the art of the [political] sell

everyone keeps saying that rudy giuliani is the inevitable winner of the 2008 rnc nomination.  why?  because "he can beat hillary?"  i disagree.  he's not inspiring in real life, but he sure does great in the soundbites!  let's examine the real mr. giuliani a bit, shall we?

some are pointing to the fact that he's been married more than twice as an issue.  that's just fluff - actually, i think the msm is saying that the marriage thing is an issue for conservatives because they assume it is and they found a couple of people to agree so we all must think so too.

no, i'm more concerned about the things he did as mayor giuliani than as mr. giuliani.  i'm also concerned with what he is saying now to try to change who he has been - and i believe that we all need to be so.

in a recent column, pat buchanan posits that rudy is "...represents a return to liberal Republicanism that would strip the GOP of its hard-won progress on moral, social and cultural issues..."  he further says:

A Giuliani presidency would represent the return and final triumph of the Republicanism that conservatives went into politics to purge from power. A Giuliani presidency would represent repudiation by the party of the moral, social and cultural content that, with anti-communism, once separated it from liberal Democrats and defined it as an institution.

i believe this to be dead on accurate.  this video says so much about him while rudy's have a grand ol' time:

so after a public lifetime of being pro-abortion, anti-gun rights, pro-affirmative action, etc. and being in march after march in the gay rights parade in new york, we are now to believe that he's a conservative?  sorry, i'm not buying it.

in april of 2006 joseph farah wrote in his column 'between the lines' for world net daily this about mr. giuliani:

"...the smart money has long suggested that Giuliani is incapable of winning the Republican nomination for the presidency because of his hideous positions on homosexuality and abortion. But it appears Giuliani is aware of this weakness and is attempting to hoodwink American evangelicals the way Bill Clinton did.

As Andrew Sullivan put it, "If Rudy is talking Jesus, he's going to run."

And, boy, is he ever talking the talk.

Rudy Giuliani in drag

Now, before I tell you what he said, and to whom he said it, let me first introduce to you the real Rudy Giuliani.

Is America really ready for a drag-queen president?

Can America survive another obnoxious phony baloney masquerading as one thing and governing as another?

Will Republicans be fooled again and nominate a candidate who favors unrestricted abortion on demand?

Should we expect the Grand Old Party to become the Gay Old Party in 2008 and put its stamp of approval on a guy 100 percent committed to the homosexual activist agenda?

and look where we are with rudy. 

for instance, with rudy giuliani we get the same view on abortion that president clinton had (and will have): personally against it, but believes a woman has a right to choose.  and then he says he supports constitutional constructionists for judges.  forgive my blondness, but aren't these two viewpoints just a tad contradictory?

it would be different if he said "i personally am opposed to abortion, and i believe that with a court comprised of constitutional constructionists roe v. wade would be overturned and the rule on abortion would be handed back to the states (where it belongs) and then i would fight at the state level to protect a woman's right to choose."  but that's not what he has said.  at least i have been unable to find any thing to indicate that this is what he believes.

the people over at the jewish task force break it down even further, calling rudy the 2008 election disaster.  much of the article is no longer timely (john mc cain and condoleeza are both mentioned as possible winners) but the information on rudy is still valid, if a trifle harsh...  in the article (that was originally published in 2005) they say:

Giuliani is completely pro-abortion, and even supports the barbaric practice known as partial birth abortion.

But that is just the beginning of his extreme left-wing positions: Giuliani is pro-Sodomite, pro-Third World immigration and anti-Second Amendment.

Every year as New York's mayor, Giuliani marched in the Sodomite parade down Fifth Avenue with all of the transvestites, the sadomasochistic freaks wearing Nazi helmets, and the child molesters of the National Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).

Giuliani himself dressed in "drag" - he wore a dress, a wig, makeup and lipstick - on more than one occasion.

Giuliani's sexual escapades are as bad as those of Bill Clinton.

Giuliani married his first cousin and then pulled all types of strings to get the marriage annulled by the Catholic Church. (Catholics are not allowed to divorce, and so "annulment" of a marriage is sometimes used to end an unwanted union.)

