If there's one thing that short-circuits the mental wiring of leftists, it is the name George W. Bush. For the last four year's, George W. Bush's enemies, by their immoderation, have succeeded driving Americans into the president's arms. On November 2, the Bush-haters have the opportunity to turn passion into votes. My article on TownHall.com explores the strange world of the Bush-haters, wondering if the president could have been handed a better set of enemies had he the opportunity to invent his opposition.
You want to see hatred....you should see my Republican friends (yes I do have a few) when I mention Hillary.
Dubya vs. Hillary - What a dream election that would have been.
Instead we are going to get Giuliani v. Hillary.
I suppose an upside to Kerry winning the election would be that it would put off Hillary running for Prez for 4 years longer since it is unlikely that she will want to run against an incumbent Kerry in the Democratic primaries.
Will the Neocons accept Giuliani at the head of the ticket? Do they want to win that much?
But, Kerry is a man of God....
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/10/26/kerrys_religious_references/
Hillary won't run in 08 if Kerry loses because the democrats won't want another northeastern elite running. A more likely candidate in '08 (assuming W wins this election) is Bill Richardson (gov of New Mexico).
Isn't Giuliani pro-abortion. If so, he would have no chance as a Republican. I doubt he'd make it out of the primaries.
Giuliani is pro-abortion but why would the neocons care? That isn't what concerns them, power is.
I think all Rudy will have to do is move to the right just a tad on abortion, like by paying lip service to electing good judges, shift the topic to how he fought crime in NY and how he is a hawk on Terror, and the neocons will be on board and the GOP establishment will as well b/c they are pragmatists who see a moderate like him as a guaranteed winner. Remember the media will LOVE him and will do everything they can to support his candidacy.
How about Bush vs. Hillary in a cage match, with Captain Lou Albana as special referee!
Brian,
Lip service to the election of judges won't get the job done. Forget the neocons, a Republican's chances stand or fall on the support of the religious right. It takes more than lip service to get them to the polls.
Giuliani will not succeed nationally unless he can appeal to the religious right. Like it or not every moderate republican must be in bed with these strange creatures for national elections. Thus the pro-business, low tax side of the Republican party must dance with the ideologically myopic creationists and others of their ilk in order to get a Republican elected. It remains to be seen if Giuliani can re-engineer himself as a social conservative when it is evidently true that he is anything but.
He succeeded in NYC because he was tough on crime (his predecessors were notoriously weak on crime) and people in NYC benefited from his policies. The votes he got were pragmatic ones--I like what this guy did for me, so I'll vote for him again, party affiliation be damned. His voted were not ideologically based; on the national stage at least a portion of the votes he will need will have to be based on ideological compatibility. That is the sorry state of American politics today, but there you have it.
