The Giuliani Temptation
On not succumbing to "the Giuliani temptation:
I'll confess, like many conservatives, I'm charmed by Rudy Giuliani. "America's mayor" is not my kind of Republican presidential candidate. He's pro gay rights and not pro-life; he has an exceedingly messy, and public, private life that poses moral as well as political problems.
But, then again, Americans don't elect presidents on paper. There is the Rudy the U.S. attorney who decimated the Mafia. There is the Rudy who turned New York City around with tax cuts, welfare reform, tough-on-crime action and zero tolerance for politically correct cant. There's Rudy 9/11, the mensch of Manhattan and, in the process, America. And there is Rudy the presidential candidate, stressing common ground with GOP traditionalists -- strict constructionist judges from John Roberts to Antonin Scalia, democratic instead of judicial fixes to controversial issues -- and treating them with a respect they didn't get from past intraparty foes. And putting up big numbers in the polls.
My own openness to Rudy surprises me. Many other social conservatives probably know the feeling.
I suggest we all take a cold shower.
***
Are social conservatives ready to shortchange stands they've championed for decades because of Giuliani's 9/11 performance or poll numbers? Or a few promising words or winks? What makes social conservative leaders so sure he will live up to his part of any deal after he's won the nomination or White House? Or that the party's pro-life, traditional-values base will stick with an abortion-rights, gay-rights standard bearer? Are post-2006 social conservatives so keen on winning that they'll sign on with a candidate who opposes them on key cultural issues? What would a Giuliani candidacy do the GOP's largely successful "brand"?
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Labels: Elections, Republicans, Rudy
posted by Pro Ecclesia 3:52 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
We all really know what's going to happen to Rudy. Right now, he's still basking in the sunlight from his standup performance after 9-11. As the primary season progresses, the NRA will energize their people about gun control, the pro-life folks will sound the trumpets about abortion and the Falwell groups will issue marching orders on homosexual marriage.
Then, the U.S.S. Giuliani will begin listing like the Titanic as Captain Rudy and his first mates try to make sense of what is happening. When they finally determine that the ship hit an iceberg called "social issues," it will be too late and the great campaign ship will sink.
Rudy needs to go back and study the playbooks used by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Reagan and Bush knew, as we all know deep down, that the "social conservatives" are a core voting group within the GOP and come out in herds when properly motivated.
Those moderate Republicans who think that the "social conservatives" will hold their noses, gulp hard and vote for Giuliani because of some perceived belief that Rudy is a “great leader” are only engaging in some extreme wishful thinking.
As for Giuliani's position on abortion, he should read "Horton Hears a Who!" by Dr. Seuss for some enlightenment: “A person's a person, no matter how small.”
By TackyTarheel
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