I think embodies a new political class. Go Rudy!
Aug 11, 2006 - 12:26 pm 22. submandave:True, many like to point to Rudy as “pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-gun” to demonstrate his problems with the social conservatives, but I agree that the crux here is the emphasis that while he would be signing law as President he wouldn’t be writing it. Unless he goes on record saying something like he’d veto a partial-birth abortion ban he should be able to address these issues from a Constitutional Duties perspective.
Aug 11, 2006 - 2:17 pm 23. Luther McLeod:Well, I made a stupid post above. Though I stand by it. I just think Rudy won’t get a majority. He gives too many folks a chance to slip to the other side. We need definitive choices, not middle ground. Yeah, his social liberalism attracts to some, his stalwartness attracts others. I just happen to think that we need a single minded and single focused individual. That is, one who would garner votes. I guess I just don’t truly trust him with the security of this country. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong.
Aug 11, 2006 - 8:57 pm 24. ECS:I’ve been in New York throughout Rudy’s administration. In fact, I worked for him. His IS a social conservative! You’d have to have been here to see him take on the Brooklyn Museum for its display of the feces-covered Madonna – his single-minded drive to clean up Times Square of porn shops and many other campaigns to understand that he’s done more to straighten up the moral character of this country than any other potential GOP contender.
Aug 11, 2006 - 11:26 pm 25. imsnooping:The abortion debate is on its way to taking place in the statehouses — and I honestly don’t think future presidents are going to be able to stop that, if they’d even want to.
Roe v. Wade has long been a tenuous legal standard — mostly because it’s based on tenuous jurisprudence. Of course, that doesn’t settle the question in and of itself. It’s just, temporarily, kept the question from being settled in the manner in which it ought to be.
I’m a pro-life libertarian hawk, if you can make sense of all of that. And I would support Rudy Giuliani in a heartbeat. I think Roger makes a great point here — we need a unifying president and, while I think GWB’s been a stalwart wartime leader, he hasn’t shown a capability to bring everybody along with him.
The war — the broader war — is the issue going forward. And whoever’s going to be elected will have to have the bona fides to inspire confidence in their ability to lead it and win it.
Giuliani can inspire that confidence, IMO.
Aug 12, 2006 - 7:51 am 26. PJ:As we cede southern Iraq and Lebanon to Iran and its global media sympathizers, I find myself hoping against hope that Giuliani is the one. I hope 2008 is not too late.
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:24 am 27. Jimeo:He’s the son of a low-level mafioso. Utterly ruthless, he’s despised my most of those who’ve dealt with him. Can’t even spell ‘loyalty.’ Ask Bernie Kerik, the guy who was supposed to be Rdy’s eyes and ears a the White House; Rudy dropped him like a bad habit at the first sign of trouble. Ask Bill Bratton, the former police commisioner whom he fired because he wouldn’t give 100% of the credit for New York’s lowering crime rate to his boss, Rudy. He actively campaigned against Pataki in his first run for governor.All of his enemies will be working behind the scenes to stop him. He’s bald, and he talks with a lisp.Believe me, the more you get to know him, the less you like him. America is about to find that out.
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:26 am 28. ajacksonian:Oh, and one more thing, handicappers. Name the last person to go from the New York Mayoralty to higher political office.
This is the guy who will be the first person who cannot trace his ancestry to northern Europe to become President? No. Not a chance. Fuggedaboudit!
Mr. Giuliani has the prime importance of being from NY State, well liked generally in the more conservative upper and western portions of the state and throwing it into doubt from the Democratic perspective. He is also relatively popular in some parts of the northeast in general, because of the number of commuters to NYC who saw the improvement of the City under him.
About the only message that needs to get to him is that the ‘neighborhood’ policing concept of paying attention to the ’small things’ works on a National level as well. Illegal immigrants are the ‘broken windows’ and ’small crime’ that can be addressed at a Federal level by a President.
I remember him walking through the dust on 9/11 and he did *not* know what was going on with the rest of the Nation. But he would never, ever let that city fall under his guidance. NYC would stand no matter *what* went on with the rest of the country. He was already planning the cleanup and rebuilding even before the dust had settled and the fires had been put out.
