Social Conservatives For Rudy

Re: abortion.
Giuliani does not believe that life starts at conception. He believes in a woman's right to choice. When he says "promote..a culture of life", he is not referring to the life of the unborn, because in cases where the woman does not want the child, the unborn does not count as a life; he says "a culture of life" when the adoption/abortion numbers conveniently correlate, but "life" is not his priority.

Re: taxes
"In the Tuesday debate, Giuliani asserted once again that he had passed 23 tax cuts as New York mayor. This is an exaggeration. According to Factcheck.org and Politifact.com, he can rightly claim credit for about 14 of those cuts. One of the largest cuts for which he claims credit he initially opposed for five months before changing his position."

mpayne: Yeah, he's certainly not a perfect candidate. Eh.

I hope that social conservatives do not feel they have to settle. While reducing spending and cutting taxes are important, life is also important and not to be compromised. Even if boycotting a Rudy/Hillary election means that Democrats win this time, it will be worth it if it means that in the future, it will ensure that Republicans will always put up a pro-life candidate.

mpayne: Well, that's the argument. People argue that if the Reps put up a pro-choice candidate now, then we'll never have another pro-life Rep nominee. On the other hand, the President's biggest influence on abortion at the moment is his choice of SCOTUS nominees, and Rudy has indicated he would pick strict constructionists like Scalia and Thomas. So, his view on abortion otherwise may not be that important.

Either way, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is a good principle, and anything could happen in 4 or 8 years no matter who is president now. I'd rather have Rudy than Hillary :) Still, your baiting was pretty subtle.

I'd rather have Huckabee or Ron Paul. Huckabee has a better chance against Hillary than Rudy does. I just don't get the appeal of Rudy - he's running in the wrong party.

I guess my biggest concern is that the US is moving toward the European-style "conservative": anti-life, rampant taxes, moral apathy.

mpayne: I thought you were joking earlier. Sorry!

People had high hopes for Huckabee, but he hasn't gotten much traction. Not sure why, but it's unlikely he can appeal to the country as a whole if he can't get much attention from Republicans. Ron Paul is a joke, sorry.

I agree with what you say about moral apathy etc. Just wait for the boomers to start to die off... they're the most selfish generation in history, and I think their power is finally starting to wane.

What about Ron Paul is a joke? He is a true conservative. Is it just because he is so much more conservative than other candidates running as "Republicans"? Eliminate income tax by eliminating spending, reducing healthcare costs by deregulating, reducing prices by ending subsidies...

I realize it is a long shot, but I have to hope that primary voters will nominate someone who isn't Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani.