The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 17)

p> Yes, Rudy is headed for the nomination. Some of us remember when the fringe left and the mainstream press told us how threatening it would be to vote Reagan into the White House -- it would be World War III with the Soviet Union, Bush could not be trusted with his finger on the trigger, and now Rudy is the greatest threat to humanity (except global warming...). Yes, Rudy is headed for the White House. br> -- Chuck Els /p> p> I read Philip Klein's (disturbing) piece today and wonder how the such children (Dem media gaggle) came to be so elevated. Then I remember: 1.) While at college 30+ years ago I noticed that the least intellectually curious people seemed to be going to the Schools of Education and Communication; and 2.) Dem Media is hemorrhaging money and viewers...the market works, even when gamed. br> -- Reid Bogie br> Waterbury, Connecticut /p>

Wasn't the rationale for "Rudy Giuliani for President" that he could win over social liberals and moderates who otherwise would never vote for a GOP candidate? As Philip Klein indicates in his well-documented article, that is not proving to be the case.

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.

p>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.

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