Furthermore, Giuliani has endorsed the Bush tax cuts and says they should be extended. He favors helping Americans with rising healthcare not with expanded government influence, but with a major tax deduction of up to $15,000.
The issues which tend to worry social conservatives are abortion and gay marriage. Here Giuliani does differ with the ideology of the religious right. He’s pro gay rights — he even crashed with some gay friends after a messy divorce. He’s also pro-choice. On Meet the Press in 1993, he told moderator Tim Russert that he planned to lobby the national Republican Party to change its stand on abortion.
But the Giuliani of today has promised to appoint “strict constructionists” to the bench — essentially a wink to the right wing of his party that he’ll appoint pro-life judges. Granted, Giuliani’s pitch that “if you don’t like my position on abortion, you’ll like the judges I appoint,” borders on the ridiculous.
But at worst, the judges Giuliani appoints will not overturn Roe vs. Wade and his overall effect on abortion will be the same as that of George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan: nothing. But if Giuliani does succeed in putting another conservative Justice on the court, then the country will be faced with the truly ironic situation of a pro-choice politician accomplishing the most important goal of the pro-life movement.
Critics have tried to paint Giuliani as a moral relativist who doesn’t share the conservative movement’s values. Try convincing the porn dealers he drove out of Times Square of that. Or the criminals he methodically rooted out during his tenure in New York. When combined with his zeal for the war on radical Islam, it is clear that he shares the good vs. evil view which is an overarching theme in today’s conservatism.
In the next months as the primary contest draw nearer, certain elements in the Republican Party will search frantically for an alternative to Giuliani, convinced that he will irrevocably change the party. If Giuliani is indeed nominated and then elected, he will do no such thing.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Good defense of Giuliani. I have to admit that I find him appealing in some ways. I like that he has a sense of humor, and even though I don't agree with him on everything and have my concerns, i think he'd be worth electing just to send a message to the religious right.
Dave
2 - Baronius
Good article, Marcus. I don't think that strict constructionism is a "wink" to the religious right. It's consistent with Giuliani's legal background. In any other race, he'd be called the "law and order" candidate. The idea of Giuliani appointing pro-life judges is ridiculous, but only because the appointments would be more consistent with his platform than his pro-choice position is.
I think the right (of all types) will fall in line behind any Republican candidate. Each candidate has weaknesses, sure, but any of the top four or five is good enough to unite the party.
3 - Dave Nalle
I think the 'top five' currently includes Ron Paul. Is he capable of uniting the party behind him?
Dave
4 - Baronius
Dave - I was thinking that the top five were McCain, Giuliani, Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson. I'm not sure I'm wrong. If Paul is in the top tier (can we finally stop using that term?) he could have difficulty uniting the party.
Romney and Thompson are within the standard Reagan Republican parameters, or at least campaigning that way. McCain and Giuliani have problems with the religious right, but if either of them were winning primaries, I could see the whole party accepting them. I don't know enough about Huckabee. Some fiscal foriegn policy conservatives seem to hate the guy.
5 - handyguy
Anyone happy with George Bush and Ronald Reagan will be happy with Rudy Giuliani.
Indeed. And those of us who cringe at the very thought of those two awful presidents are already running the other way, fast.
Rudy is a considerably less likable fellow than Reagan or our current Prez. I'm not sure how long it will take the electorate to realize this. If not until after Inauguration Day, we're all in trouble. Because this vindictive, inflexible, nasty human being would have one of the most divisive presidencies of all time.
Luckily, Edwards/Obama, Clinton/Obama, or Obama/Mark Warner all have very good chances of deservedly kicking his ass in the general election.
Anyone who saw his creepy, nervous performance on Meet the Press Sunday before last knows what the Dems have to do: introduce this vampirish, scary Rudy to the public who remain trained to think of him as Saint 9/11. [If you haven't watched it, you should...it's readily available online, as is Romney's equally awful performance from a week later.]