Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Charisma Of Courage (Positive article on Rudy)
HughHewitt/Townhall.com ^ | November 12, 2007 | Hugh Hewitt

Posted on 11/13/2007 9:10:14 AM PST by Signalman

Louis Freeh would go on to become director of the FBI in the1990s, but back then he ran the organized crime unit under Giuliani. He said, "Rudy's security was a serious issue.

"We would sit down with him and sort of give him a security plan or advise him that he ought to have a bodyguard when he traveled around," said Freeh. "He would listen to us as he always did very carefully and say, 'I don't want that. Our job here is to be U.S. attorneys and prosecutors and if we are walking around with bodyguards we are sending the wrong message. We tell the mafia that we are afraid of them. And we are not.'"

Just last month, courtroom testimony revealed that the heads of the notorious five families voted on whether or not to put out a hit on Giuliani. The vote was 3-2 against the hit.

"Which means I won the vote … I guess," Giuliani said, laughing.

When it was pointed out that Giuliani was awfully jovial when discussing almost being whacked, the former mayor said it comes with the territory.

"After awhile, you become calm about it," he said. "When you go through it, as a young man, often enough, you get used to it."

A Giuliani presidency would be drama-filled and certainly unpredictable in many ways.

But there would be no going wobbly in the war. Period. Cue the Andrew Jackson analogies.

Rudy's support will not drop much below where it is because of the number of voters who think the war against the jihadists is the only issue and Rudy the best man to wage that war. When McCain drops out Rudy will pick up most of those voters as well as that is the only issue on which Senator McCain has appeal.

But the faith-based electorate will quickly unite against him behind Romney as the primaries advance toward the big February 2 showdown and beyond.

If Rudy wins that battle with Romney, the GOP will spend the next nine months reminding the values voters that Thucydides was right: "The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage."

Rudy needs to start talking about religious freedom and the right to be left alone to worship as you please. He will probably never win over the hearts of values voters, but he can appeal to their minds and to their real sense that a Clinton Administration and Hillary's judges would move to narrow greatly the space given to religious freedom in America. He can also speak to the idea of bringing order to inner cities where gangs prevent kids from reaching their adulthood, and schools that fail despite a thousand carrots dangled in front of them. As a candidate of ordered liberty and personal courage, Rudy can overcome the deep hostility of the values voters.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: autocrat; controlfreak; giuliani; gungrabber; hughhewitt; julieannie; orderedliberty; powermadpsychotic; purgeleftovers; rudyisaliberal; rudytroll; zotbait

1 posted on 11/13/2007 9:10:15 AM PST by Signalman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47
Rudy sure fits a democrat profile!

IT is for the murder of unborn babies!
IT is a big gun control nut!
IT covered for the invaders in ITS city!
IT surrounded ITself with queers and thugs!

Why does IT have an R by ITS name instead of a D?

***
Hillary made an unqualified bar bouncer, security head in the WH.
Rudy made his unqualified driver, police chief and pimped him as homeland security chief.
Not much difference between the two!

2 posted on 11/13/2007 9:17:17 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47

Good piece. Rudy continues to roll forward, disproving those who expected him to flame out in the early going.


3 posted on 11/13/2007 9:21:11 AM PST by karnage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47; karnage

I honestly think a Romney-Giuliani ticket would be ideal. Overall, Romney has broader experience, including serious private sector experience, and he instinctively thinks first and talks later. Giuliani’s scrappiness and gut determination to defeat the jihadists would come in awfully handy too, but probably be of more value if subject to the guiding hand of someone like Romney. In other circumstances, I tend to think Giuliani would be inclined to turn down an offer of the number 2 position, but he wants at the jihadists more than he wants to be number 1, and the VP position would be a decent spot to wage anti-jihad from.


4 posted on 11/13/2007 9:49:06 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GovernmentShrinker
I honestly think a Romney-Giuliani ticket would be ideal.

I don't think there's a clothespin strong enough to hold my nose for that ticket.
Two liberal northeasters? Are you kidding me?

