Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Rudy Watch: Rudy Giuliani - RINO and CINO?
Found a blog that's a great head start on the 2008 GOP Presidential race.
Of course, by head start, I mean for people who aren't psycho like me and SheaHey. We've been engrossed in the 2008 election cycle for a year already.
As a New Yorker with enormous respect for Rudy (as a mayor), I still can't deny the points Nate is making on his blog: Rudy, on social issues, is conservative in name only.
If you believe natural law precludes the government from endorsing the killing of the unborn, from redefining marriage to meet the whim of our increasingly secularized electorate, and from allowing the destruction of the weak (embryos) for the gain of the strong (post-born), Rudy is not acceptable. He cannot be differentiated on these issues from most Democrats, and these are the most telling issues of our era.
Rudy was a great crime-fighter and bureaucracy-tamer when NYC needed it most. But he's the wrong Presidential candidate for conservatives.
Of course, by head start, I mean for people who aren't psycho like me and SheaHey. We've been engrossed in the 2008 election cycle for a year already.
As a New Yorker with enormous respect for Rudy (as a mayor), I still can't deny the points Nate is making on his blog: Rudy, on social issues, is conservative in name only.
If you believe natural law precludes the government from endorsing the killing of the unborn, from redefining marriage to meet the whim of our increasingly secularized electorate, and from allowing the destruction of the weak (embryos) for the gain of the strong (post-born), Rudy is not acceptable. He cannot be differentiated on these issues from most Democrats, and these are the most telling issues of our era.
Rudy was a great crime-fighter and bureaucracy-tamer when NYC needed it most. But he's the wrong Presidential candidate for conservatives.
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12 comments:
2008? I'm already looking to 2012 election!
Let's make some predictions about '08 based on previous election history:
1. New Yorkers don't do well nationally. Not even Rudy with his 9/11 popularity can overcome this anti-NY bias. Billary's chances are less clear, she's not a real New Yorker, and she's got the 'X' factor ('XX' to be exact).
2. McCain has tried before and failed before - he will not win the primary.
3. In theory, Romney's out too on basis of being Mormon. This will be the most interesting one to watch. As of now, he's got my vote hands down.
4. Unfortunately Newt will not run, and even if he does, he'll be so immediately mislabelled by media that he stands no chance.
So where does that leave us? I don't see George Allen winning either (primary or general election). But maybe that's just because I haven't seen him yet at all.
If you give polls any credence, it looks like it might be a race between McCain & Guiliani for the Republican nomination: http://www.pollingreport.com/WH08rep.htm. Take a look at this (liberally biased) site's run down on the issues.
McCain - http://ontheissues.org/Senate/John_McCain_SenateMatch.htm
Guiliani - http://www.ontheissues.org/Rudy_Giuliani.htm
Beasty,
The polls show a two man race, and early GOP polls have held up in all recent Presdential elections where there was no sitting Republican Pres or VP. Two years before the election, Reagan was the front runner in '78, Dole in '94, and GWB in '98.
That said, I think this year is going to be different. McCain has burned so many bridges with conservatives, and particularly Christian conservatives, that he's going to have a hard time wooing the base. Additionally, a lot of voters see McCain as a selfish opportunist and also a bit unbalanced. The unnecessary flogging of Obama comes to mind. People who love the red meat (me) appreciated it, but most Americans don't equate "bullies who pop off" with "leadership."
Giuliani could win but would have to do a 180 on gay marriage, abortion, and gun control. He's on the wrong side of the base on all 3, and if he doesn't outright renounce his earlier positions on at least 2 of the three, he's toast. And if he does pull a 180 (or two), he's going to have to reconcile his quotes from 1993 with his quotes from 2006 in the general election debates. He's in a tough spot.
I continue to think Romney or Allen have the best chance to emerge.
From what I can see here (http://www.ontheissues.org/Mitt_Romney.htm), I like most of Romney's record. He seems pro-abortion though. Hopefully they'll be some good public debates leading up to the primaries.
