He's done. According to the NYT, Giuliani plans on being much more forthright about his support of abortion rights and press his campaign in states where he thinks it will be more well-received. In a way, it's a relief. His half-way talk of "I hate abortion" (which I always took to mean "I hate that abortion matters in Republican politics because it means I'll never get to be President unless we can find some way around it"...) wasn't ever going to get the job done for him. But here's the clear truth of the matter: Giuliani wants to be President and is firmly in favor of a constitutionalized right to kill unborn children *and* thinks that the Congress should spend tax dollars to assist those procedures. He's a consistent supporter of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Death America.
Make him CIA director and sic him on the bad guys. But not President, no way.
4 comments:
A President should not be chosen on the issue of abortion one way or the other. The abortion issue is the purview of courts and legislators. A President has better more important things to do. Note that Ronald Reagan only paid lip service to the issue. If Giuliani appoints strict constructionist judges, as he has promised, that's good enough for me. Frankly, I'm sick of the abortion issue, and of one-issue voters.
I'm a 3-issue voter meself. 4-5000 babies a year ain't chump change.
The thing is, Rudy could probably get away with the (by the polls) centrist position: not an absolutist about the first 3 months of preganancy, but increasingly concerned as we close in on viability.
The Republicans can and should fight it out in their primaries. But what alarms me is so many ultra (fundamentalist) conservatives saying that under no circumstance would they ever vote for Giuliani ("But not President, no way") on the basis of this one issue. So they'll hand the Presidency to Hillary or Obama by default. Gee, how brilliant, shoot yourself in the foot and the bullet goes through everyone else too. For me personally, McCain leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, but I'd still hold my nose and vote for him in November, considering the alarming alternative.
Well, I guess as an "ultra (fundamentalist) conservative" (and here I thought I was just a super-duper holey-moley conservative...just goes to show you don't really know yourself), I'm tired of those who constantly carp about "single-issue voters." I'd submit that everyone is a single-issue voter about something. Suppose, for instance, there was some fellow who met all your other criteria but was in favor of racial segregation? Or maybe the nationalization of the auto companies? Or the establishment of soccer as the national pastime?
The problem with Giuliani isn't that he's just neutral on abortion - he's actively in favor of it. His "I hate abortion" just isn't the case - you can't contribute to Planned Parenthood and hang out with the NARAL crowd unless you think abortion is a positive good. And whatever Giuliani might say on the campaign trail, a President Giuliani, when pressed by a pro-choice Congress, would be unlikely (in my judgment) to stand up against efforts to fund abortions with federal monies.
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