I honor McCain for his service to this Nation. His time as Senator I find to be one of questionable import: McCain-Feingold, Kennedy-McCain Immigration bill, ‘Americans won’t work for $50/hour in the field’ (and even if he meant to say $15 it is *still* an insult to the Nation), Keating 5, ‘The Real Reformer’, I don’t vote for pork – but please keep on sending it to my State, his misunderstandings of the status of the Indian Nations on Reservations, the McCain sponsored waterways bill trying to tell the USACE to pay attention to local politicos and not follow good engineering practices, and being part of the 1986 Congress that promised to actually enforce the immigration laws, said so in the well of each House of Congress… it has *only* been 20 years, I am sure he was busy with other things. And I do hold *that* against all 90 seatwarmers from that Congress that are *still* hanging around, promise unfulfilled.
Mr. Giuliani has marital infidelities and does not hew to the hard right. He does, however, understand that *enforcing* the laws brings *respect* to them. Many will attempt to smear him with his failings and not see that he will ensure the safety of the Nation as he did with NYC. He has *already* had to deal with the UN on a daily basis and knows how they operate on the lowest of levels. He is a ‘turnaround’ specialist, to use industrial parlance: he can take a failing enterprise and make it successful. He does *not* have Federal experience nor that of running a State, but that is not a bad thing at this point in history to not be wedded and beholden unto lobbyists from both sectors.
Mr. Giuliani will have my support even with failings as he has demonstrated the inner passion to protect those under his care and oversight. Lest we forget, the first calming voice to address the Nation after the 9/11 attacks was his… his City would not fall, and we knew the Nation would not either. In short a good, honest man that is no saint but no devil, either.
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:29 am 29. Peg C.:Roger,
I consider myself a strong conservative, and I agree with you. So far Rudy seems to have much more in the way of the necessary characteristics and name recognition to get elected.
Count me as a Bush supporter who is deeply, deeply disappointed and unhappy about what appears to be a total betrayal of Israel. I’m with the camp that now believes most of W’s rhetoric has been only that; actions too often have not backed up words. Words have too often not been right. I watched video of W on Thursday talking about the foiled attack, and was astonished at how NOT forceful and NOT interested he seemed. His attention rarely seems to be on what he is saying and thus the sincerity is lacking. He never shows the force and strength of his intent and convictions anymore as he did in the days and months following 9/11.
Rudy always seems in the moment and on message. Lord knows there are issues I disagree with him on, but such is life. We are at war and in my opinion it will outlast every one of us. We need someone serious at the helm. Gay marriage, stem-cell research, everything else, are immaterial if we are attacked on a mass scale.
This is what too many refuse to acknowledge.
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:38 am 30. littlebeartoe:Clinton won two elections with similar baggage. Giuliani can do it, too.
Aug 12, 2006 - 9:08 am 31. big dirigible:I don’t buy it.
Agreed, abortion politics, Medicare policy, cleaning up porn shops, blah blah blah, are not the things on which the future of the United States hangs. During wartime, defense has a legitimate claim to be the number one concern.
What we want, and need, in the Oval Office is a man whose trigger finger actually gets itchy when he sees the video footage of the WTC on fire. Nobody else can be relied on to do the job, whatever it involves. And I don’t see G. as that man. Not even close. I don’t believe that a gun-control extremist can be really serious about defense. Such a person just doesn’t “get it”, and is more wary of the American public than he is of our enemies. Which is just plain nuts.
The country has not yet comes to terms with this (and admittedly that’s not G.’s fault). Consider – we disarm perfectly good Americans boarding airplanes. Yet we still rely on them to tackle some goon trying to set off an explosive hidden in his shoe! Make up your minds, folks – can the public be trusted with its own defense, or not? I vote that it can. But will G. ever admit that? I doubt it. He’d probably be great at handling prosaic disasters – earthquakes, hurricanes, plagues of locusts. But a long and bitter war?
I also don’t believe that a gun-control extremist will find it easy to get elected. One can’t win a national election just by carrying NY, NJ, CA, MA, and similar People’s Republics.
Aug 12, 2006 - 10:03 am 32. DRJ:I’m a conservative from Texas. I agree with the comments made by AJacksonian – I wish I’d written them – and I definitely prefer Guiliani over McCain as the Republican Presidential nominee. In fact, I would sit home rather than vote for John McCain. If Guiliani can get my vote, he should be able to attract other traditional conservatives.
Aug 12, 2006 - 10:25 am 33. JeanneB:Rudy got my vote the night he kicked Yasser Arafat out of some concert event.
The media and the Dems take every opportunity to tell us (Republicans) that WE won’t nominate him because he’s too liberal. LOL. Just keep whistling past that graveyard.
