Giuliani's Convictions Could Win Over Republicans

DMN/ vis Real Clear Politics ^ | July 7, 2006 | Mark Davis

[chiller]

Twenty-eight months to go, and I can't wait.

( edit )

Since Condi insists she isn't interested - and for the moment I believe her - speculation ranges from base-pleasing Republicans like Sens. Bill Frist, Sam Brownback and my current favorite, George Allen, to the intriguing prospects of envelope-pushers like John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

And these two intriguing figures constitute my point of the day. There are two things I have stopped saying: first, Mr. McCain can't win, and second, Rudy won't run.

I still don't believe Mr. McCain will be the '08 nominee, but his loyal support for the war has healed some distaste that the GOP base has had for him since he challenged Mr. Bush six years ago. His disconnect with many Republicans on overhauling campaign finance is still an anvil around his prospects, but I can no longer write him off.

As for Mr. Giuliani, I used to say that he won't run and couldn't win if he did. The gay-friendly, abortion-rights-supporting ex-New York mayor whose legacy includes an embrace of gun control? It would seem highly unlikely.

Unless you were in a room with me at the Hotel Crescent Court last month as the Dallas County Republican Party welcomed Mr. Giuliani to a fundraiser also heralding local congressional candidates.

I served as master of ceremonies, and there was a thoroughly polite welcome for the GOP primary survivors who will try to unseat Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Chet Edwards.

But it was Mr. Giuliani who put a room of Reagan-loving red-staters into a positive swoon.

He did it with steadfast support for the Bush war doctrine, coupled with a passion for tight borders that even the still-admired incumbent cannot muster. He did it with strong fiscal conservatism, another Bush weakness. And he did it with a passionate pitch for school choice, an issue Republicans have neglected - mysteriously, since scads of Republicans and Democrats want it.

His content was great. His style was even better. His sharp wit and off-the-cuff comfort are miles beyond the average glazed, scripted politician. He sports a good-natured partisan streak that puts him a head above Mr. McCain, who seems to gag on any sentence suggesting that a Democrat might be wrong.

This is not my prediction that Mr. Giuliani's hand will rest on a Bible at the swearing-in on Jan. 20, 2009. But the Bible-embracing core of the GOP shows a willingness to consider him as he includes evangelical groups in his curious tour of various Republican constituencies.

He will not launch a national gun grab, leaving gun statutes to the cities. He will not push for nationwide gay marriage, happy to leave those decisions to the states, where the Constitution says they belong. He will not pound the bully pulpit for affirmative action, leaving that to the courts.

And speaking of the courts, he speaks glowingly of Mr. Bush's Supreme Court selections, Samuel Alito and John Roberts, suggesting he does not necessarily dream of packing the court with sure-fire abortion-rights opponents.

Throw in the tasty imagery of the Mayor of America wiping the debate stage floor with Mrs. Clinton or virtually anyone else, and it's the kind of thing to make a Republican heart quicken.

I don't know yet whether I can be a Rudy voter, but I'd enjoy watching him try to make me one.

Mark Davis is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. The Mark Davis Show is heard weekdays nationwide on the ABC Radio Network. His e-mail address is mdavis@wbap.com.

[jla]

"RINO Rudy endorsed and campaigned for liberal Democrab Mario Cuomo for Governor"

[Sabramerican]

And do not doubt, not for even a second, how prolific and influential the Christian Right are.

Must have been a sleep when we got two terms of Clinton.

Not to mention that neither Bush was an early favorite of the Christian Right.

[Jameison]

"If Bush had been perceived to be the moderate globalist that he is,
many conservatives would have stayed home"

And handed the presidency to screaming, stark raving Algore?
Thanks, but no thanks.

"In case you don't know it, Bush beat Gore by the skin of his teeth."

After voters in the heavily Republican Florida Panhandle had given up, and not bothered to vote, because the rabid liberal media had maliciously called Florida for Algore, long before people in the Panhandle had even voted.
Take away the drive-by media shenanigans and President Bush would have won the popular vote.

"Without Christian conservatives, and I mean true conservatives,
coming out in droves for Bush, Gore would have won easily."

That's like saying, without the Catholic vote for JFK, Nixon would have beaten JFK.

[Blackirish]

Unless W's poll numbers miraculously explode, George Allen is unelectable in the general.

He is mini- W.

A FISCALLY LIBERAL, socially moderate, inarticulate, Southern, GOP insider is worth about 40% of the vote.

