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Giuliani's Tipping Point
Townhall ^ | March 24, 2007 | John Hanlon

Posted on 03/24/2007 9:26:31 AM PDT by FairOpinion

In his 2000 bestselling book The Tipping Point: How Little Things can make a big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell explores the idea of 'the tipping point,' the moment or time period when an item, an idea, a strategy or a person (or anything for that matter) changes from being just a 'product' into a cultural phenomenon. For example, the crackdown on quality of life crimes in New York City under Giuliani led to an overall 'crime tipping point' in that city where the crime rate went from a high point to an extremely low point in a short period of time, an amazing feat by any measure.

In his book, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the dramatic crime rate change in New York City that happened under America's Mayor. This occurred, Gladwell argues, for several reasons but one of the main reasons behind it was Rudy Giuliani's focus and prosecution of quality of life crimes at the lowest level in the city. As mayor, Giuliani started aggressively going after those responsible for quality of life crimes, such as spraying graffiti and public drunkedness. After this crackdown began, the number of smaller crimes in the city began to decrease and the momentum began building up. With that momentum building, the number of larger crimes began to decrease and crime in the city tipped -- and suddenly, New York City had become much safer than it had been in years.

This was one of the strongest examples of Gladwell’s book (which I strongly recommend, by the way) and it shows how one small idea transformed an entire city.

As an example of this great momentum Giuliani has going for him, recent poll numbers have shown Giuliani rapidly expanding his lead. The latest poll from CNN conducted between March 9th and 11th has the former mayor of New York with the support of 34% of Republicans polled while McCain only has the support of 18% of the Republicans (and he’s in second place!). Meanwhile, the latest poll from the website Rasmussen Reports currently has 33% percent of Republican support behind Giuliani and only 15% of support behind McCain (poll conducted between March 12 and March 15th). Those two polls have Giuliani up by 16% and 18% respectively, an astounding gap with so many candidates in the field and a gap that seems to be expanding with every new poll between these two candidates.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: electionpresident; elections; giuliani; rudy
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NOTE: The above is an excerpt -- I didn't click on "excerpt" because we don't need to excerpt Townhall, but I wanted to highlight the parts above: Rudy has proven to be effective in an "impossible situation" -- bringing down crime and he is the frontrunner, despite all the negative press about him.

You can read the entire article at the link.

The author's point is that his momentum is "too much" and he is going to crash. Well, some have been waiting for him to "crash" for months now and his lead is just increasing, as Republicans realize that he is not only an effective leader, which is what the country needs right now, but he is also the one, the only who can beat Hillary and keep the Dems for taking full control of all three branches of the US government and most likely keeping it for the next 50-100 years.

1 posted on 03/24/2007 9:26:32 AM PDT by FairOpinion
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From Rudy's speech to supporters in Oakland, CA:

"Giuliani sold himself Friday as the man who gets things done and one who is not afraid to criticize Congress for setting a timeline for a U.S. withdrawal in Iraq.

Rudolph Giuliani: "You don't display weakness in front of terrorists, you don't give them a timeline as to what you are going to do withdraw, you don't tell your enemies what you are going to do, it makes no sense."

Tom Del Becarro is the vice chair for the California Republican Party. He says national security will be a hot issue among Republicans here. "

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=5145761


2 posted on 03/24/2007 9:31:06 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Victory in Iraq. Stop Hillary. Stop the Dems. Work for Republican Victory in 2008.)
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To: FairOpinion

He's the frontrunner in the country and growing in momentum! I'm very pleased.


3 posted on 03/24/2007 9:35:15 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons' pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
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To: FairOpinion

You conveniently left out some relevant comments in the article, such as:

"This momentum can not possibly continue forever for Giuliani especially with all of the negative press about him and his extremely liberal stances on social issues. I recognize that many conservatives are attracted to him for his 'electability' and that is why his numbers keep going up but eventually, Giuliani is going to hit his tipping point and the momentum is going to crash. There is no way that Giuliani's numbers are going to keep like this throughout the summer, let alone into next year."

"The question is, after his tipping point-- after his bicycle crashes into a wall -- will Giuliani have enough of a chance and enough time to rebuild his momentum to win in next year's primary? Or, when his momentum comes to a crashing halt, who else will be there to pick it up?"


4 posted on 03/24/2007 9:41:54 AM PDT by gpapa (Boost FR Traffic! Make FR your home page!)
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To: gpapa

Did you read my post 1, where I summarized it?

"The author's point is that his momentum is "too much" and he is going to crash. Well, some have been waiting for him to "crash" for months now and his lead is just increasing, as Republicans realize that he is not only an effective leader, which is what the country needs right now, but he is also the one, the only who can beat Hillary and keep the Dems for taking full control of all three branches of the US government and most likely keeping it for the next 50-100 years."