Aug 12, 2006 - 10:49 am 34. Labamigo:I think your average democrat would be much more pleased with Rudy as president that would your average republican.
Aug 12, 2006 - 11:19 am 35. Brian:The lefties are already firing up their communications assets. The film Giuliani Time, for instance (trailer here), dredges up all their old allegations, plus a few clips of Hizonner camping it up in drag. (I guess the drag bits are meant to swing the social conservatives.) As usual with lefty propaganda, it only makes me love him more.
The title of the film, by the way, comes from what the cops who beat up Abner Louima were supposed to have said before the beating; it later turned out that this was made up by Al Sharpton. This level of accuracy is prolly sustained throughout ther film.
Aug 12, 2006 - 11:28 am 36. MathMom:Syn’s comment about Rudy returning the Arab sheikh’s check is one reason I would vote for him in a heartbeat. He was handed the check, the Prince told him we need to reform, and as if he was thumped in the knee reflex by a doctors mallet, he returned the check. He would not abide such tripe, he knew instantly what was right and what was wrong. $10 mil handed to you when your city was utterly devastated, and immediately returning it? The man knows who he is and what he believes.
He prosecuted the perps during Milken’s time of power on Wall Street, and took those “white collar” criminals out of their high-rise offices in handcuffs. He didn’t bow to their egos and let them leave with dignity. He knows a criminal when he sees one, and treated them like arrested pimps.
He will stare down our foes in the Middle East. I love George Bush, and believe he grew up on Sept 11. When I heard him speak shortly after the towers fell, I thought “this man is Harry Truman.” He is plain spoken, and honest. I wish he could turn a phrase like Tony Blair, but as long as he stays the course, he is fine by me. Rudy is a more inspiring speaker, and since this fight will go on a long time, we’ll need someone who can continue to rally Americans to the cause.
I hope he runs for President. Wish Condi wanted to do something besides be football commissioner.
Aug 12, 2006 - 12:25 pm 37. MisterSnitch:I like what Luther had to say. On the other hand, a distressing amount of governing these last few years has hinged on immediate, crisis situations. How would Giuliani have handled Katrina? Damned right things would have been different, FEMA or no FEMA.
I also want someone in office who has the courage of his convictions. Even vision means nothing without that.
Aug 12, 2006 - 12:30 pm 38. PJ:Jimeo,
Aug 12, 2006 - 1:26 pm 39. Thought:Probably most of what you say is true. It confirms my vote: what we need now is a thoroughly ruthless bastard, not another dynasty politician.
I am a social conservative, but I would vote for Giuliani in a New York Minute.
This guy is exactly what we need at a time like this. Give Rudy 8 years and he will clean up this terrorist problem…shoot, he’d probably do it in 4.
The guy is amazing: he’s a brilliant thinker, a totally mesmerizing public speaker, and has a spine of steel.
For me there can be no other more pressing issue in our time than prosecuting the War on Terror. While I care about the other social issues, they pale in comparison to this one issue.
Plus, when it comes to social issues, I really don’t look to politicians to effect the needed change. I look to the churches for that, in getting out and serving their communities, and in the process creating the type of internal changes in people and the type of social conditions to solve these problems. For instance, I believe that if the churches did their job well, then the demand for abortions would dramatically drop. In short, not so many people wouldn’t want abortions, because they’d value life more, and would also feel part of a society that cared.
So the bottom line for me is this: if Rudy runs I will work harder for him than I have for any other politician. The guy is that good.
Aug 12, 2006 - 2:36 pm 40. ignacio:I might prefer Guiliani to McCain but the latter would be fine — and several people on the Left who hate Bush whom I’ve discussed this with have a hard time mustering any real opposition to either of these guys.
I don’t think Bush is as tongue-tied as commonly portrayed, and it’s absurd to say that he’s not intelligent, but it would be awfully nice to have someone more at ease speaking to the public and the press.
It’s important.
Aug 12, 2006 - 5:15 pm 41. brett:This is our Lamont-Lieberman. We have got to be open to those like Giuliani — it can only help us politically. Just as it hurts the Dems to purge Lieberman, it hurts us to purge Giuliani. He would cream in the fall.
