The Candidates
Rudy seems to be going out of his way to stake out positions that are directly opposite of positions that McCain and Romney have taken recently. Let’s go to the tape.
First up is Terri Schiavo. On March 11th, Mitt Romney said this about the whole fiasco when he was asked about it:
“I think it’s probably best to leave these kinds of matters in the hands of the courts. I generally think that it’s not a good idea for courts to legislate. Nor is it great idea for legislatures to adjudicate in a specific circumstance”
On April 4th, Rudy Giuliani said this (pasted in full):
REPORTER: Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo…
MAYOR GIULIANI: Sure.
REPORTER: this is the county that she’s from. Did you support the congressional intervention to…
GIULIANI: I believe I did. I don’t I, it’s a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don’t know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now. [Wow, can someone decipher that? -- LJ]
REPORTER: I mean do you think it was appropriate, it had gone through the court system, the courts had said…
GIULIANI: I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive. But honestly I don’t remember now the final… I am not sure I was asked in the last couple weeks of it.
REPORTER: Do you have a opinion on it now? I mean was it appropriate?
GIULIANI: I think we should let it rest. And I think that case got a tremendous amount of attention. My general view is you should do everything you can to keep somebody alive unless they have expressed a strong interest in not having very, very special things done; extraordinary things done. Obviously, you gotta do the ordinary and regular things and even some of the extraordinary things that’s a legal matter and when you get into the area of discretion, as best we can tell we should follow the wishes of the person and their loved ones and in that particular case it was a dispute. So I think it was a tough case for everybody. I think it was a tough case for people on one side, tough case for people on the other, because the intentions weren’t, weren’t clear. Had the intentions been clear, maybe it’ve been an easier case.
Ryan Sager, another Rudy supporter since way before it was cool, said that this position is “rambling” and that it’s a “marvel of incoherence.”
Second, we have the age old debate about flying the Confederate flag. On April 8th, John McCain was asked about his statements by 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley:
“Let me bring up another issue that surrounded South Carolina in the year 2000. There was a political issue, a local issue about whether the Confederate flag should fly over the Capitol. You waffled on that,” Pelley says.
“Yes. Worse than waffled,” McCain acknowledges.
Asked what he means, McCain says, “Well, I said that it was strictly a state issue and clearly knowing that it wasn’t.”
“That’s not what you believed in your heart?” Pelley asks.
“No,” the senator says.
“What did you believe in your heart?” Pelley asks.
“That it was a symbol to many of, a very offensive symbol to many, many Americans,” McCain says.
Why did he say that in 2000?
“I’m sure for all the wrong reasons,” McCain says.
Asked what those wrong reasons would be, McCain tells Pelley, “For ambition.”
On April 10th (a mere two days later, mind you), Rudy Giuliani was asked what he thought about the issue in Alabama:
“One of the great beauties of the kind of government we have, which is a national/federal government, is that we can make on a broad range of issues we can make different decisions in different parts of the country,” Mr. Giuliani said. “We have different sensitivities, and at different times we are going to come to different decisions, and I think that is best left up to the states.”
Er…so, I guess he didn’t happen to catch 60 Minutes then? I can’t see how this helps him at all. In fact, I’m really starting to think that John Podhertez had a point when he offered his advice to Rudy:
As a presidential candidate, you seem to be winging it these days - giving off-the-cuff, ill-considered answers to delicate questions. If you keep winging it this way, you’re going to fly off a cliff.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:04 am
I think there is an argument to be made that Mayor Giuliani is going out of his way to assert his independence as a Republican lately. At a minimum, he does not worry about showing this side of himself.
And I have seen no pundit or campaign professional who thinks this is a good idea for him.
I am not suggesting Mayor Giuliani should be anything other than himself or should change positions or pander or misdirect. But I think he should try to reach out to the conservative spectrum of his party and certainly not underscore his differences with them, and can do so by being more disciplined on the stump. And he should be much more well prepared in answering policy questions; he cannot even articulate his own positions clearly, comprehensively, and consistently at this juncture - which tells me he is not practicing and allowing his own staff to challenge his positions until the are forged into a finished and tested product.
My opinion is that if Mayor Giuliani continues much longer with this “take me or leave me” primary campaign approach that he will disappointingly find himself left and having squandered an apparent lead.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I guess I just think it funny, that LJ, the McCain guy, openly critisizes Giuliani for mis-speaking or not remembering what his stance was on Teri Schiavo…when it was McCain, on his Straight Talk Express, that looked to his Communications Director and said, “yeah, I think I have a stance on that”, when a reporter asked him what he thought about contraception in schools.
I dont know, maybe John McCain really did have a stance, but his meds wore off and he couldn’t remember. Next time he should just take a nap.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:19 am
ouch…
April 12th, 2007 at 12:41 am
Republius,
I’m amazed at how undisciplined Rudy is proving to be on the stump. These comments are going to come back and haunt him.
Geoff,
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to bring up the contraception quote. You need some context though. McCain was asked - “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?” - out of the blue and he said himself that it wasn’t a question that he’d ever been asked before. But yes, it was certainly was a mildly embarrassing “gotcha” moment.
