Deroy Murdock doesn't get it
In his column today he encourages Rudy Giuliani to oppose Hillary Clinton in the 2006 New York Senate race as a way of showing that he has the right stuff to be the Republican candidate for president in 2008.
Few people admire Rudy more than I do. As Murdock points out, Giuliani's accomplishments in New York City were monumental. If you have lived in NYC before, during, and after his eight years as mayor, as I have, you would know that the change in the place was nothing less than astonishing. If Rudy's only accomplishment had been the success of his war on crime, he could still be measured as one of the most successful political leaders in American history.
But Rudy's fatal flaw is that he is pro-choice on abortion, a position he will not change. If the Republicans nominate a pro-choice candidate for president it will shatter their electoral coalition and break their moral spine. It would likewise be catastrophic for the moral health of the country to not have at least one of the major parties supporting the pro-life position.
One does not hear Republicans suggest that the party can dump its strong positions on military preparedness or on cutting taxes. But one does hear these occasional suggestions that the pro-life position can be easily brushed off if the right candidate comes along. But the Republican Party would destroy itself if it did that, no matter how right the candidate.
Few people admire Rudy more than I do. As Murdock points out, Giuliani's accomplishments in New York City were monumental. If you have lived in NYC before, during, and after his eight years as mayor, as I have, you would know that the change in the place was nothing less than astonishing. If Rudy's only accomplishment had been the success of his war on crime, he could still be measured as one of the most successful political leaders in American history.
But Rudy's fatal flaw is that he is pro-choice on abortion, a position he will not change. If the Republicans nominate a pro-choice candidate for president it will shatter their electoral coalition and break their moral spine. It would likewise be catastrophic for the moral health of the country to not have at least one of the major parties supporting the pro-life position.
One does not hear Republicans suggest that the party can dump its strong positions on military preparedness or on cutting taxes. But one does hear these occasional suggestions that the pro-life position can be easily brushed off if the right candidate comes along. But the Republican Party would destroy itself if it did that, no matter how right the candidate.
Comments