Aug 12, 2006 - 7:50 pm 42. CaribPundit:I lived in NYC during Rudy Giuliani’s tenure as mayor. The libs will never unite under Rudy. If they would not unite under Bush, they will not do it under Rudy. In the first case, Bush is not the one who divided this nation; the Democrats are. They are the ones who refused to accept his victory, used invective against him, slandered him as a liar, and poisoned the political well. They are the ones who spread the Bush lied mantra that is common coin globally. In so doing, they undermined the president, true, but they also undermined the U.S. and made it impossible for us to take necessary military action against Iran absent a nuclear strike by Ahmadinejad. Because of the Democrats poisonous bile, Bush’s “new tone,” which he still maintains, has gone unnoticed by the media and the rest of the world. When was the last time anyone heard President Bush call any Democrat a liar or speak harshly of them? So, how is it that the man who promised to bring a new and more civil tone to D.C., and has done so to his political detriment, winds up being labeled as a ‘divider’?
In the second case, when Rudy Giuliani began doing the necessary to bring NYC back from the cesspit into which it had fallen, his biggest opponents were Demcrats. They hated and vilified Rudy just as much as they hate and vilify President Bush. Rudy’s ‘broken window theory’ of city governance has proven to be extremely effective in fighting crime in NYC and in making the city more liveable. His homeless and welfare policies have done much to restore the city to its pre-victicrat days; yet, the liberals in NYC condemned him and accused him of the vilest crimes against the poor. The race hustlers and hucksters labeled Giulliani a racist. There was nothing that the liberals left unsaid; there was no accusation too vile not to cast at him.
True, as a Republican, Rudy’s social views are too left for me. However, I would vote for Rudy in a heartbeat … as long as he promised not to enact a social agenda that corresponds with his views. As a fiscal manager, Rudy is excellent. He has the toughness required to deal with Islamic fascism; this we have seen from how he handled that devil Arafat. Rudy would be the best candidate to lead the U.S. into the next decade because he is decisive, tough, and willing to face down the naysayers. The Dems will hate him because he is a Republican.
For the Democrats, no American principle or policy is higher than their resumption of political power. Everything must be sacrificed on that altar, even America herself. Therefore, no Republican president, however effective or irenic, will ever be welcome to them. They will undermine him at home and abroad, and provide the language that the rest of the world will use to hurl epithets at the U.S. and her leadership.
What is good for America is not of interest to the Machiavellian Democrats for whom, true to the writings of their spirit guide, the pursuit and obtainment of power is its own reward.
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:09 pm 43. rightwing:I’d vote for Rudy in a New York minute. And, I’m a paleo-conservative. To have a guy in the White House who can make decisions… to have a guy running for President who can make McCain disappear…
Aug 12, 2006 - 8:33 pm 44. JeanE:I find myself in the happy position of being able to support Guiliani, Romney, or McCain- I could even go for the McCain-Lieberman ticket that people have been talking about the last few days. All of these candidates are committed to defending the United States and her allies against the Islamofascists. Whatever else I may disagree with them about is just not that big a deal- winning the war and preserving the freedom that allows me to disagree with them is an absolute imperative.
Aug 12, 2006 - 11:22 pm 45. gnostic19:Jimeo has it right on.
Aug 13, 2006 - 11:35 am 46. gnostic19:I have two words for Giuliani Supporters. Bernard Kerik. The thought of that goon being in charge of a multi-billion dollar federal agency responsible for the safety of us all makes Chertoff look like head of the Justice League. And to think he was that close. And who took him to where he almost was…Rudy.
I like how most slam the lefties for being incapable of supporting him because of stewing hatred for all things center-right and beyond. What about the far right band of “thumpers”? How will they be able to rally their parishioners on Sundays around a guy who is pro-choice and liberal on so many other social issues. No red meat for the rabidly righteous across the nation to drool over. Goodbye high turnout on election day.
“When was the last time anyone heard President Bush call any Democrat a liar or speak harshly of them? So, how is it that the man who promised to bring a new and more civil tone to D.C., and has done so to his political detriment, winds up being labeled as a ‘divider’? ”
That’s the funniest thing i’ve read all week. Ask Jim Jeffords how good Bush is at “uniting”.
Aug 13, 2006 - 11:42 am 47. downeast:Rudy’s got my vote. It’s based on a many things about him, but the winning moment was when I stumbled on to his farewell speech to his staff and closest supporters upon leaving the mayor’s office, televised on C-SPAN. He talked extemporaneously for some time, from the heart, about his years in City Hall. It was a revealing moment for me, one in which you saw the whole man, one unintimidated by his past foes and challenges and reassuring in taking on whatever challenges lay aheadóthe genuine leader that seldom appears despite your most fervent hopes. Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech for Goldwater cemented Reagan forever in my mind as a rare man of the moment whose time for accomplishing great and important things would come. And it of course did. Rudy’s speech that day is the closest I’ve come to experiencing the same response.
