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Why Rudy is Striking Out (Excellent editorial on the demise of Rudy's candidacy)
Townhall.com ^ | May 13, 2007 | Kevin McCullough

Posted on 05/13/2007 3:38:27 AM PDT by dschapin

Why Rudy is Striking Out... By Kevin McCullough Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mayor Rudy Giuliani intended to use the chance to address students and faculty at Houston Baptist University on Friday to boost his image and clarify his position - particularly on abortion. He also hoped to energize what is beginning to look like a campaign that is in complete meltdown.

Republican presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to over 800 people gathered for a breakfast sponsored by The Tuscaloosa County Republican Party Wednesday, May 9 2007 at the Bryant Conference Center in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He failed on every level.

Coming out of the first Presidential Candidate debate he was established as the clear loser in many respects. His mumbling, stumbling, bumbling and shrugging of the shoulders on the simple question put to him on the issue of Roe v. Wade truly isolated him from the rest of the field.

He is also bending believability.

In his address at HBU on Friday he took more time than I had heard him use in the past to describe the "two pillars" of his thinking on the matter.

The first pillar is his supposed personal belief that abortion is "deeply, profoundly, and always morally wrong." He belabored the point by emphasizing that if he were to counsel someone personally, that he would always advise them against abortion and would encourage them to have the baby. Once born, if they were unable to care for it, he would encourage them to consider the adoption option.

His second pillar was his belief that our society "must always grant the woman" the "right to make the choice". He didn't really elaborate on the specifics of what they would be choosing, but we are to assume that the choices are somewhere between the "always morally right" decision to have a child, or the "always immoral" decision to kill one.

The Mayor continued by addressing the issue of partial birth abortion. He added that he felt it should have been kept legal to protect the life and health of the mother. Interestingly enough the American Medical Association has denounced this method of ever being medically necessary to "save a woman's life." And the word "health" could be interpreted as lightly as "mental health" which could be interpreted as lightly as "I just don't FEEL like having this baby" which you then realize is in fact a term that means nothing.

Giuliani also seemed to imply that he opposed federal funding for abortion as part of his "giving the woman the option."

He then pledge to work to limit abortions, put restrictions on them, and for added good measure he bragged that adoptions went up under his administration in New York by some 130%.

The problem was the entire pretense of Giuliani's position on abortion is a sham, at least the side of viewing it as "always morally wrong." Moments before he was to give the address in Houston, Fox News Channel's Carl Cameron did a cut-in with an exclusive discovery. Cameron had uncovered a National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Survey that Giuliani had filed with them in running for office back in 1997. In the Mayor's own handwriting exists the proof that Giuliani opposed parental notification, and any limits on the always unnecessary procedure of partial-birth abortions. He also advocated more federal funding for abortions. He has also given multiple donations to the racist genocidal organization that was founded upon the desire of eliminating blacks - Planned Parenthood.

Discerning people don't even need the evidence of a NARAL survey to see through Giuliani's ineptitude on moral issues. His stated "pillars" tell us everything we need to know.

With the discovery last week that gender can now be identified in the unborn child only six weeks after conception, coupled with the increasing abilities to see a child survive to a healthy life outside the womb, earlier and earlier in the pregnancy, the issue of personhood continues to be Giuliani's downfall.

Since he was in Houston, let's use a local example.

Many remember Andrea Yates who systematically drowned her five children in her own bathtub. Certainly Mayor Giuliani would share our horror and condemn such actions as "always morally wrong." Surely he would have - had he been given the chance - to counsel Andrea to not go through with such a procedure. He would have attempted to convince her that it would be better for the child, and for her to give those children up for adoption. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have even called for police intervention had he been able to divine ahead of time her intent to murder her children.

But by using the Mayor's own logic and his "other pillar of thinking" he would have felt that it would have been equally important to "give her the option, to make the choice" to carry out her plan.

This is where Rudy's logic is so flawed that it defies explanation. And it is this confusion in the arena of moral clarity that calls into question his ability to be morally clear in his governing skills.

The problem with his two pillars is that even Rudy Giuliani doesn't fully believe them both. It is also obvious from his record which of the "two pillars" he believes, and which one he is now giving lip service to.

If he wished to disprove this and in fact attract genuine pro-life voters let me propose a specific tactic for his campaign. In his discussion of "compromise" and the need to hold to his "two pillars" how about this:

Propose sweeping legislation to ban all abortions with the exceptions of rape, incest, and the mother's life.

This compromise would eliminate roughly 98% of all abortions performed, and even though we truly pro-life types would still work to ban the remaining 2%, it would allow the "needed exceptions" that the Mayor espouses are "so important."

Rudy Giuliani is the most full throated pro-abortion Republican candidate for President in history. In all transparency he must be acknowledged as such.

Rudy's poll numbers are sagging in Iowa and New Hampshire, and without radical change in his thinking those trends will hold, and somewhere around South Carolina the Mighty Mayor will strike out.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; cultureofdeath; giuliani; giulianitruthfile; kevinmccullough; moralabsolutes; nomination; prolife; rudy
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To: don-o

Sounds about right too lol


41 posted on 05/13/2007 1:07:01 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: APFel

Hear,hear


42 posted on 05/13/2007 1:07:55 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: TomGuy

I’d buy that


43 posted on 05/13/2007 1:08:49 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: pissant

A great time at FR aint it?


44 posted on 05/13/2007 1:10:43 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: Calpernia; dschapin; 230FMJ; 49th; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


45 posted on 05/13/2007 1:11:13 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Luke21

Just like what will happen to his campaign the more conservatives learn about this LIBERAL.


