February 5, 2007 8:28 PM

The definition of oxymoron: "Liberal Republican"

Giuliani Nearing Full-Fledged Candidacy

Opera-Loving Twice-Divorced Manhattan Dandy Announces Candidacy

The New York dandy has made it official. AP says Rudy has filed “statement of candidacy paperwork despite his own campaign pros telling him there’s no way GOP primary voters are going to pick such a flaming liberal. We love Rudy because he combines the can-do fascism of Mussolini with the personal morals of Caligula. America needs this, now!

I suppose I can’t blame Rudy Giuliani for running for President. After all, it already seems as if half the Senate either has announced or is about to. This doesn’t even count cretins like Duncan Hunter, Newt Gingrich, and Tom Tancredo (What? Phyllis Schlafly hasn’t formed an exploratory committee yet? Bob Ney would, but he’s still in federal prison.). The beginning of primary season is still twelve months out, so at this point everyone has a shot. Hell, I’d run for President, but that means I’d have to live in DC, and DC really is an armpit. Nice place to visit, but….

Giuliani is going to try and throw all kinds wonderful Liberal/Moderate Republican rhetoric at primary voters, but it’s difficult to see how he’s going to convince the “family values” crowd that he’s their man. Twice-divorced, and a confirmed adulterer, Giuliani isn’t exactly the torch-bearer for anything resembling “family values”. So what does that leave him? 9.11. Regardless of how you feel about Rudy Giuliani’s leadership in New York after 9.11, and I do admire him for the way he held the city together, it’s difficult to see how 9.11 can be the sole basis for an effective campaign.

Republican primary season tends to be a race to the right, which would seem to put Giuliani at a distinct disadvantage. And it’s not as if there’s much of a market for a “Liberal Republican”, if even such a thing can be said to exist. To date, I’m not even certain that Giuliani has stated any firm positions on issues the next President will have to face. He may have name recognition, and he may even be able to attract some well-heeled supporters, but will that be enough to convince many Republican primary voters who will likely see only the “twice-divorced” and “adulterer” lines on his resume? Not likely, but it might be enough to make things interesting…because Republicans really DO eat their young.

Ah, but the entertainment value should be through the freakin’ roof, eh??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 5, 2007 8:28 PM.

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