5 posted on 03/24/2007 9:44:04 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Victory in Iraq. Stop Hillary. Stop the Dems. Work for Republican Victory in 2008.)
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To: FairOpinion

Those were your comments/opinions, not included in the excerpt. I cited the author's actual words.


6 posted on 03/24/2007 9:47:42 AM PDT by gpapa (Boost FR Traffic! Make FR your home page!)
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To: gpapa

Hasn't he been building since 2001, and don't they say that , for Republicans, the leader a year out gets the nomination? They leave out their real concern, and that is that both Giulani and McCain beat all Dems and that margin is up to plus 8%. That's no margin of error thing. That's landslide proportions.


7 posted on 03/24/2007 9:47:50 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: FairOpinion
but he is also the one, the only who can beat Hillary

Anti-Giuliani-shill, anti-Hillary Sarcasm TorpedoTM ARMED. FIRE!!

I know I'd pay to watch him do that on pay-per-view!

Cheers!

8 posted on 03/24/2007 9:48:45 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: FairOpinion
"You don't display weakness in front of terrorists, you don't give them a timeline as to what you are going to do withdraw, you don't tell your enemies what you are going to do, it makes no sense."

So true. Why the Hell cant Democrats see this? Don't answer, I'm sure I know, but I don't understand why a political party is considered more important than a whole nation.

9 posted on 03/24/2007 9:48:53 AM PDT by oyez (In politics perception is reality.)
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To: FairOpinion
Good points. We've been waiting for that dip in the polls and it hasn't happened yet.
10 posted on 03/24/2007 9:49:19 AM PDT by Peach (The Clinton's' pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
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To: FairOpinion
One can expect to see negative hit pieces about Giuliani from now on out. They are desperate to get him one way or another. IMHO he has the necessary administrative experience. He at one time did have an eye for the women.
11 posted on 03/24/2007 9:49:54 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (An old sailor sends we need a 800 ship Navy.)
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To: ClaireSolt

Yes. There have been newspaper articles (I didn't save them and so can't give a link) that say typically the Republican's front runner is the nominee.


12 posted on 03/24/2007 9:50:27 AM PDT by Peach (The Clinton's' pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
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To: Citizen Tom Paine

For ideas and inspiration for hit pieces, they can lurk here on the F.R.


13 posted on 03/24/2007 9:50:50 AM PDT by BonnieJ
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To: FairOpinion

But, but, but... his wife was married one more time than we'd thought! Oh the horror! And the GDS (Giuliani Dysfunctional Syndrome) folk on another thread gleefully say the polls show him losing ground! /sarcasm

That said, I agree with the article and your surmise, though it's still way too early to make any solid prediction.


14 posted on 03/24/2007 9:54:43 AM PDT by Spyder
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To: ClaireSolt

Polls are meaningless this far out from the primaries. If you think the next election is going to be a "landslide," you are speculating in the extreme. It is more likely to go down to the wire and be a clone of the 2004 election.


15 posted on 03/24/2007 10:04:29 AM PDT by gpapa (Boost FR Traffic! Make FR your home page!)
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To: Peach
We've been waiting for that dip in the polls and it hasn't happened yet.

Do you realize how early it is? These polls mean NOTHING.

16 posted on 03/24/2007 10:11:52 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Remember, don't shoot food!)
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To: Citizen Tom Paine
One can expect to see negative hit pieces about Giuliani from now on out.

Highlighting Rudy's liberal record is "negative?"

Is this a Bizarro FR?

17 posted on 03/24/2007 10:12:57 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Remember, don't shoot food!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

They don't care.
They only consider that Rudy is "electable".
His words now mean more than his actions over the last 11 years. He used to cuddle up to The Brady Bunch but now he "understands" The Second Amendment's protection of hunting.


Go figure.


18 posted on 03/24/2007 10:17:29 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

And hence your hysteria. LOL


19 posted on 03/24/2007 10:22:39 AM PDT by Peach (The Clinton's' pardoned more terrorists than they captured or killed.)
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To: FairOpinion; Liz; mkjessup; dirtboy; pissant; Reagan Man; TitansAFC; TommyDale; Ultra Sonic 007; ...
Hey y'all Have you seen the latest propaganda being posted here by one of Rudy's hack, (FO)? The bots are going giddy over it.

These guys are hilarious. I love watching them gloat about how Rudy practically has the nomination all locked up. These poor ol' Rudybots just don't understand that, what goes up, must come down.

Gotta love these liberal fools!
20 posted on 03/24/2007 10:24:22 AM PDT by dmw (Aren't you glad you use common sense, don't you wish everybody did?)
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