[Dean's World] Dave Price: RightWing On Rudy

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Posted by Dave Price:
RightWing On Rudy
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157045582.shtml


   John Hawkins makes [1]the conservative case against Giuliani. Here's
   my take on his points.
   Rudy's Strong Pro-Abortion Stance: Well, I would be surprised if Rudy
   doesn't move a bit to the right on this issue. Anyway, it's unlikely
   to matter in any direct sense; the President cannot outlaw abortion,
   and virtually all the details are being decided by the courts. It
   seems likely, too, that he will nominate conservatives to the SCOTUS
   if the opportunity arises.
   An Anti-Second Amendment Candidate: Two words will likely extricate
   Rudy from this bind: states' rights. It's generally not a federal
   issue.
   Soft On Gay Marriage: Personally, I agree with Rudy's stance on this
   issue, but it could definitely hurt him in the primaries with social
   conservatives. In some ways, this is a real test of whether the GOP is
   going to purge libertarians from the party the way the Dems are
   purging hawks like Lieberman.
   Pro-Illegal Immigration: This is an important issue where Giuliani's
   opinion really matters. However, he's not that different from Bush
   here, and I doubt we'll see a viable GOP candidate who is much farther
   to the right. A wash.
   He Can't Keep His Pants Up: Keep him away from interns! Seriously,
   this is a question mark. Clinton's high approval in the late 1990s
   seemed to prove that modern Americans don't particularly care how
   sexually immoral a President is even while serving in the Oval Office,
   but we'll see how nasty the divorce disclosure gets (anyone remember
   Jack Ryan's campaign?).
   How Electable Is Rudy Giuliani Really? Very. 9/11 was the defining
   event of this generation, and the patina of heroism forged on that
   terrible day of fire and death will not be easily eroded away. John
   rightly points out that the media will savage him, but they did the
   same thing to Reagan and W, neither of whom entered the national
   consciousness already a hero, and they managed to win, Bush despite
   being fairly inarticulate. Anyone who remembers Rudy's RNC speech in
   2004 knows he's a gifted speaker who viscerally understands the GWOT's
   importance. Rudy can also campaign on what, pre-9/11, was already a
   very impressive accomplishment: cleaning up New York City.
   Hawkins also mentions the South as a problem for Rudy, and I think
   makes the same mistake that Dems have made for years in assuming
   Southerners are provincialists who will vote for someone merely
   because he has a Southern accent (I never hear GOP strategists saying
   they need to appeal to Northeasterners by finding a Republican
   candidate who says "clam chowdah"). There may be some truth to that
   meme, but Gore lost his home state of Tennesee, and patriotic heroism
   with any accent sells in the unabashedly flag-waving South.
   Overall, on the points where Hawkins doesn't agree with him I
   generally do, and I think Giuliani's electability is being underrated,
   not just by Hawkins but broadly among political pundits.

References

   1. http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2006_08_27.PHP#006320