Rudy
By Mitch Berg
I’ve been wondering; if Rudy Giuliani made some sort of amend to the base for his anti-gun, pro-choice history, would he have a shot?
I’m quite convinced that the CW on Giuliani is wrong. He can win in the primaries by focusing on his stance on illegal immigration and national defense. The American people trust Giuliani right now, despite his sometimes checkered past. He’s one of the few candidates who can reach beyond the 49-51% divide between the political parties and attract voters on both sides of the aisle. There’s a whole lot to be said for a politician in that position, and only a few are capable of pulling that off.
More later.
November 16th, 2006 at 9:16 am
On defense Giuliani is no better than Romney or McCain. On immigration Giuliani is only marginally better then McCain. And don’t forget Giuliani’s close call with cancer a few years ago.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:23 am
McCain has had repeated close calls with melanoma. He is also looking pretty bad, it may just be he isn’t aging well (those liver spots!) Although he may be a hero for what he survived in the Hanoi Hilton I have to imagine that some of those old injuries from the crash and the beatings will shorten his life. Guiliani’s situation was prostate cancer and my understanding was that they caught it early because he was a fanatic about screening since his Dad died of it.
Guiliani’s stance on abortion would have to change substantially–isn’t he pro partial birth abortion? I think it is more the case that conservatives would have to overlook the whole abortion question in favor of security. It’s not going to be an easy thing for the coalition to swallow and stay together. But it’s not impossible if the international situation continues to deteriorate.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:25 am
A friend of mine and I were talking about the Giuliani candidancy from the perspective of our differing Christian denominations (he is Protestant and I am a Catholic). We came to the conclusion that neither of us could support a Giuliani or Romney candidancy basis our theological traditions. We talked to other Republicans over the last few days — all of whom were in the spectrum of traditional Christian denominations — and nobody felt really comfortable with either candidancy.
All of which leads me to think that the Republican Party cannot win the presidency with either Giuliani or Romney because voting for either fellow means compromising on bedrock theological positions.
November 16th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Rudy = Dole.
Get a clue, GOP.