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Archives for Rudy Giuliani (page 1 / 1)

Rudy Giuliani at Values Voters Summit

Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani spoke at the FRC Values Voters Summit, attempting to sell evangelicals on his qualifications. Most commentators agree that he hit a "solid double" and may have softened some of the opposition to his candidacy. Several hours after the event, his campaign posted the video of his speech.

I just finished watching it. Here are my rough (really rough!) notes from the speech.

Will always be honest -- even when people disagree with him and his goals are unpopular. Will not govern by polls or by holding his finger in the wind. George Will called his mayoralty "the best conservative governance in the nation in the past 50 years". Lowered NYC crime rate. Cleaned up Times Square.

Chased pornographers out of the city. Took on the New York Museum of Art, after Virgin Mary, with dung painting. People of faith need to be free to express their faith, in public. Need to defend traditional expressions of faith, in public. "Freedom of religion is not freedom from religion"

Next President needs to restore the idea that "for every right there's a responsibility, for every benefit, there's an obligation that goes along with it". Turned welfare agencies into job centers -- changed the name on the door and the mission of the organization. Largest welfare reform, happened before federal legislation. Newt called it "revolutionary". 640,000 fewer New Yorkers on welfare. Returned the work ethic back to the center of city life and people thrive when you give them some control over their lives.

Strong supporter of school choice. Product of parochial schools -- all the way up to NYU law school. Every parent in America should have the right to send their kids to the school of their choice -- even home school, if that's what they want. It takes a family -- not a village -- to raise a child. Education opportunity is the civil rights issue for the 21st century

Sign on his desk at City Hall, "I'm responsible", to remind him that accountability goes both ways. Committment to shared values can help us achieve shared goals. Committment to decrease abortions and increase adoptions. Worked hard to increase adoption in NYC -- increased by 133% over eight years before he came into office. Abortions came down 18% during that same period. A country without abortion, achieved by changing the hearts and minds of people. Will veto any reduction in the Hyde amendent or other options to provide public support for abortions. Will support any reasonable suggestion that promises to reduce abortions: parental notifications, partial birth abortions. Will remove bureacratic red tape that makes adoption so expensive.

Supreme Court judges will be most important decision. Judges must be conscientous in their role of interpreting the law, not creating the law. Will appointment judges that understand what people meant when the wrote the law or Constitution. Advisor Board: Chair - Ted Olsen, Larry Thompson, Miguel Estrada, Attorney-General Designate. In the mold of Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts.

President Fred Thompson?

J. Peter Mulhern, at The American Thinker, is pretty convinced that we'll be talking about President Fred Thompson in a little over a year.

Conventional wisdom is hardening around the proposition that Fred Dalton Thompson is too lazy, ill-prepared, tired, old, lackluster, inexperienced, inconsistent and bald to make a successful run for President.

Of course, conventional wisdom rarely gets anything right. When it does, it's only by accident.

In this case conventional wisdom is not just wrong but comically so. Thompson will win the Republican nomination for two reasons. First, he's a very impressive candidate. Second, there's no realistic alternative. He will win the general election for the same two reasons.

He next runs down a list of reasons why all of the other Republican and Democrat candidates are unrealistic alternatives (Romney has the instincts of a used-car salesman, Giuliani is too far from the base, McCain and the base hate each other, etc). Then, he starts talking about what makes Fred a good candidate.

We have gotten so used to speaking of the President of the United States "running the country" that most of us no longer notice how unrealistic and unAmerican that expression is. The whole point of the American Revolution was to establish a country without anyone to run it. We don't want or need a president who is inclined to run things. We need a President who leads and inspires. Fred, with his non-managerial background, is the only candidate of either party who seems to get this.

Consider that Fred's calm, sensible demeanor permits him to say things that would terrify many ordinary voters coming from someone who seemed less steady. Thompson can say radical things and nobody turns a hair. If any other candidate talked about overhauling social security and the tax code while we fight a global war of which Iraq and Afghanistan are mere outcroppings, a substantial part of the electorate would faint dead away. Try to wrap your mind around the reality that coming off like an old coot having a conversation as he whittles next to the pot-bellied stove down at the country store is an excellent way to attract most American voters.

Frankly, that appeals to me. And that aspect of his personality comes through very clearly in some of his recent campaign videos. He's unassuming and laid back. But he possesses a razor sharp wit and a quick mind.

I need to know more than I do about Fred's positions on various issues. But he's impressed me with what I've seen so far.

Elections Have Consequences

Adam recommends that the religious conservatives split off and form their own party. He thinks that such a third-party might actually be able to attract -- and keep -- voters. That might provide a wedge for other alternate parties to emerge and gain support.

I'm afraid he might be right. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see legitimate competitors to the Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, that would take an election cycle or two to fully emerge. Until then, the only thing a new party would do is pull votes away from Republicans and towards Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Normally, that wouldn't bother me too much.

But, as The Anchoress reminds us, the next election could have big consequences.

The third-party pipe-dreamers will once again make the Clinton tag team victorious. And with a Supreme Court likely to need three quick replacements in '09, the third party folks will watch as the court becomes a permanent 5-4 liberal majority activist court -- for decades. Decades, folks. The America you think you're going to "preserve" with your third party candidate may become unrecognizable in a very short time. The Roe v Wade you think you're going to reverse with your unelectable third candidate will seem almost quaint when compared with the "compassionate" euthanasia and the "practical, community-serving, environment saving" limitations on life you'll be watching get handed down as law by an activist court determined to see the Constitution as a "living" and flexible document.

She also provides an interesting perspective on the morality of presidential candidates.

It is always interesting to me to reflect that Jesus always went to the sinners to get his work done, to spread his message. He didn't go to the "pure" ones who thought they already knew everything they needed to know, and who would never dare to taint themselves by dealing with the lesser among them. He went to the guys who screwed up, made mistakes and understood that they were not worthy, who knew that they didn't know everything. The guys who would continue to make mistakes but who would grow and would -- most importantly -- never give up.

And all of this will come about because the only person seemingly capable of beating the Clinton's wasn't a good enough Christian for the Christian right. I think it's a mistake, folks. Create a third party in order to give yourselves a "good Christian" to vote for -- one who doesn't offend any of your principals -- and you lose. And life loses, too.

I want to support the "perfect" candidate. But right now, I'll take a candidate who merely promises to appoint originalist justices to the Supreme Court.

Guiliani on Taxes and Spending

Giuliani on Taxes and a Homeowner Bailout - Capital Commerce (usnews.com)

I had a chance to chat with Rudy Giuliani this weekend, on Saturday morning, just after he finished with his "tax summit" campaign event in Manchester, N.H. There, Giuliani offered his case for making the Bush cuts permanent, killing the estate tax (or "death tax," as he puts it), indexing the alternative minimum tax to inflation, and lowering corporate taxes. The easy-reading, truncated version of the interview can be found here. But lucky CapCom readers get to peruse the longer "director's cut." No Iraq, no abortion, no immigration"”just hardcore economic policy. Giuliani speaks at length about taxes, Social Security, and the mortgage crisis.

Guiliani continues to intrigue me from an economic, fiscal-policy perspective. This interview shows some of the reasons.

If you're interested in Guiliani's economic record as Mayor of New York City, the Club for Growth has a breakdown.