[Beagle8U]

"Unfortunately its easier to point out weaknesses of the current candidates than to find an unassailable candidate"

The only "weaknesses" that I have seen the Left banter about on George Allen; He is a poor speaker, ( Is our current 2 term President?), He wore a confederate flag pin in HS, He got in trouble in college for hunting squirrels on campus, and he sometimes chews tobacco.

Those are all bonus points in the Red states, and wont turn off any conservative Republicans in the blue states.

[Coldwater Creek]

George Allen has his father's name recognition.

Ever hear of the Washington Redskins????????

[Blackirish]

George Allen has his father's name recognition.

Ever hear of the Washington Redskins????????

---

Yeah he can run as a privileged jock who never had a job that didn't involve spending taxpayer money!

[Coldwater Creek]

Thank you heaps and heaps from all of us inarticulate, ignorant Southerners!!!!!!!

[jla]

Must have been a sleep when we got two terms of Clinton.

Wonder why that was? Now who could have went into the voting polls and chose not to vote for ReadMyLips or Dole? Could it have been those same types of folks who voted overwhelmingly for Reagan? <---- rhetorical

You Rudyophiles can dream of an America where sodomites run rampant, abortions are performed in shopping mall kiosks, and all private gun ownership is banned.
This nation is still inhabited by a majority who honor and respect the ideals of Jefferson, Madison, and Reagan. And it's these types of Americans that will ensure your hopes and aspirations remain just that.

[Alberta's Child]

The Republican establishment is never going to let a traitor like Giuliani (see Liz's comment in Post #175) secure the nomination. Rudy's career in GOP politics -- at least from the standpoint of a major elected office -- basically ended in 1994 when he endorsed Democrat Mario Cuomo in the New York governor's race. That idiotic stunt spoke volumes of his disloyalty as well as his poor political instincts (Cuomo lost).

Rudy Giuliani is going to be the Colin Powell of the 2008 election . . . the closet Democrat who gets paraded around on the campaign trail and at the convention to secure support from some constituent group or another.

[Blackirish]

You Rudyophiles can dream of an America where sodomites run rampant, abortions are performed in shopping mall kiosks, and all private gun ownership is banned

---

You have little foam on your mouth pal.

[You Dirty Rats]

George Allen lost Super Bowl V to Shula a very long time ago. The only political connection he had was that he allegedly ran a play Richard Nixon drew up.

I doubt that his father's one loss in the Super Bowl (which would have been a shutout had Garo Ypremian hadn't tried to play QB) provides political name recognition for the son in 2006.

[Hildy]

Well, we'll see.

[Little Ray]

Not a chance in Hell.
I won't vote for Rudy any more than I'd vote for Hillary!. There just isn't much to choose between them. If the 'Pubbies choose Rudy for standard bearer, they deserve to be out of power for the next couple of decades and the American people deserve whatever they suffer under the Democrats.

[jla]

So we shall, milady.

[Jameison]

"You Rudyophiles can dream of an America where sodomites run rampant, abortions are performed in shopping mall kiosks, and all private gun ownership is banned"

Naaah.
Don't dream of no sodomites.
You are getting carried away.

[Alberta's Child]

There is no place on the planet where the people practice capitalism like New York. Its part of the very air we breathe here. You don't know what you are talking about.

You can't possibly be serious. Are we talking about the same city here? The one with the highest tax burden in the U.S.? The one with more per-capita government spending than anywhere else in the U.S.?

[gondramB]

Beagle: The only "weaknesses" that I have seen the Left banter about on George Allen; He is a poor speaker, ( Is our current 2 term President?), He wore a confederate flag pin in HS, He got in trouble in college for hunting squirrels on campus, and he sometimes chews tobacco.


Blackirish: Unless W's poll numbers miraculously explode, George Allen is unelectable in the general.
He is mini- W.
A FISCALLY LIBERAL, socially moderate, inarticulate, Southern, GOP insider is worth about 40% of the vote.

---

I thought these two posts pretty well summed up the divide. The best to both of you and hope we work this out internally so we are unified at election time.

[Jameison]

"If the 'Pubbies choose Rudy for standard bearer, they deserve to be out of power for the next couple of decades and the American people deserve whatever they suffer under the Democrats."

Fortunate, Rudy will beat Hitelry if the two of them win their partys' nominations.
I think the RATS are in for a very long holiday from power.

[KosmicKitty]

then I must vote third part

Then, we get another Bill Clinton

I learned my lesson in '92 when I voted for the chicken man