The American Spectator

Reader Mail

To Know Him

11.5.07 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 6)

Already the headlines are screaming, "Giuliani: Worse than Bush." Granted, that's a gross exaggeration at best. But in the last two election cycles, the base came out for President Bush, in spite of all the negative press. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important is that he stood for the issues they care about. Whether or not he could have done better in implementing that agenda is beside the point, but at least he understood one of the most important rules of politics: don't disrespect your base.

If Giuliani receives the Republican nomination, he will be giving millions of pro-life Christians little reason to go out and vote. Think about it: even if just 10-20% of self-identified "values voters" stay home, seeing little difference between him and Hillary Clinton on the issues they care about, that could be enough to sway a national election. And regardless of what the pundits are currently saying, this could be a very close race...if the Republicans play their cards right, and actually give their base a reason to come to the polls next November.

Every four years, Republicans seem to think that they need to distance themselves from a strong pro-life position. Every four years, some 10% of voters tell pollsters that abortion is their number one issue. And of those, nearly 60% vote for Republican. So the abortion issue is a net gain for the GOP.

And yet, here we go again: the Republican establishment is listening to the New York Times editorial page instead of to its base. As a result, it is backing Giuliani, who once advocated public funding of abortion (and to my knowledge has never disavowed that statement). In addition, he was opposed in his brief U.S. Senate candidacy in 2000 by New York's Conservative Party because he refused to support a ban on partial-birth abortion. And I don't mean to be unkind, but the Democrats will gleefully make an issue of Giuliani's personal life -- giving conservatives in middle America yet another reason not to vote for him. Yes, I know that the liberals and their media allies would be hypocrites in doing so when their candidate is Mrs. Clinton, but that hasn't stopped them before.

Now, I am not advocating a third-party vote. My point is that the vitriol being poured upon Giuliani should be fair warning for conservatives that the argument that he could win over votes outside of the GOP, while maintaining his own political base is overrated.
-- Greg Hoadley
Deerfield Beach, Florida

I wonder where Joe Biden plagiarized the lines attacking Giuliani that Democrats found so entertaining? I wonder if Biden has taken the time to examine the three leading candidates for the Democrat nomination (Clinton, Obama and Edwards) when he questioned Giuliani's competence to be President? One achieved her fame by who she married, the other is a Muslim dropout and the last is an ambulance chaser -- sounds more like a cheap imitation of the three stooges than Presidential contenders. As for Keith Olbermann, who's he?
-- Michael Tomlinson
Jacksonville, North Carolina

Why is everyone attacking Rudy? Here's a request for TAS. As I am spending a great deal of time researching the Republican candidates to see whom I am going to throw my small weight behind, I have come across several articles that specifically attack Mr. Giuliani and his time as mayor.

From what Giuliani has said so far on his campaign trail, I find myself torn between him and Fred Thompson. Thompson's approach of smaller, smaller, and smaller government appeals to my Libertarian senses, but I'm still not sold on him fully. Perhaps a better understanding of Giuliani's past performance would be of great help. With all the very negative readings I have come across, I would like to see an honest, fact based appraisal of his time as mayor of New York City. His results cannot be argued against, they were good. But what about how he acted, and was his second term as bad as it seemed?
I think that TAS could provide a more balanced (or at least balancing) look into his time as Mayor. Can we get one of these online, or will I need to buy an issue or two?
Thanks.
-- Charles Campbell
Austin, Texas

In order to analyze the left's incessant blathering on Republican political candidates, I generally rely on a few fairly simple axioms:

1. Everything negative that they say about Republicans (power-hungry, uncaring, greedy, unqualified, etc) is actually true about them.

2. Unceasing criticism of a Republican candidate means that the left is deathly afraid of him/her as a candidate.

3. The more they dislike a Republican candidate, the more qualified a candidate he/she actually is for the job.

In that regard, I'm now firmly in Rudy Giuliani's camp. In all honesty, I was leaning towards Rudy
anyway. His tenure as Mayor of New York City was nothing short of masterful. By sheer force of will, he transformed New York from the unmanageable, dangerous disaster it had become under John Lindsay, Abe Beame, Ed Koch, and David Dinkins into America's safest, most prosperous big city. He's an administrative genius who sees the big picture, but like Ronald Reagan, doesn't get lost in the minutiae of policy. He's a man of action, not words, who sees a problem, comes up with a solution, and makes it happen. He's confident of his opinions, and doesn't kow-tow to the intellectualoids of the leftist intelligentsia at the New York Times. He's also tough on crime, and I have no doubts about his ability to successfully prosecute the war against terror and Islamofascism.

In short, he's a liberal's worst nightmare. They know that he's conservative enough to take the fight to Iran, if necessary, but "moderate" enough and famous enough to peel away the votes of conservative Democrats. And so, the smearing of Rudy has begun.

Let me add that as a social conservative, I'm putting aside any reservations I may have about his personal life, and his spotty record on abortion. I haven't abandoned my beliefs on these issues. However, in my opinion, the 2008 election is not, and cannot be about abortion or gay marriage. 2008 is about our National Security -- period. And I think Rudy is the best man for the job. And that's why he's getting my vote.
-- Gavin Valle
Peapack, New Jersey

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Education, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Social Security, Religion, Islam, Abortion, Global Warming, Hollywood, Movies, Constitution, Law, Iraq, Iran, NATO, Socialism, Communism, Fascism