Romney's abortion record has been a matter of much debate, as he has become increasingly pro-life over the course of the past few years. To his critics, this represents crass political opportunism. To his supporters, it represents an opportunity for him to reach out and help others along the same journey he has been on.
A nice recap of Romney's pro-life creds, from a pro-Romney stand point, can be found here (scroll down to the "commentary" section), here, and here.
I have to believe a committed Mormon who has been happily married for years with a large family seems an unlikely candidate to be pro-abortion. I'm sure his committment to not changing abortion law in MA, essentially a pledge of neutrality, was an absolute necessity to being elected governor there. It was also a far more pro-life stance than anyone else who would have been elected governor there, that's for sure.
gkcfan is correct: in reviewing Mitt's policy stances as governor of Massachusetts, it is essential to do so through the lens that this is arguably the most liberal state in the country. While I hate the implication that conservative candidates must therefore dilute their standing on certain positions, it is a political reality to be elected here.
That said, let's review what he has accomplished as a conservative leader in an overwhelmingly liberal state with liberal legislature.
1. Inherited $3 billion budget deficit when he took office in 2003. He balanced the budget such that the state has run surpluses the last two fiscal years, all while lowering taxes! Note that he accomplished this at a time while our federal deficit continues to grow.
2. Successfully designed and passed a universal health care plan, which will result in coverage for all Mass citizens, again without raising personal income taxes one cent. Could be starting point for national model.
3. Vetoed bill that would have provided in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. (That this was even offered as a bill should give a good sense of just how liberal this state is!)
4. Successfully forced out William Bulger and Matt Amorello.
To me, his track record in Mass, as well as his previous positions, bode well for what he could accomplish on a much more conservative-friendly national scene (assuming we don't get destroyed in '06 mid-terms). My only reservation with Romney is lack of experience with increasingly-important international relations. I don't have much sense of what a Romney foreign policy and stance on terrorism looks like, although I suspect he will provide something like Bush's strong pro-defense approach, coupled with better charisma and diplomacy. At the same time, this 'weakness' is basically true of all presidential candidates, especially governors. They rarely have had much exposure to international scene, so to me this is not a drawback at all for Romney.
GKCFan & SheaHey,
Thanks for the enlightenment. I haven't had mcuh exposure to Romney. So points 1,3,4 are good. I'm not so sure 2 is? How does his universal health plan work? How is this not socialization of medicine? Please educate me wise ones.
I have come to the startling realizaton that I am the least conservative member of this group.
I guess part of it is due to my lack of religiosity, but my highest priority right now pertains to national defense.
Frankly, I'm to the point where I don't care what gays do (althouth I still think "marriage" should be reserved for hetero couples) and the abortion issue doesn't phase me much.
What I want to see is anyone who has the sack to reestablish our country as the powerhouse that we seem to have forgotten we are. It's time to crush those who dare to f- with us and get out of all of these problems.
I know I've voiced these opinions in the past but I need to get on the soapbox and vent in written form. Let's pull all of our troops back to this country and go back to isolationism as a policy. No more bailing out our "allies" that stab us in the back as soon as we step in front of them to take the punch that they deserve. No more shelling out billions of our hard-earned dollars in "humanitarian aid" which is basically just bribe money to get everyone to like us.
I've spoken to many who have served recently in the military and the consensus among them is that we should bring all of our troops back and reassign a large number of them to securing the borders.
And if we are so worried about importing natural resources (for no good reason, by the way), let's put the pressure on Canada and Mexico. Both have abundant, untapped sources of wealth to go along with their problems. Canada's economy is still in the terlit which we could help stabilize. Mexico's labor force is already in southern California and Arizona so why don't we use that commodity to do work in their own country.
Hell, why don't we just annex them into a larger body. We'll still be the United States of America first and foremost but we could be a part of the North American Alliance, or some such thing.
Basically, I'm sick and tired of getting crapped upon by everyone and having to deal with savages attempting to kill us at every turn--this latest threat has riled me up again. It's time to get our house in order. Then we can worry about the social issues...