Giuliani then married his second wife, Donna Hanover, who starred in the evil pornographic and child-molesting play, The Vagina Monologues. In the play, a grown woman has a lesbian, child-molesting relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

An uncaring mother and a cheating husband made for tabloid fodder during the messy Giuliani-Hanover divorce - Television personality Donna Hanover starred in The Vagina Monologues, a play about lesbian pedophilia, and played Jimmy Carter's sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, in The People vs. Larry Flynt, a loving cinematic tribute to the infamous porn king, depicted in the film as a “free speech” crusader 

Giuliani then openly cheated on his second wife, parading around the city with his adulterous mate, Judith Nathan. Giuliani even wanted to bring his adulterous mate into the Mayor's official residence in Gracie Mansion to openly live with him. He did not care that his young son Andrew was living there and would have seen his father together with his adulterous partner every day.

Finally, Giuliani sought to divorce his second wife. This time, he did not seek an "annulment," he openly sought a divorce.

When the Giuliani's separated, he moved into the apartment of an AIDS-infected homosexual "couple" whom he had befriended.

How can Republicans who so bitterly condemned the terrible moral example set by Bill Clinton now support for President the equally slimy Rudy Giuliani?

back in june william burnett references a piece in the village voice denouncing rudy's catholicness.  in so far as i could care less what religion potus is (provided it's not islam or the like) this does have some implications.  if he's not really catholic, based on his actions and his life, then how can we expect him to behave in a conservative manner at any level?  any way, in the burnett piece he says:

On abortion, the article goes point-by-point in Giuliani's public career to demonstrate a man embracing the so-called right to abortion much more than politically necessary to get elected into office. In fact, as a matter of policy, Giuliani continued Mayor Ed Koch's practice of having the city fund abortions at city hospitals for women who could not afford it -- no questions asked. According to the article...

One of [Giuliani's] prime claims to the presidency, emphasized on the stump, is his slashing of the city's welfare rolls. But even as he found brutal new ways to cut the poor off the dole, he was using millions in city funds to subsidize abortions for women whose incomes were too high to meet [Federal subsidy] eligibility standards.

this does not sound like a man who is "personally against abortion" to me.  does it to you?

possibly more informative is this information from john hawkins over at human events.  he lays it out so well, i can't think any more should be necessary as a reason to vote against this guy in the primaries.  mr. hawkins posits that rudy is not really against gay marriages, is anti-second amendment, pro-abortion, and he is pro-illegal immigration.  in fact mr. hawkins says:

If you agree with the way that Nancy Pelosi and Company deal with illegal immigration, then you'll find the way that Rudy Giuliani tackles the issue to be right down your alley.

there is more, but it goes on and on and on.  none of it good.  call him charismatic.  call him personable.  call him a great salesman.  just don't call him a conservative, because he isn't.

personally, i think that rudy was very positive and public in the aftermath of 9/11.  however, i also recognize that 9/11 saved rudy politically.  does this make him a good fit to be potus?  i don't think so.  but make no mistake: IF rudy gets the nomination (because a lot of people are too idiotic to vote for an actual conservative) i will support his bid for the presidency.  i just don't want it to come down to that....

Comments

[Angel]

I know him too, met him several times... but am still sooooooo undecided!..great overview Heidi..thanks.

[heidianne jackson]

thanks for stopping by angel - your comments are always welcome...

[Paul Champagne]

I too have met the mayor on several occasions. I can only say what I have seen happen in NYC. The city went from a cesspool under Koch and Dinkens into a place where you could actually enjoy a day walking around outside with your family. New Yorkers no longer have to hide behind eight dead bolts when the sun goes down. If his brilliant management of a city will translate into being a great president, who knows?

I really couldn't care less about gay rights ... as long as it doesn't infringe upon me. As for gun control, you can own a gun in NYC ... do you have to jump through hoops to do so? ... absolutely ... but with 8 million people (some of them unstable), don't you think being careful is wise?

[heidianne jackson]

paul, i agree that he did some great things for nyc. i just don't believe that a republican in nyc is the same as a republican in the heartland. his values don't line up very well with my values and/or the values of others i know in the south or the mid-west. i'm just not going to say he's the right man for the job, because i don't believe he is. i will vote for him in the general if it comes to that because he's better than the alternative, but not before...

