Some days ago, Roger L. Simon looked at Rudy Guiliani's chances to obtain the Republican nomination for president.
At the time, the Posse was buried in work at the ranch and unable to add our thoughts. We do so now.
National Review certainly took a dim view with their recent cover story, but the Posse is a bit more sanquine about his chances.
It should be noted that we are about as conservative as any:
We favor secure borders, aggressive military action, oppose homosexual "marriage," are pro-life and pro-gun.
Indeed, our Catholicism probably places us squarely in the center of the Religious Right.
So how can we support Guiliani?
It's simple. We like his character.
Many leftists assume that "character" means personal morals. It can, but it doesn't always. For example, the problem we had with Bill Clinton wasn't his sexual promiscuity, but rather the poor judgement he generally showed in all his doings. His sex scandals merely exposed the hypocrisy of the feminist left, who wanted to burn Bob Packwood at the stake but announced that as far as Clinton was concerned, the first grope was free (and maybe rape, if it was long enough ago).
Rudy has none of this baggage. He has been unsuccessful in marriage and is demonstrably comfortable around gays. So are we. Dick Cheney has a lesbian daughter, which the Religious Right accepted with nary a shrug. We aren't homophobes, despite what Andrew Sullivan says.
Certainly his stance on abortion and gun rights are ones we disagree with, but here too he has plenty of room to retreat.
A pro-life running mate would do much to assuage any fears in this respect, as would a pledge to nominate non-activist judges.
As far as gun rights, Rudy seems to have the typical attitude of an urban prosecutor: a dislike of private ownership without any real factual foundation. It would be extremely easy for him to say that on the basis of what he's seen, he has changed his mind on gun control. We'd actually be content if he said that he would sign no federal regulations and leave it up to the states. Either is a win as far as we're concerned.
Of course his greatest strength is his leadership. He managed to take a city falling into chaos and straighten it out. He took on liberalism's capital and triumphed.
And of course, he is pledged to focus on the war, something that is badly needed.
People forget that by the late 1930s, WInston Churchill was damaged goods. Disgraced, discredited, isolated within his own party and stubbornly holding onto unpopular positions (on India, Ireland, finance, and the monarchy) he nevertheless won respect for one thing: he was a fighter.
We need such a warrior in the White House. George W. Bush has been consumed by his critics and the war effort. Never a great communicator, he has been hampered by his own bureaucracy and the CIA's attempts to topple his administration. It was something he did not expect and was not prepared for.
Giuliani knows all about internal sabotage. He knows about a hostile press, treacherous underlings and rebellious civil servants. He knows how to get results. We want those results.
Sen. John McCain is a non-starter. He is tainted by his own insatiable appetite for media attention and love. His willingness to "close the gunshow loophole" demonstrated that any lip-service he gives to gun rights is just that: a sham. We can believe that Rudy is sincerely repentant on guns; we won't believe McCain.
But of course McCain's greatest sin is his effort to censor political speech. How can we support a man who wants to shut us down? Blogs are growing in power and McCain has made all of them his enemies. Only a full-hearted repudiation of McCain-Feingold coupled with a major attempt to repeal it would salve this affront.
So there it is: Rudy endorsed by the Religious Right.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
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