5 posted on 11/13/2007 9:54:37 AM PST by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: karnage
While I lament the fracture in the GOP, I don't see Romney or any other candidate beating him for the nomination.

I also expect he'll be successful in the general election.

6 posted on 11/13/2007 10:01:51 AM PST by Mariner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47
But there would be no going wobbly in the war. Period. Cue the Andrew Jackson analogies.

I didn't know Andy Jackson was a Cross-Dressing, Gun-Grabber???

7 posted on 11/13/2007 10:03:56 AM PST by Condor51 (Rudy makes John Kerry look like a Right Wing 'Gun Nut' Extremist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47
Hugh has been a total shill for Romney, even wrote a book to help prepare the way for a Mormon to be President (which I don't have a problem with, by the way.) Maybe he thinks that if the contest is between Rudy and Mitt, Mitt is the conservative, and gets the nomination. Neither one is conservative, but one is a fake and the other is not.

There is one conservative in the race (Hunter) and one right of center candidate (Thompson). Conservatives need to go all out for one or the other. If Rudy or Mitt win the nomination, well, I will vote for them over Hillary, but there will be a lot of angst among conservatives, and it will be a tough race to win in the general election.

8 posted on 11/13/2007 10:07:49 AM PST by Defiant ("Expectorate" has Specter in it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Condor51
Moe, Larry and Curly did cross-dressing skits. Uncle Miltie did. It was a regular staple on SNL and Monty Python. Big deal, Rudy did it as part of a gag. Show me he dresses up and prances about his apartment and I will worry.

It's his liberal social policies that concern me. He would be solid on the war, but can he overcome the liberal propaganda machine with core beliefs that can't be changed, like Reagan, or will he bend and sway with the breezes, like Mitt has all his life, like GW has been doing for a couple years (on everything except the war) and like the Romney/Rockefeller/Rino wing of the party always has.

I don't think he can. They will eat him alive. It was already starting to happen in a small way in the NY Senate race when he dropped out. He was getting flustered and clobbered. It will be far worse when he is going for the Presidency, and even if he wins, he would face a relentless onslaught.

9 posted on 11/13/2007 10:13:03 AM PST by Defiant ("Expectorate" has Specter in it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47
Hugh Hewitt, August 2003:
...I keep saying that the conservative wing of the GOP in California will figure out that half a loaf is better than a stone, and vote overwhelmingly for Arnold.

I also expect that Arnold will surprise you in the coming years, and make you proud of the vote you cast for him.

Note to Hugh: You sold Arnold--now you're trying to sell Giuliani.

Thanks anyway. I don't listen to shills that give us this kind of garbage(R).

10 posted on 11/13/2007 10:53:20 AM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
As a candidate of ordered liberty and personal courage, Rudy can overcome the deep hostility of the values voters.

Wow. I guess "ordered liberty" is the politically-correct phrase that's used in place of "big-government totalitarianism by a Republican."

There isn't enough paint in the world to whitewash Giuliani's well-documented track record as a liberal statist.

11 posted on 11/13/2007 11:04:17 AM PST by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Mariner; Bobkk47; GovernmentShrinker; karnage

Kool-Aid Drinkers of the GOP Unite!


12 posted on 11/13/2007 12:00:30 PM PST by SoConPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bobkk47

This is the same sellout that wanted to stick us with Harriet Meiers. Fortunately, real conservatives opposed the idea.


13 posted on 11/13/2007 12:39:00 PM PST by Ol' Sparky (Liberal Republicans are the greater of two evils)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

It is my hope - and prayer, actually - that if Giuliani is the nominee, Republicans will rally around him. I hope that the fracture won’t be as bad as some fear.


14 posted on 11/13/2007 5:14:02 PM PST by karnage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

Argh!


15 posted on 11/13/2007 5:16:17 PM PST by karnage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: karnage

-—”It is my hope - and prayer, actually - that if Giuliani is the nominee, Republicans will rally around him.”-—

Maybe. But this Conservative won’t - so help me, God.


16 posted on 11/13/2007 9:45:42 PM PST by TitansAFC ("My 80% enemy is not my 20% friend" -- Common Sense)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson