Free Republic

The assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was only minutes old and details remained sketchy when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign issued a condemnation of terrorism writ large. "Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere -- whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi -- is an enemy of freedom," said Giuliani. " We must redouble our efforts to win the Terrorists' War on Us." That it was the first statement that arrived in The Fix email inbox is not surprising as his campaign strategy is closely linked to many voters' belief that...

Here's why I support Giuliani, and it has nothing to do with his response to September 11: Rudy Giuliani eliminated street crime in New York City. The conventional wisdom said it couldn't be done, and the reasons are suspiciously similar to what the same bloviators say about the war against Islamofascism today: 1. There actually isn't a problem; if you think it's a problem, you're a racist. 2. Okay, there is a problem, but it's because of white racism; to try to eradicate the problem using barbaric force without solving the root causes is useless. 3. Okay, force can in...

A group of 9/11 firefighters and victims' family members with eyes on derailing Republican Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign is close to a decision on forming an entity that would run issue ads in key early nominating states. "TV made him a hero, and we'll use TV to take him down," New York Fire Chief Jim Riches told ABC News. The final decision about the formation of an outside entity will happen sometime within the next few weeks after the group finalizes its plans at a meeting scheduled for after Thanksgiving. So far, though, under Riches' leadership, the group has sought...

Starting last fall, when Giuliani first called Bill Simon and said he was running for president, Simon, 56, has been more responsible than anyone for Giuliani's policy education, and he has been the agent charged with managing the sometimes eager, sometimes awkward relationship between the former mayor of a liberal city and the conservative establishment. Well before Giuliani said publicly that he would be a candidate, Simon put him through a rolling seminar that those in the campaign called Simon University, bringing in thinkers to brief Giuliani on key issues. The result is that though many of Giuliani's campaign operatives...

After being virtually tied with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for several months, Republican contender Rudy Giuliani now leads Clinton up 47% to 40% in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. In the match-up of the frontrunners, this result marks a significant shift. For the last three months the two frontrunners have never been further apart than three percentage points. Last month, Giuliani and Clinton were separated by just a single point.

Rudy Giuliani's quest for the presidency isn't one I embrace, but the vitriol — perhaps born of fear that he could win in 2008 — leveled against him by the elite media and left wing magazines is surely disproportionate. As a Manhattan resident from 1987-2003, I never cared for Giuliani's constant self-aggrandizement, odd political decisions (his endorsement of Mario Cuomo in '94) and almost comical and fruitless efforts to censor artists he considered lewd and blasphemous. Those detriments, however, paled compared to his grandstanding in the late 1980s, when, as if taking direction from The New York Times, he zealously...

Rudy Giuliani to college kids jittery over the Virginia Tech shootings.....at New England College.... defended what critics call his evolving position on gun control. In the 1990s, Giuliani said, he did support an extension of a federal assault-weapons ban and stricter anti-gun enforcement on city streets. "I did use our own laws in NYC very effectively".........But he said, "I agree with the Second Amendment"..... Giuliani said federal law shouldn't bar states from adopting their own gun-control measures. "What works in NY might not work in Texas," he said.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee charmed some of South Carolina's Republican faithful Saturday, besting all his opponents on a poll measuring how well each spoke on the issues Spartanburg Republicans consider most important. "If Huckabee can ramp up his fundraising efforts, he could be a real top-tier player," Spartanburg County Republican chair Rick Beltram said. Nationally, Huckabee has been polling in the single digits, well behind frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. Both men spoke at the Greenville and Spartanburg county Republican conventions Saturday morning, joined by four other candidates: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Chicago businessman...