President Giuliani the cons and cons...

One of Sully's readers makes some insightful reasons why the former Mayor of NYC might get the nod:

"The three Big Dogs throughout 2005 were Rice, McCain, and Rudy. Once Condi had made it clear that she wasn't going forward (at least as a Presidential candidate), Mitt Romney was able to move up to the top tier. Romney has tried to corral the "conservative" wing that was supposed to coalesce around the Washington Beltway's conservative candidate, George Allen. However, the flips and flops outlined by you as well as those conservatives not posting on the Corner appear to have damaged Romney in the short term. McCain is not trusted by the base.
You've overblown the power of the "Christianists". You'll see this when Rudy walks away with South Carolina and gets the support of guys like Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush (who is already, silently, in Rudy's corner). "Christianists" don't win elections; Republicans do. That's what the polling is saying - people in our party are recovering a more Republican identity and embracing the idea of a larger tent. All that was needed was for the exclusionary wing to play themselves out ..."

Meanwhile over at TPM they got their hands on a juicy 450 memo that the 1993 Giuliani campaign created to address their canidate's weak points. Most of them still apply today, including such issues as:

"The report raised Giuliani's first marriage — to his second cousin — as a major liability. "In reviewing the news stories describing this event and others in his private life, there are numerous inconsistencies and questionable circumstances about how long the two were married, whether Giuliani knew he was marrying his second cousin, whether he dated other women while still married, and ultimately, how consistent he has been about his personal life."

• On Giuliani's honesty about their familial relationship: "He grew up with her, vacationed with her, married her, then divorced her and had the marriage annulled ... Despite their time together building sand castles out on Long Island, Giuliani claimed, first, he knew, and then he didn't know, Gina was his second cousin."

• Rudy's first marriage was not fully dissolved when he began dating Donna Hanover, who he would later marry — and then divorce after an adultery scandal in 2000.


• On Giuliani's exceptional deferment from the draft to work as a law clerk: "A 'one in a million occurrence' ... Ironically, after avoiding the fighting Giuliani worked in a department supposed to punish others who did the same."

• Giuliani was a Democrat as late as 1972, supporting George McGovern, but later switched to the Republicans in 1980, when doing so would get him ahead in the Justice Department."

All good points and the personal issues I think are more of an anathema for Republicans rather than Democrats including his support for abortion. But Sully sums up my deep passionate personal reasons for not wanting to see Giuliani elected:

"My major fear with Giuliani is civil liberties. He hasn't met one he wouldn't get rid of. And I doubt the mayor who backed the NYPD in the Diallo case is going to stop torture."

Giuliani--no hyperbole--is a fascist. Unfortunately he came into power after Mayor Dinkins, who had tremendous problems with the cops who refused to work with him. Crime increased, and when Giuliani came in he had the green light to give the police more power. And more power he gave them, like Chris Walken asking Will Farell for more cowbell. Living in Harlem I remember Goonliani's street sweeps where cops would jump out of cars and search entire blocks, throwing twenty or more kids to the ground. Civil liberties aren't in the man's dictionary, unless you were white and living on Park Avenue. It was one of the most degrading spectacles I'd ever witnessed. Emperor Palpatine would blush with shame.