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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (13321)	8/15/2007 7:35:57 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 224749

Giuliani Meets High Expectations By Ross Kaminsky, Aug 15 2007 Last week, I attended a meet-and-greet fundraising event with Rudy Giuliani (as a supporter, not as media). I went into it with high expectations and was not disappointed: the Mayor was intelligent, funny, engaging, and very much on top of the issues. Giuliani took only a few minutes giving prepared remarks to the crowd of about 40 people, then moved to taking questions. The time was split more or less evenly between talking about terrorism/national security versus domestic policy issues, especially health care. The mayor repeatedly came back to his theme that "we must be on offense" against Islamic terrorism. I was gratified to see a politician not shy away from naming the true source of the problem by using the word "Islamic". Candidates who do not realize what the issue really is will never be capable of addressing it. Giuliani spoke of the decimation of the military and intelligence budgets during the Clinton years. He mentioned that Bill Clinton might have underestimated the threat at the time, but did not forgive him for it, noting the various attacks by Islamic radicals on the World Trade Center (1993), the Khobar Towers (1996), two US Embassies in Africa (1998), and the USS Cole (2000). Despite the gravity of our national security issues, the audience was just as interested in talking about health care as about terrorism. The discussion revolved around a substantial fear that the Democrats want nothing short of socialized medicine and that if they get their way the quality of medical care in America will drop dramatically as the cost to taxpayers skyrockets. It's clear that Giuliani recognizes the obvious attraction to the idea of "universal coverage" and knows he must explain to voters that Democrat plans simply mean government control of your health care decisions. Like President Bush, Giuliani proposes to modify the tax code as a first step away from forcing health insurance coverage to go through employers and to begin returning to a system of personal responsibility. The last thing we should be doing is leaving a dysfunctional system and simply forcing taxpayers to spend more money reinforcing that system. On the issues of health care and other domestic policy questions, Giuliani repeatedly returned to fundamental underlying principles of liberty but without an obvious dogmatic focus on the conceptual. Instead, he argues that the best outcomes derive from freely-made decisions of free people in the free market. Giuliani spent a short time discussing the environment. He got applause for noting that it's irresponsible of liberals to pound the table about reducing greenhouse gases while refusing to discuss nuclear energy. However, the mayor should reconsider his support for an increase in the use of ethanol. Giuliani argued that much of current global warming hysteria is coming not from true environmentalists but from anti-development and anti-capitalist ideologues, a point which would not be lost on the American people if more leaders had the backbone to make it. Seeing Rudy in the room of supporters of which half were women reinforced my opinion that Giuliani has the best prospects among suburban women, soccer moms, and single women because of his focus on security and his ability to couch deep political principle in language that relates well to just getting things done in every day life. The women were at least as interactive with him and as engaged by his answers as the men. Rudy simply does not come across as the same generic power-seeking white-collar male as the other candidates do. At the end of the day, Rudy as the presidential candidate can make the Democrats spend time and money trying to defend Pennsylvania where the others will not. Rudy can probably take Ohio, whereas the rest would have a harder time. The positives for Rudy in the North are bigger than his negatives in the South and West. Rudy's record of achievement is also a major plus. As a male of the species, I'm well aware that I can be swayed by a fine speech, by an elegant display of understanding principles of federalism, by quoting James Madison. Women are more practical than that. They think, "sure, those principles are nice, but can you really get anything done?" Rudy has gotten a lot done. He tamed an ungovernable city, lowering crime while lowering taxes and reforming welfare. For voters in general, but especially for women, this will go a long way. Rudy spent about half an hour with the assembled supporters, giving the room a good dose of policy, principle, and humor, and coming across as a guy who can get things done. In recent years of being so repeatedly disappointed by presidential candidates (and presidents), it was refreshing to see that Rudy Giuliani is as appealing a candidate in person as on TV. I continue to believe that Rudy will be the Republican nominee and that he should be, as he gives the Party the best chance to win in an environment that is deservedly difficult for the GOP. As Republican voters cast ballots in primaries, they should keep in mind who has the best chance of winning the general election. There will be very little satisfaction in voting for Mike Huckabee or Tom Tancredo if it causes, for example, Mitt Romney or John McCain to get the nomination and then lose to Hillary Clinton. Ross Kaminsky blogs at Rossputin.com<