Rudy Giuliani – not a GOP favorite
A while back, we did a poll here discussing favored picks for the Republican Presidential candidate for ‘08. Rudy Giuliani was on that list and received 56% of the vote – at least with the visitors to this site. In the comments of that thread, I participated in some discussion about why I didn’t think the GOP would be comfortable putting a candidate like Giuliani up for President – - the biggest reason was because I really don’t think Republicans would vote a man into office who has cheated on his wife, the way Giuliani did on his. (note to politicians: if you have your eye on the ivory tower that is the White House – wait until AFTER you’ve been elected to cheat on the wife. History tells us it works better for you that way. Unless you’re Ronald Reagan – then cheating on your wife prior to taking office is ok.)
Our discussion here basically came to the conclusion that Rudy is just too darned moderate, and not conservative enough to be a conservative.
John Hawkins – a conservative columnist for Human Events Online, also a conservative blog owner at Right Wing News, confirmed that very idea for me in his recent column: Conservative Case Against Rudy Giuliani – an article as to why having Rudy as the GOP’s candidate in 2008 would be a big mistake, according to Mr. Hawkins.
His reasons pretty much sum up the discussion about Giuliani in the previous thread here at Right Voices. Here’s John Hawkin’s laundry list of Rudy’s conservative no-no’s:
- Rudy’s Strong Pro-Abortion Stance
- An Anti-Second Amendment Candidate (he supported the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban)
- Soft on Gay Marriage
- Pro-Illegal Immigration
- A More Charismatic Version of Arlen Specter
- He Can’t Keep His Pants Up
- Doesn’t have the judgement to be President, based on judgements he’s made in his personal life (for example: Recommendation of Bernard Kerik for HSS, his infidelity)
- He’s not electable
It is my personal opinion that the 2008 Presidential election will not stand or fall on topics such as abortion, immigration or post recordds of infidelity, and certainly not on support (or non-support) of the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban.
2008 will be stand on three things, by and large: 1.) A successful end to the war in Iraq – one that limits military and civilian casualties, limits more spending and leaves Iraq able to strongly defend itself (any candidate with a cut-and-run stragegy will surely lose), 2.) The war on terror and how the proposed administration will fight, and win the ongoing battle against terror, and 3.) How the proposed administration will see to it that the American people are safe against further attacks on this nations soil.
Is Rudy not conservative enough to be conservative? Or, just maybe, does the GOP need a little Rudy to mix things up?
August 30, 2006 - 11:13 PM on August 30th, 2006
[...] Zogby (1) « This Is The Anti-Blogging Case? [...]
August 30, 2006 - 11:48 PM on August 30th, 2006
I think it would be a mistake not to nominate him. The cheating is really a non-issue. That was for New York to sort out and they did. The man has proven himself to be a worthy candidate on the issues alone. Will he get flack from the Christian coalition? Sure, but off set that with moderate democrats that agree with him on the issues. I wouldn’t count Rudy out just yet. No candidate, be it Republican or Democrat is going to please everyone…
August 31, 2006 - 01:19 AM on August 31st, 2006
hi….
Rudi won’t get it. Too RHINO. After the Nov elections, irregardless of whether we keep the House or not, the GOP side will be significantly more conservative. The Senate, will move a bit to the right as well, although not nearly as far as the House. This means, that at the comvention, and the all important meetings before hand, to establish the protocols, conservatives will have an extrely strong voice, if not the leadership roles locked up.
After the Nov elections, and in the months following, other “stars” will appear on the horizon making the field of candidates a bit different than the current.
Organizations such as the Club For Growth, which are mainly responsible for for the successful surge of conservative victories in the recent primaries (many against GOP incumbants) will have enormous influence on which candidate the Party will rally around.
Issues such as Illegal Immigration, ANWAR, etc will bring out those current unknows, and hopefully position us well for 2008. If the Dems, conversely move further to the Left, we may see a Feingold/Clinton ticket, which would make the timing ripe for another Ronald Reagan on our side.
paul
August 31, 2006 - 08:18 AM on August 31st, 2006
He sure is no conservative he is a fruad:roll:
August 31, 2006 - 09:40 AM on August 31st, 2006
Poor Mike Kilo won’t like this one…
August 31, 2006 - 09:45 AM on August 31st, 2006
Rudi won’t get it because the Masters of the Republican Party, the Religious Right, won’t allow it.
Simply put, he does not meet their standards.
August 31, 2006 - 03:20 PM on August 31st, 2006
1.
SFL is correct. Rudy has as much chance of making the Rep candidcy as sHillary Clinton. If nominated, the Reps would look like such hypocrite since thewy pushed a similar issue with Bill Clinton (and rightfully so).
August 31, 2006 - 08:12 PM on August 31st, 2006
As far as I can tell, there really isn’t a great candidate for either side. McCain has angered too many people with his unwillingness to act like he’s in the majority, not to mention the fact that he’s going to be older than Reagan if he runs. I’m thinking that Mit Romney or the former governor of Wisconsin (Thompson ?) might make good choices. They both have a good grasp on how to get things done and don’t appear to be too far off to one side or the other to be unelectable.
Hillary is entirely too polarizing and abrasive. I think people would vote for a stuffed monkey just to keep her out of the White House. If the hard core liberal left gain control of the Congress and the White House, this country will see terrorism attacks left and right as they shut down the programs being used to prevent them. Able Danger needs to be reactivated and this time let them actually share intel with the FBI.
September 1, 2006 - 04:56 PM on September 1st, 2006
Rudi is synonymous with unlimited immigration; talk about
foolong all the people all the time………….
September 1, 2006 - 05:04 PM on September 1st, 2006
7.
My polarizing issue with McCain is the fact that Soros backed him in the 2000 Rep primaries.
September 6, 2006 - 04:36 AM on September 6th, 2006
I am glad to see that the Republicans care that he cheated on his wife but also wonder why someone’s personal life interferes so much with their leadership skills. Every candidate will have some sort of skeleton in their closet. Someone like Donny Deutch from CNBC should run for president on the Republican side. I would vote Republican if there were any real ones out there. The Republicans need someone who cares about innovation in America instead of forcing insane Christian-right neo-conservatives upon us.