Posted on 01/24/2007 5:53:08 PM PST by Sunsong
Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall a century ago has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber. But today ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement in reviving New York before 9/11. An August story on the website Right Wing News, for instance, claims that Giuliani governed Gotham from “left of center.” Similarly, conservatives have been feeding the press a misleading collection of quotations by and about Giuliani, on tax policy and school choice issues, assembled to make him look like a liberal.
But in a GOP presidential field in which cultural and religious conservatives may find something to object to in every candidate who could really get nominated (and, more important, elected), Giuliani may be the most conservative candidate on a wide range of issues. Far from being a liberal, he ran New York with a conservative’s priorities: government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, he said, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering. The private economy, not government, creates opportunity, he argued; government should just deliver basic services well and then get out of the private sector’s way. He denied that cities and their citizens were victims of vast forces outside their control, and he urged New Yorkers to take personal responsibility for their lives....
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
What? This isn't Scrappleface?!?!
Oh my, what is the world coming to...
;-)
Unless it's a recent ability the AM confirms I was right to not believe the mods statement of a couple years ago.
Yeah, it's NEVER the fault of pubbies who were so busy porking up bills with earmarks that they failed to give voters a reason to re-elect them.
The RINO nutjobs in the senate lost it.
Rush Limbaugh says "moderates" are liberals. I agree with Limbaugh...
Well, enjoy your "improved" Congress.
I rarely add keywords even when I post the article. A member asked me once to add the word BANGLIST to articles about guns, so I do that.
Well, enjoy your "improved" Congress.
I'm talking about the tendency to engage in hyperbolic descriptions of those we support and those we oppose. Not just mere puffery or vitriol but full bore doo-doo slinging and tubthumping sanctification. I love it.
The closer or farther away from victory a potential candidate is the wilder the hyperbole associated with him...eg.
" Rudy Giuliani is the moral equivalent of a Nellie Furtado and Beyonce' Knowles"
My Republican Representative won his reelection... how about yours?
Limbaugh says "moderates" are liberals. I agree. I do not vote for liberals...
But if the GOP keeps pushing a left wing agenda, it will become a true statement. Your support of a Left-Wing Republican is sure not helping matters. Unless your core beliefs are as Liberal as Rudy's.
Hint: Learn from your mistakes and you won't repeat them.
Well, enjoy your "improved" Congress.
Thanks for your post! And for reading the article :-)
The last time the Republicans presented that "different face" you're talking about was back in the '70's with Gerald Ford, and look what it got the country - Jimmy Carter. Just goes to show you that any old Democrat short of a weird little troll like Kucinich could win the presidency.
Then you were not paying attention in 2000. I joined a Bush Group for President in January 1999. Does that give you a clue? 1999 -- election in 2000; 2007 -- election in 2008! In fact, I wrote then Governor Bush a letter in 1998 urging him to run for President and in 1998 election his bumperstrips did not say Governor on them.
Just out of curiosity what are the deal killers in the Conservative Bonafides list...
If someone is everything conservative but prochoice are they a "faux- conservative" ?
If someone is everything conservative but wants to ban hand guns does that nix them?
Is there some generally agree upon formula of Gotta haves to be a " real conservative"?
Is their an quantifiable formula for a RINO? or is is just an epithet to be hurled when you dislike some one's opinion?
"It's amazing how people are trying to sell us on this guy."
Well, the media likes him. Obviously, they have our best interest at heart, right?
I would hope so. I'm willing to give Rudy a chance. Anyone who can face down the mob is the guy I want facing Al Queda, Iran, North Korea, Democrats and other enemies of America.
However, I have concerns about a couple of issues...
For myself, he can't be the perfect candidate but I'm waiting to be convinced that he's the right guy for our time.
No different than 2000! I was one of the few Bush supporters at the beginning. You obviously were not here when Alan Keyes went after Bush on the radio in OK and Ole Okie and I went ballistic and Keyes folks went after us. Keyes called then Gov Bush -- Bush-lite and said in November he was going to tell all of us "I Told You So" when Bush-lite lost. May be on to something the next time I see Bush-lite mentioned.
It was very nasty on here and this is a cake walk compared to those days not to mention the Davis Recall threads where a bunch of us almost got banned one night.
Howlin/onyx -- remember those days?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.