[American Interests]

You have expressed your views strongly. When it comes to the GOP thing republicans have yet to coalesce around a single candidate so I’m not convinced that RG is inevitable. I do agree on one thing however, his great job in NYC is far removed from a similar performance in the heartland.

The Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondents compiled a list of the 100 most influential liberals and conservatives in America and guess who was voted the number one conservative?

See:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/exclusions/uselection/nosplit/uscons1-20.xml

Good post!

[heidianne jackson]

thanks, otto, that's high praise coming from one such as you...

i saw that list earlier last week, but they are positing that rudy is a conservative and inevitable. but i say "not at all" to both of those things. i'm reminded of what an exchange student from holland said a few years ago "my parents always say that in america there are conservatives and radical conservatives and there are no liberals." they were wrong, but i think that's how the world sees things...

[nanc]

i'm hoping for a tancredo upswing.

it is the concensus in some circles i hang in that "rudy's the man", but i cannot get behind him one iota.

the only way i'll vote for him is if i see this on the ballot:

GIULIANI

CLINTON

then, i'll go home and drive the porcelain bus...

btw - thankx for adding me to your links and i'm adding you to mine and introducing you in my next post which i hope to make before retiring this evening. check in later if you'd like.

*:]

[ben]

Well I cant go w/ rudy. A terrible social life(cant even handle his own kids, divorce blah blah..) and a real ?drag in the WhiteHouse? C`mon, whats next,twink teas? I saw him do his good deeds but he seems to think that good deeds absolve him of stuff thats naughty. Let alone disgusting.

Thx for letting me stare...
º¿º

[Goat]

Now you know why I support Mitt. I like Rudy more than Pat B., Rudy has his problems but corruption and ethics aren't among them. He is the mob busting crime fighter and 9/11 leader, America's Mayor, to many folks. Dang but he makes one ugly woman, lol. I appreciate his honest approach, not waffling, this is who I am , take it or leave it. I will vote for and support Rudy should he win the primaries but I am rooting for Mitt untill then. Fred needs to get really, really busy if he doesn't want to get embaressed by Dr.Paul.

[heidianne jackson]

nanc, i'd have to vote for giuliani no matter who's name was on the dem side of that ticket. with three supremes, realistically, being replaced in the next term or two, it's just two dangerous to let any dem into office at this point.

thanks for the link and intro -it is much appreciated!

[heidianne jackson]

welcome ben! you are absolutely right - when will people learn that one "ah shoot!" cancels out a whole cartload of "atta boy!"'s

come back again soon!

[heidianne jackson]

goat, i agree with you that mitt is better than rudy. i never like pat b as a presidential contender, but he is also a "this is me" type guy... i don't see rudy as being honest - he's being what he needs to be to get people to trust. to me he's sort of a billy jeff - lite....

[Goat]

Rudy is no Bill Clinton by any means and I understand the suspicion as I hold it as well. Rudy is a strong leader and problem solver and would serve America well should he be elected, as I believe Fred, John or Mike would do as well. Rudy is Rudy and he doesn't back off that, a good thing. Mitt should take a little bit from that. I know you like Fred and he is very likable but where is he, he is not beating the proverbial bush for votes. I am a Mitt Romney guy so take me as you will

[nanc]

if mitt will keep his "faith" out of the photo, i could vote for him.

have you seen that pat robertson has endorsed giuliani today? that may draw a line in the sand with evangelicals.

Lord, help u.s.

[Dee]

I don't like Rudy only because he can beat Hillary, I find him very inspirational and I really like him. I have tried to like other candidates more because of Rudy's stance on abortion but I keep being drawn back to Rudy.

I don't like McCain for a 1,000 reasons, but he guaranteed he wouldn't get my primary vote back when he did the backstabbing gang of 14. I was so livid about that.

I don't like Romney because I know someone who he asked numerous times to come work for him to help persuade Evangelicals to view him as a conservative. She refused to do it because she felt like she would be deceiving people. I also don't feel comfortable with someone who says he's more liberal than Ted Kennedy on gay marriage and abortion just a couple of years ago and now has suddenly seen the light because he's running for president. I also know for a fact he had to be pushed into supporting the gay marriage ban that Massachusetts was trying to get passed. After all of that I just don't see him as genuine or real.

I was really hoping that Fred would be our best option but he has not been impressing or convincing people at all. I went into that last debate being a Fred supporter and found myself gravitating back to Rudy.