46 posted on 05/13/2007 1:13:32 PM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Defeat liberalism, its the right thing to do for America.)
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To: ops33
Could someone with medical knowledge explain to me what conditions require an abortion to save a mother’s life?

IANAD, but one condition which could kill the mother is an ectopic pregnancy. In that case, the baby starts to develop in the fallopian tube rather than in the uterus where it normally would. AIUI, the condition would be fatal to both the mother and the baby if an abortion were not performed.

47 posted on 05/13/2007 1:19:07 PM PDT by Bob
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To: Bob

In the end Obama will be Hillary’s running mate. Or will it be Rudy?


48 posted on 05/13/2007 1:32:32 PM PDT by stocksthatgoup ("Is it real? Or is it Reuters?")
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To: Calpernia; NittanyLion; imahawk

I can’t help but wonder if the Rudy supporters will jump ship in November of ‘08 and vote for the Dem candidate out of spite if their man doesn’t get the nomination.

Whaddya folks think?


49 posted on 05/13/2007 1:49:35 PM PDT by no dems (Michele Malkin: She's Ann Coulter with class.)
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To: stocksthatgoup

I think that by the time it’s over, Hllary and Obama will hate each other so that he will NOT be her VEEP.


50 posted on 05/13/2007 1:50:28 PM PDT by no dems (Michele Malkin: She's Ann Coulter with class.)
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I’ve thought for some time that Obama will be Hillary’s running mate. They left will think this will work because they have two minorities together on one ticket. The left will think it’s social nirvana time; the right will be looking for the substance of what they’ll work on. So will the middle, but I doubt they’ll want an Clinton/Obama ticket in the end. Sociologists and academics like when we have litmus tests for choosing people; the bulk of the country will, in the end, I think, choose substance over a show.

As for Rudy, I wrote to his campaign saying that although I liked much about him, there’s no way I’m voting for someone who “chooses” to allow 1M people a year be dismembered while alive (and that’s just in this country). That’s 2,740 human lives a day. The left ran a legislative end-run around the Constitution because they knew it wouldn’t pass muster. I want a president who knows the difference between right and wrong and isn’t afraid to say so.


51 posted on 05/13/2007 2:00:08 PM PDT by dellbabe68
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To: Bob

Thank you, is an ecoptic pregnancy the most common condition where an abortion is required to save the mother’s life? If so I wonder how many ecoptic pregnancies occur?


52 posted on 05/13/2007 3:19:40 PM PDT by ops33 (Retired USAF Senior Master Sergeant)
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To: wagglebee

You’re on a roll today!

Looks as though Giuliani is pau hana.

No more, finito, ended, finished, over and done with.


53 posted on 05/13/2007 3:28:19 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Only those who thirst for the truth will know the truth.)
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To: little jeremiah

The best chance for a conservative to be elected president is to get leftists like Rudy out of the race early.


54 posted on 05/13/2007 3:31:26 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: ops33
Thank you, is an ecoptic pregnancy the most common condition where an abortion is required to save the mother’s life? If so I wonder how many ecoptic pregnancies occur?

While I really don't know the numbers offhand, I'd guess that it's a rather small percentage of pregnancies. Applying a small percentage across the total number of pregnancies in this country every year, though, the absolute number is probably pretty high.

In all likelihood, there are almost certainly some number of other medical conditions that genuinely endanger the life of the mother. Sorry, I just don't know what they might be.

55 posted on 05/13/2007 3:58:34 PM PDT by Bob
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To: little jeremiah
I lived in NYC half my life. I think I understand Rudy. Being a Republican in NYC is like being a socialist in Louisiana. Any R in NYC must go left, and deep. In a race against Hilary, he most likely wins. His strongest suit right now, IMO, is leadership. He showed that after 9/11 by taking control of the city and stiffing the sheik from Saudi, telling him to shove his 2 mil dollar check. I think the Voters desperately want leadership, and I think he's got it. Forget any Senators running, they lead nothing. Last one we elected was JFK, he'd have been better off if he lost (which he probably did, except for daddy kennedy's money).

So, there you have it. Leadership takes the hill. But I for one will not vote for him, we all know he's too liberal for me.

56 posted on 05/13/2007 4:09:02 PM PDT by tenthirteen
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To: tenthirteen

If he wins the nomination (by who knows what behind the scenes machinations), he will lose the election.

I can see Dems crossing over to vote for him in Republican primaries for that precise reason.

His “leadership” that you cite is a couple of instances - giving the sheik his check, and having face time after 9-11. He’s a liberal, and most Republicans just can’t and won’t stomach his leftist positions.

I would never, ever vote for him. The lesser of two evils just ain’t gonna cut it any more.


57 posted on 05/13/2007 4:44:58 PM PDT by little jeremiah (Only those who thirst for the truth will know the truth.)
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To: APFel

I don’t miss them in the slightest.


yep


58 posted on 05/13/2007 4:48:59 PM PDT by teldon30 (disgruntled 2nd class)
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To: dschapin
Rudy IS an honest liberal. But his stands set him far apart from our party's mainstream. I don't believe "electability" is the most important criterion for choosing our party's presidential nominee. The Democrats did that with Kerry and they fell short. I want our party's nominee to defend our philosophical principles and our party's platform. If we're not true to who we are - we deserve to have the American people repudiate us.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

59 posted on 05/13/2007 4:55:44 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: dschapin
Giuliani is a transparent liberal whose only goal is to get elected President to feed his ego and foster his liberal agenda.

Looking at his position on abortion, a person might be deluded into thinking Giuliani is a Libertarian.

But he is not. He is a liberal fascist.

60 posted on 05/13/2007 4:59:55 PM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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