Now, that’s a lot different that Rudy not being versed in what was one of the most contentious and divisive domestic issues in recent times. Not only that, but how could he go down to the same county where it happened and not expect a question, given that Romney was asked a question about it a mere month earlier. What about “preparing relentlessly” and all that?
Also, personal attacks only serve to diminish your credibility, so why stoop that low?
April 12th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Rudy has probably decided to be confrontational so as not to be accused of “pandering” like McCain is. He can see how splintered the social conservative vote is, and thinks he can make it without them.
I think he overestimates his support. Some Republicans might not like panderers, but they don’t like someone antagonising them either.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:04 am
The more conservatives hear about Giuliani, the more they will shy away.
April 12th, 2007 at 2:28 am
This is why Rudy doesn’t stand a chance.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Rudy has the best chance of winning. We need to win the election.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Grant:“Rudy has the best chance of winning. We need to win the election.”
Your second statement is certainly correct. Where is the evidence for the first?
April 12th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Rudy cannot win without social conservatives. When they are motivated, they vote in droves, when they are not, they stay home. And not only do they vote, but there are plenty of hardcore activists that phone bank, volunteer, etc. etc. You should of seen what social conservatives did out here in Ohio during the ‘04 election. And the number of socially conservative Dems that voted Republican. Rudy started off by saying all the right things to court social conservatives and has suddenly turned a quick 180 and is running his mouth off and being just plain stupid.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:18 am
marK,
What weight, if any, do you put into polls that consistently demonstrate Rudy Giuliani as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination? Secondly, what does it mean to you when nearly every poll has Rudy winning in proposed matchups against each of the Democratic candidates, and yet no other Republican, besides McCain in a few instances, even competes against Hillary, Obama or Edwards.
Saying ‘Rudy has the best chance of winning’ at this stage of the race is more factual assertion than opinion.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Argo,
“at this stage of the race” is the optimal phrase there. The latest general polls seem to have Rudy performing basically on par with McCain. Romney is only 7 pts behind the devil herself. Like I have said before Mitt will improve in the generals as his name id goes up.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:01 am
THANK YOU, AARON!
This, gentlemen and ladies, is what I have been trying to say all along with regard to Rudy’s position on abortion:
http://newsbyus.com/more.php?id=7837_0_1_0_M
April 12th, 2007 at 11:26 am
The New York Times has come out with a major attack on Rudy yesterday. It was mainly blasting him for saying that the decision whether or not to let the confederate flag fly, should be up to the states.
THANK YOU, NEW YORK TIMES!! (and its not even Rudy’s birthday).
April 12th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Minnesota Conservative,
The Romneybot line has a contradiction. To win the primary, you say he doesn’t need to poll well nationally, only in the early states, and the rest will follow, even though they’re stacked tightly.
Now you say Romney will poll better head-to-head against Dems as his ID goes up. If you’re not expecting him to raise his ID with *Republicans* nationally, why on earth do you expect him to raise his ID with independents and Democrats, for head-to-head polling in Dec and Jan?
April 12th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
I’d just like to thank Rudy for showing his true liberal colors before I wasted my primary vote on him.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
KT,
Wait until the Times blasts Rudy for saying the South Carolina state legislature has the right to force pregnant women, against their will, to view an ultrasound of the fetus before they’re allowed to have an abortion.
Rest assured, they’re holding onto that one for the general.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Argo, That’s what’s interesting. There is so much “anti” Rudy stuff waiting for the general– if it only came out NOW, more conservatives would support the guy. When they learned the type of scorched-earth war he waged with liberals in NYC.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Minnesota Conservative,
The latest polls do NOT show “Rudy performing basically on par with McCain,” as you suggest.
LA Times/Bloomberg has just released a poll in which Rudy defeats Hillary 48-42%, and in the same poll, Hillary beats McCain 45-42%. A six point divide is not “on par with.”
In matchups with Obama, Barack beats Rudy by four percent, 46-42%; and against McCain, Obama has a rather substantial 48-40% lead.
Romney is still stuck in single digits, at 8%.
Poll: McCain falling behind with GOP voters
He ranks after Giuliani and Thompson in his worst showing yet in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Clinton leads among Democrats.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll12apr12,0,6052505,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines
April 12th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I think that enough stuff is trickling out now. I know that the Clintons know how to keep their BIG MOUTHS SHUT, but the others don’t.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Righto Mr Valentine, I have come to realize the only election that counts is the last one. Now, with all those ever so diligent, ever active SoCons in OH & PA how did they not elect Blackwell-Raga and Lynn Swan? Blackwell was the most SoCon man since Alan Keyes (stomped by Obama).
You tell us not so learneds what changed from 2004 to 2006 that pushed all the bible slappers from George II and Santorum to Casey and Strickland. I sure don’t see how the latter won on social issues. I have to think they won on the old fashioned Democrat/Dixiecrat christian socialism, i.e. local pork, and why should the good folks fight somebody else’s war mentality.
Anyway, why should I think those people are a reliable base for the GOP?
April 13th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
[...] other day I noted that Rudy came out in support for Alabama flying the Confederate flag above its Capitol building based of a federalist viewpoint: [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
[...] other day I noted that Rudy came out in support for Alabama flying the Confederate flag above its Capitol building based of a federalist viewpoint: [...]