Rudy is a flawed candidate, there is no doubt about it. But he is real and honest and I believe him when he says that he would appoint strict constructionist judges which is where most moral issues come into play. He is stellar on the war on terror and by far I trust him the most on the WOT to protect this country. He also has a proven record of reducing crime and dealing with moral issues and cutting taxes. When Bill Kristol says he ran the most conservative government since Ronald Reagan I would have to agree.

For awhile I thought that I wouldn't vote for him in the primary unless it came down to Romney and Rudy. I would pick Rudy over Romney in a heartbeat. But if Fred doesn't do something to convince me he is up for the job I may even go with Rudy in the primaries.

I hate to admit it but a Romney, McCain or Huckabee nominee makes me ill. If any of them becomes the nominee I will vote for them but I won't be doing a whole lot of campaigning for them. I have to be excited and passionate about someone to spend time campaigning. At this stage I'm hoping that Fred or Rudy get the nomination.

[Dee]

It is amazing how everyone views all the candidates so differently. Just look at our state of Missouri. We have 3 different nominees being endorsed, all by top Republicans. It will be amazing to see how this all pans out.

[Patrick Joubert Conlon]

Heidianne you said: "i just don't believe that a republican in nyc is the same as a republican in the heartland." That applies to Mitt too - he's a liberal from Mass. I don't believe that Rudy is more electable than Fred.

[heidianne jackson]

hi dee, thanks for visiting. it is truly a sad commentary if rudy giuliani is the author of the most conservative government since reagan. shows how far down we've sunk... i also am not a fan of romney, for the reasons you've stated and more. his stance on health care is also troubling to me, at least i agree with rudy's stated position on that one... however, that said, i don't think rudy is the guy i want running the country. if 9/11 hadn't happened, he wouldn't even be on the ballot.

[heidianne jackson]

patrick, i'm with you 100% on your comment. i just wish fred would get more aggressive so that people realize there is a viable alternative. i know soft-spoken is more his style, but somehow we have to get him in the front.

[Eric]

I think you are all missing the point.

Think of how great Rudy will look in his inaugeral gown. The only other way to have a presidential inaugeral gown is to have Hilary win it. So, think about it.

My, but it gets hard to be this sarcastic in type. Perhaps it is just time for a revolution and re-vamp of the government in toto. It has obviouly become too largesse and detached from reality to function anymore. I'd nominate myself, but I know that my views would have me assassinated in my first year.

I hope that Fred can pull it off, but to do so he will have to step up his game. Wait until it gets close, then I'm sure Rudy will pull the 9-11 sympathy rhetoric out and try to ride that in. (Note: I am not minimizing the events of 9/11, but to use that as a political booster rocket is wrong to me).

I need to break out my old "Ozzy Osbourne for Pres" shirt. He makes more sense than some of them. I can't wait until the state dinner: "Sharon! 'oo invited these f***ers over?". Best of all, the political coverage would be all over mTV.

This is becoming less like a political race and more like the Special Olympics.

[Donald Douglas]

Hi Hiedi: I like McCain. He doesn't cross-dress, but I'm sure he's vulnerable to the not-a-true-conservative attack. So, I guess I'm out of favor over here!

[heidianne jackson]

well, it is true that i'm no great fan of mc cain, don. but you are always in favor over here!!! thanks for stopping by.

[Goat]

Hey, this is a healthy conversation and good for the GOP, we will nominate our best man and unite to smash Hillary. Let me clarify on Rudy a bit, he is not pro abortion, or pro gay marriage, he has the same position as Fred,he does not support Fed. Constitutional ammendments banning them. I don't think abortion should be illegal though Roe should be overturned because it is bad law. How do you Fred heads square their identical position on those issues? Mitt ran as personally prolife but vowed not to work to overturn Mass. liberal laws while vetoing new abortion legislation and embryonic stem cell research. He also fought to the end against the Mass. courts on gay marriage. I don't think gays should be discriminated against just that marriage is an institution for the procreation and rearing of children and should be protected as such. Mitt is from Michigan not Massachusetts having moved there as part of his career. I also consider his move to the right on abortion as genuine and welcome.

[Bar Kochba]

Interesting post. All of Giuliani's potential successes against Islamofascism will all be meaningless if he allows the cultural Left to destroy US society.

