Did I just agree with a Republican? Slap me if I did
Somebody pour me a drink. I think Rudy Guiliani came very close to winning my vote!
Rudolph W. Giuliani offered a direct challenge to Republican Party orthodoxy on Friday, asserting that his support for abortion rights, gun control and gay rights should not disqualify him from winning the party’s presidential nomination and that Republicans need to be tolerant of dissenting views on those issues if they want to hold the White House. [...]
“In a country like ours, where people of good faith, people who are equally decent and equally moral and equally religious, where they come to different conclusions about this, about something so very, very personal, I think you have to respect their viewpoint,” he said. “I would grant women the right to make that choice.”
posted by the RaptorMage @ 5/11/2007
3 comments
3 Comments:
Hi Pete,
I hope that's a vote in the primary only. :)
<SLAP!>
Of all the candidates in either party, Giuliani is the worst. What makes Bush such a disastrously bad president? Not his position on abortion. In fact, not his position on anything.
Rather, it is qualities like: Preference of loyalty over accomplishment in choosing subordinates. Inability to hold anyone in his administration accountable (least of all himself!) for bad results. Pathological unwillingness to admit fault, rendering him unable to recognize policy failure or learn from mistakes. Unwillingness to tolerate dissent within his ranks, so that there is no marketplace of policy ideas wherein the better ones might prove themselves. Lack of respect for the democratic process and willingness to subvert democratic institutions and traditions for the sake of maintaining political power.
Thankfully, no one running for president in 2008 is quite like Mr Bush, but Mr Giuliani is surely the one who comes closest. Any of the other Republicans we could live with. Giuliani is the only one that I worry could really destroy this country. If you live in a state with an open primary, the best thing you can do with your vote is let the Democrats choose whomever and use your vote to defeat Giuliani instead.
I did ask to be slapped; so I hope my notes were recognized as rhetorical.
Really, what Giuliani did was what every serious Democrat wants to do--get in the Repos' faces and tell them to support the idea of a secular, pluralistic society. Ignore for a moment that Rudy doesn't really believe in that (he believes in whatever will get him elected), and ignore that they won't listen to such talk or, hearing it, will rise up in righteous anger at the very idea. Despite all that, it felt good to know that they have Been Told. The Repos are, once again, without excuse; if the succeed in destroying American democracy, they will at least have been warned.
Not to worry, rodney, I have to save my vote for my usual windmill-tilting: probably either Kucinich or Gravel.
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