Posted on 02/21/2007 12:06:36 PM PST by Reagan Man
The Republicans, and even some socially conservative and evangelical leaders, are beginning to adjust to the possibility of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the GOP nominee for president.
But not all. The Southern Baptist’s Richard Land, for instance, predicts massive defections from Rudy in the event of a Rudy Giuliani vs. Hillary Clinton race. Hugh Hewitt, evangelical talk-meister in the syndicated stream of radio shows doubts this ; "... If Rudy is persuasive on the judges he will nominate, he wouldn’t have a problem with the social conservatives in the general election." So tell us you’ll nominate the likes of Scalia, Roberts, and Alito to the Supreme Court, and we will line up behind you no matter your substantial views that run counter to the Judeo-Christian ethic, he and his handlers are undoubtedly thinking.
Well, I won’t.
And I bet I speak for hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions when I say that I cannot in good conscience vote for a man with significant moral problems in his personal life, a radically wrong view of abortion (against it personally, but for women making their own pro-abortion choice), and oh-so-very Times Square and Hollywood on the issues of homosexual rights and guns (for and against, respectively).
Can’t vote for him, even if his opponent is Hillary Rodham Clinton ? No, I cannot.
Aw, c’mon, Team Republican says, nobody who purports to be socially conservative, evangelical, or who voted twice for Ronald Reagan will be able to muster a vote for Hillary over Rudy.
Probably right. But voting for her isn’t the only option. When the electorate isn’t excited about the candidates, they are capable of staying home — particularly those who don’t much care to think political thoughts 24/7 and are not enthused about the choices. There are others of us who will either leave the presidential portion of the ballot unmarked or decide for the first time in our lives to vote, say, the Constitution Party.
Next argument — Then you’ll just be putting Hillary into office. Next rebuttal — No, rather, my precious vote won’t be responsible for putting into office a man who thinks we will vote for him because he is best suited and capably prepared to keep America safe but can’t guard his own soul from moral perdition.
But, in all of this, there is something else to think about. The President of the United States guides his own political party and its platform. And the party of President Rudy Giuliani will soon become the party of the same kind of governing mushiness that has absorbed the Democrats. Give the party to Rudy and the moral code and political sensibilities of Reagan are lost, perhaps for good.
Better to lose an election and reload ideologically than try to cheer on and take cues from a man with a worldview radically divergent from your own.
May the primaries be kind to the GOP ; and kindness means Giuliani loses.
[Matt Friedeman (mfriedeman@wbs.edu) is a professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary. Respond to this column at his blog : evangelismtoday.blogspot.com.]
Its always been my opinion that Americans are obligated to vote. Its our duty as citizens of the best nation on Earth and the greatest nation in history. However, not voting for Rudy Giuliani would not be a vote for Hillary Clinton. Not voting for Rudy in the general election would be a decision of individual choice, a matter of conscience, principle and integrity. Not voting for a liberal, is good judgment in my opinion.
Ronald Reagan was still a Democrat when he voted for Eisenhower in 52&56, and Nixon in 1960. That was also a matter of conscience, principle and integrity on Reagan's part. Reagan even left the Democratic Party after 30 years, because their politics had taken a wrong direction, moving away from what he believed in. Its no different today.
Personally, I think supporting, promoting and voting for a liberal like Rudy Giuliani, will undermine the Republican Party`s strength and fracture the GOP allowing a Democrat to win the White House.
I think Rudy would probably beat Hillary. But I'm not sure Hillary will get the nomination. And put Rudy against someone like Evan Bayh and he'd lose.
No, I'm not labelling Giuliani a moderate. My only point is that Rudy is to the right of Hillary and to the left of Reagan. This seems to me to be true.
you do a real good job with your posts and I agree with you its early in the game and why can't we have a conservative for president for that is what wins elections! Something in my gut tells me its going to be a long time in the wilderness for republicans unless they can get back on track. I know you must be a good conservative for you sure use a lot of logic and history to make points with the people opposing you hurling irrational arguments and hyperbole.
You are correct. It was difficult to follow. It reminds me of an album cover for the band "Steeley Dan" that came out when I was kid. The title of the album?
"Pretzel Logic"
"My only point is that Rudy is to the right of Hillary "
Almost every person alive in the world is to the right of Hillary.Hillary
Well I believe it is foolish, is that more to your liking. The lesser of two evils is always better than some foolish vote for someone that does not have a ghost of a chance to win thereby giving the election to the greater of two evils. If it comes down to Rudy I will hold my nose and vote for him and hope that he has an epiphany after taking office that allows him to become more conservative. While it is perhaps commendable to stick to your values, one thing you have to ask yourself is where exactly will my "values" and conscious lead me and more importantly my country to? Would I and my country have been better off to vote ofr at least some of the values I hold dear instead of ensuring that someone who holds none of my values be elected. Your kind of thinking got William Jefferson Clinton elected and I for one am mad as hell at those "conservatives" that split our vote twice and put him there because I am less safe now as a result and our country is in a much more vulnerable position.
I disagree. Rudy and Hillary are left of center. They hold about the same liberal positions on most issues. Especially on social issues. Frankly, I've always viewed Rudy as a Joe Lieberman liberal. Joe gets a 17 lifetime rating from the ACU. Neither Rudy or Joe are anything but liberals who support big govt, abortion on demand, amnesty, gay rights, along with being global warming and gungrabbing kooks.
President Reagan was a conservative. Not a perfect conservative, mind you. But a rightwinger of the first order.
The truth is, I am as disgusted as you are. Rudy Giuliani is not a real Conservative.
I would love to see a real Conservative ride on a white horse just like an old Western movie and save the town. But I don't think it is going to happen in 2008. I am open to the possibility, but I don't see it yet.
Neither Tom Tancredo or Duncan Hunter have the appeal it requires to win nationally. I think if we nominate one of them, we will just lose.
I think there is something to be said for losing with honor. That something is "We're screwed."
But I don't agree that all the voters who have strong Conservative values are just going to throw them away because they realize they have to vote for someone-who-is-just-good-enough-for-now. It is just for now.
When things get better, and Mr. Conservative-Right rides into town, we will all get behind him.
Look at what the Democrats are doing. Look at the media covering for them. If you think things are bad now, don't forget how much worse they can get.
Its not a matter of selfish, its a matter of stupid.
>>>>>No, I'm not labelling Giuliani a moderate. My only point is that Rudy is to the right of Hillary and to the left of Reagan. This seems to me to be true.I disagree. Rudy and Hillary are left of center.
So your view is that Rudy and Hillary fall on precisely the same point on the Left-Right political spectrum? You think that Rudy is in fact not to the right of Hillary?
Being dead serious, my only beefs with Hunter are that he supported NCLB and the Medicare fiasco. But, I think I can chalk that up to loyalty to his President..
"Murtha closer to running the Iraq war...."
The Iraq war is why the republicans lost.
Yeah, then you can blame God? That'd be okay with the 100%'ers, blame God but not themselves.
In the mean time, we get a Clinton/Obama administration for 8 years.
Conservatives. But unfortunately there are a lot of radicals who are anything but conservative, especially those whose only argument is a personal attack.
"radical right"
Hard to know where to start, since the so-called social conservatives seem interested in only abortion, stem-cells, gay marriage, and a handful of other "social" issues that have hijacked the Party to this point, and which are of little interest to the American voters who will decide the next election on real issues.
Arson is a right? That's a surprise. There must be some court rulings I haven't heard about.
You're so fired up about all this, so tell us: What did you do during the 2006 election cycle to turn out the vote for Republicans?
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