PS Great blog here. I'm going to blogroll you. How about reciprocating?

[heidianne jackson]

bk, welcome to my humble abode. favore returned, quite gladly. i agree on rudy, but 9/11 is his mainstay; i wonder what will happen now the police chief has been indicted.

[Goat]

Bernie was nailed for IRS problems something Rudy would have had no knowledge of, it won't hurt him. Hmm, no answer on Fred and Rudy having the same positions on gay marriage and abortion, isn't Fred the 'only' conservative in the race? Sorry, just being the good Mitt supporter that I am.

[heidianne jackson]

goat, my apologies - i could have SWORN i answered it!

it's not quite the same position, but it is similiar. fred supports leaving the gay marriage thing up to the states, as do i. i believe that if left up to the states, the notion will be defeated...

as for abortion, i'm not happy about fred's statement that he believes making abortions illegal, however, he doesn't believe in partial birth abortion. i believe that roe v. wade should be overturned because it is truly a states' rights issue unless a constitutional amendment is made to put it into the provence of the feds...

fred hasn't changed his views or his sentiments. rudy has. i like mitt better than him.

[JMK]

Giuliani's first term, and his first appointments (especially Bill Bratton with the NYPD, but also Charlie Rivera with the FDNY) were great.

It was Bill Bratton's blueprint that dropped crime so dramatically in NYC. The murder rate, which rose to over 2,000/year under the inept David Dinkins, was reduced to about a quarter of that under Bratton/Giuliani.

Rudy also brought in Disney and cleaned up Times Square, held city spending in check and lowered taxes to attract more businesses.

Rudy's first term saw the beginning of a major "gentrification" of large swaths of NYC.

BUT, Giuliani's also very autocratic, occasionally arrogant and often prone to putting his foot in his mouth.

His post-Bratton NYPD Commissioner appointments were very poor - Safir (mediocre, at best) and Kerick (an incredibly bad choice). Kerick is currently under federal indictment for tax evasion and other charges.

I've been perplexed that Giuliani has beaten Romney saw convincingly, in polls so far. Romney isn't only more polished, a better manager and ALSO someone who "can appeal to moderates," after winning in a very "Blue" place (MA), but he has none of the obvious negatives that Rudy has.

Right now, it certainly looks like it may well be Hillary vs Rudy in 2008 and that, in my view, would leave us all with two very flawed choices - two very flawed characters, both with high negatives and two candidates whom supporters will have to hope that their candidate doesn't melt down.

I'm pretty much down on Thompson, out on McCain (his pro-illegal alien remarks a year ago did that for me) and though I really like Huckabee, I don't think he could pull off a head-to-head win with any of the three major Dems (OK, he could probably beat Edwards like a drum, but I'd worry about his "electability").

Betwen Rudy & Giuliani, I favor Romney big time.

I think Rudy has a downside nearly as large as Hillary's.

[heidianne jackson]

i agree with what you're saying, jmk, except about huck. i'll take romney, any day, over rudy. but i still like fred, best ;)

[ortho]

Hi Heidi! I came here from "Right Truth."

You wrote a wonderful post. I linked to it from my blog.

What do you think of Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy?

[heidianne jackson]

welcome ortho!! i can't imagine why pat robertson has endorsed rudy. makes no sense - in a recent column (pre endorsement) pat said worlds to the effect of rudy would kill the soul of the republican party if he were to get elected. i agree with his initial analysis...

thanks for stopping by!

[Jim Fryar]

Great post, while I feel he possibly represents the best chance of a Republican win at present I hope one of the others can catch Americas imagination, as I am not certain that he will be much better than Hillary.

[heidianne jackson]

welome jim! i agree wholeheartedly with you!

[ben]

donald, I'm leaning towards mcCain too. That makes two of us out of step.(;

[OMMAG]

I suppose it comes down to whether you choose a candidate or leader as an ideologue or as a manager.

Personally I go for the management skills.

I can defend my ideology for myself ... although it is nice to have some affirmation from leaders once in a while. But that's the whole reason I support conservative candidates as opposed to liberals .... the liberals are only interested in their own peculiar ideology.... you know the one that says if you're not one of PeeCee crowd you are irrelevant!