Aug 13, 2006 - 4:52 pm 48. Steven Mitchell:I’ve said my piece on Guiliani many times here before. Short version: I’m as close to being a traditional conservative as you might as well call me one for the purposes of this site, and I’m for him.
One thing occurred to me that had not really sunk in until just now–reading Roger’s post, vis-a-vis the ability for Guiliani to win the Republican primaries: (I touched on it once mentioning the crossover vote in many primaries.) There are a lot of “Truman Democrats” still out there. Many of them are already in the habit of voting split tickets. More relevant, many of them are still DINO. They can’t help but be, giving the disconnect between their own views and the Democrats leadership. Then there are all the former Truman Democrats driven into the ranks of the Independents or even GOP. Collectively, there are not enough of the Truman Democrats to retake control of the Democrat party. There might be enough of them to put a guy like Guiliani over the top for the GOP nomination.
There is a thing about candidates that people forget, even though we have a recent example with Reagan. The right candidate moves a significant slice of the voters into his party. (FDR is, of course, the poster president for this move.) Carter being inept helped Reagan get elected in 1980. Reagan being Reagan turned some of those voters into more or less permanent Republicans.
If the Democrat leadership continues to act like idiots on foreign policy, eventually everyone serious about foreign policy will vote in the Republican primary (whether trying to pull the eventually nominee somewhat left or for other reasons). So the big questions are: 1. How does the group of “serious about foreign policy” voter break down on other issues? 2. Does this gradual shift (that predates Reagan’s 1980 win) move far enough in 2008 to give Guiliani the GOP nod?
I don’t know the answer to those questions. I do know (as any traditional conservative does), that this country needs two serious parties. If the only way to get that is to bring all the serious people in the GOP–and thus eventually split it into the two parties–then that is what needs to happen–however painful.
Aug 17, 2006 - 8:13 am 49. Chris:I am absolutely stunned to see this kind of support for a schnook like Guiliani!
Listening to the media tout what a great OR bad person somebody is should motivate you to find out for yourself as you all obviously have internet access…I list only two sources yet there are MANY more from the people who were there well before and during 9/11/.
Be an INFORMED citizenry;
1) Guiliani’s Legacy: Taking Credit For Things He Didn’t Do
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1776099/posts
2) Rudy’s Grand Illusion
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0635,barrett,74322,6.html
Feb 5, 2007 - 1:03 pm 50. dfazio2:i am for mayor Guiliani i think he will be a strong president for our security some of what he is far i am against but i can live with it. would like too know more about his pro immigration.
Mar 19, 2007 - 3:16 pm 51. asprott693:To Chris:
You come onto this website and tell us that we are deceived in Rudy Giuliani and yet you attempt to prove your point using .com websites? Who are you kidding? If you want to do some REAL research, then try reading some unbiased, truthful, scholarly works. Any fool can create a .com website and pretend to know all about the universe. The fact that you actually tried to dissuade us from voting for Giuliani using a .com source is rediculous and absurd. That alone gives me reason to completely refute your argument. I am not even going to waste my time visiting those sites.
Personally, I have done recent SCHOLARLY research on Giuliani and have found nothing too absurd. Sure, he was involved in some scandals–who isn’t? Sure, he has personal problems–who doesn’t? Sure, there are some issues where I may not provide my entire support–but who can you ever fully agree with? But honestly, none of these petty criticisms matter when it comes to the big picture. The fact is that he did a remarkable job as mayor of New York. He has the strength and intelligence to do what needs to be done. And unlike Hilary Clinton, he is realistic and firm in his beliefs. The only REAL problem with him as president (unless I am mistaken) is that he has no prior experience with foreign affairs–which is a really big problem considering the War on Terror business and the inevitable war with Iran.
Until you can PROVE to me, with DIRECT and SCHOLARLY proof, that he should not be president, I support him fully.
May 13, 2007 - 7:30 pm 52. Art Gardner:Rudy Giuliani’s comment, ìI donít think it will work.î about the FairTax in a Houston, Texas restaurant filled with FairTax supporters on June 19th was gutsy. This comment was likely due to the Giuliani campaign’s not having ever responded to repeated attempts to provide it with research, economist briefings and other information on the FairTax. Our country’s prosperity will be greatly enhanced by the FairTax and is vital to our success in The War on Terrorism. http://www.fairtax.org
Jun 20, 2007 - 2:18 pm