Nice rant, DC. I agree that we should stop all the foreign aid b.s. It's ridiculous the amount of money we give away only to get spit at by those who receive it. I also agree that we are stupid not to use more of our own natural resources. I'm a pretty environmentally minded guy, but there's no good reason not to drill for oil in the ANWR. That being said, Isolationism is very dangerous. We may make our country much safer, but it will destroy our economy and exacerbate social problems (especially with all the social programs our frien(D)s have put in place). If you think we have any problems here at all with unemployment, welfare, crime, etc., they will be tenfold if we cut ourselves off from the rest of the world entirely.
D.C. You know I'm not very religious either. But, you don't have to be religious to think killing babies is wrong. As for gay marriage, I don't care much one way or the other. As important as national security and foreign policy are (and I think they are the most important issues right now), you can't make an election about a single issue. Just look at the nutbars on the left getting elected on a platform that is only anti-war.
AP October 24, 1994 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani rejected his own party's candidate for governor Monday and threw his support behind embattled Democrat Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth term. . . concerned that Pataki's plan to cut New York's state income tax by 25 percent over four years might mean less state aid to the city. . . "Mario Cuomo will simply be a better governor than George Pataki."
AP August 19, 1994 Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor elected mayor last fall, stood on a stage with Clinton in Minneapolis last week and applauded after the president ripped congressional Republicans who derailed the bill.
AP February 8, 2000 Giuliani has routinely run for mayor with Liberal Party backing. . . "He's wrong on domestic partners, he's wrong on gays in the military, he's wrong on gay rights, he's wrong on rent control, he's wrong on ... we could just go on and on and on," Long said.
AP March 3, 1997 dressed as a woman. . . Giuliani called his feminine alter ego "Rudia." . . . "a Republican pretending to be a Democrat pretending to be a Republican."
AP July 6, 2000 biography of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani claims several members of his family had ties to the mob and that his father fired a gun at a man during a Brooklyn shootout. It also says the law-and-order mayor himself once slugged a guy who ogled his date. . . Giuliani's father, Harold, pleaded guilty and served 18 months in prison for holding up a milkman at gunpoint in the 1930s
AP June 28, 2001 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in an effort to escape the strains of his divorce, has forsaken Gracie Mansion for the refuge of a close friend's high-rise apartment, according to published reports. . . apartment is owned by the mayor's friend, Howard Koeppel, a [homosexual] Queens car dealer
UPI February 24, 1982 says living in the suburbs is ''sterile,'' and rural life is a ''joke.'' Koch made the comments in an interview with Playboy magazine . . . Questioned about time wasted in city subways, Koch replied, ''As opposed to wasting time in a car? Or out in the country, wasting time in a pickup truck when you have to drive 20 miles to buy a gingham dress or a Sears Roebuck suit?''
AP March 17, 2006 "If you drive from Schenectady to Niagara ... it looks like Appalachia," Spitzer said . . .Appalachia is a mountainous region with some well-documented, often oppressive rural poverty. It covers all of West Virginia and parts of 12 states, including part of southwestern New York.
NYT June 8, 1994 Brushing aside suggestions of patronage, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani yesterday defended the hiring of four relatives to positions in his administration, saying that they were hired because of merit, not family ties. . . hired Catherine Giuliani, who is married to a cousin, also named Rudy Giuliani, as a program coordinator in the Community Assistance Unit
AP April 29, 2008 Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the pope's visit because the former presidential candidate supports abortion rights, New York Cardinal Edward Egan said Monday. Egan says he had "an understanding" with Giuliani that he is not to receive the Eucharist.
AP March 23, 2007 Giuliani's first marriage to his second cousin, Regina Peruggi, ended after 14 years in divorce and later an annulment. His second marriage, to TV personality Donna Hanover, ended in a bitter divorce
AP May 25, 2001 court order barring the mayor's girlfriend, 46-year-old Judith Nathan, from the mansion . . . Hanover is the oldest of four girls born to Gwen Kofnovec and her husband, Bob, a Czech immigrant and lieutenant commander in the Navy. After studying political science at Stanford University, she graduated from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism