Comments on: How Rudy Giuliani Can Sell Himself to Conservatives

By: Michael Devereaux

Michael Devereaux — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 11:51:26 +0000

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/01/how_rudy_giuliani_can_sell_himself_to_conservatives/

I'm very intrigued by the idea of Rudy Guliani as President. I will wait and see what his positions are, if he runs for national office.

I'm old enough to have been an adult watching New York City sink into the rotten, vicious, bankrupt and chaotic cesspool that it was when he became Mayor. That he could fix the city in such a short time is practically a miracle. I remember the Democrats of New York in a rabid froth attempting to derail his policies as they began to transform the city; as they desperately tried to assassinate him politically and failed. He triumphed.

His leadership in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 was highly compelling.

Mr. Guliani will be mute - stay on the sidelines - on the issues of gay marriage, abortion, and gun control. He might simply state that those are issues that must be decided state by state, and the federal government has no place in their legislation. This will not please social conservatives at all, and may be enough of a problem for them to refuse him; this would derail his chances of winning the nomination. In my mind that would hand the election to Hillary Clinton, as I have not yet seen any other Republican on the radar who can SUCCEED against her.

We have almost two years for the 2008 Presidential race to play out. I'll be paying attention to Mr. Guliani's stands on issues, and on other candidates as they define themselves. We might all be surprised.

By: DL

DL — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:44:54 +0000

I'd like to see him as our "Border Czar" for a couple years - he could get the job done, but I could never vote for a man who threatens my guns, supports the destruction of marriage through redefinement and doesn't have a problem with 50 million unborn deaths at the hand of his kind of thinking. As D'inesh and Glenn Beck say that the only difference between parties is of how fast you wish to go to Hell!

By: Greg D

Greg D — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:54:51 +0000

I don't care what he "thinks", I care what he'll do. If he says "I'll appoint judges in the mold of Thomas and Scalia, and won't try to push gun control or gay rights as President", I'll vote for him. No judges, no vote. No guns, he might get my vote, but I won't work for him.

By: Boyd

Boyd — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:23:54 +0000

I believe that Giuliani's biggest obstacle will be his position on gun control (although he hasn't talked about it much lately, for good reason). As a special interest group, gun owners are probably the largest constituency to vote based on a single issue, IMHO.

Speaking for myself, I tend to agree with most of Giuliani's positions, but this one point is likely enough to keep me from voting for him in a primary contest (even though I'm not a Republican, I tend to vote in Republican primaries).

By: Fersboo

Fersboo — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:38:24 +0000

I was a resident of NYC during the second half of his first term as Mayor and during his entire second term. I've already seen most of his skeletons and I really don't care. I don't agree with 100% of his views, but the ones I do agree with are the most important ones. I will be voting for Rudy. I'll never vote for McCain, even if it means that Hillarious Clinton becomes POTUS.

By: Derrick

Derrick — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:12:02 +0000

I'm in agreement with madmatt. It is going to be awfully hard to win over the base of the Republican party with his skeletons, nevertheless some of his liberal views. I think he would make a decent 3rd party candidate if he was willing to put his money on the line, but if he gets the Republican nomination you can almost guarantee a Pat Buchanan-like challenge from the right that will make it hard for him to win

By: madmatt

madmatt — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:42:42 +0000

He is also the biggest whore of the group, and has one of the more skeleton filled closets.

By: Adam Herman

Adam Herman — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:32:36 +0000

Or, he could do the reverse Howard Dean strategy. Talk up your conservative views, but only talk about your liberal views when asked, and as quickly as possible change the subject back to your conservative views.

Dean spent a lot of time talking about Iraq and social programs, but very little about his A+ rating from the NRA and his use of a rather sharp budget ax to hold spending down.