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Friday 10 February 2012

Rudy's crash and burn

Wednesday, 30th January 2008

The one consolation about the defeat of Rudy Giuliani is that anyone who devised such a crackpot strategy as totally ignoring a whole bunch of American voters in order to recklessly gamble upon Florida to deliver the Republican nomination should never have been let loose in the White House.

Well okay, it was a try.

The Clintons are said to fear Mc Cain. I'd have thought instead that the Democrats must be hugging themselves today, even while Hillary and Obama continue to slug it out. For in my view the Republicans have just torn up their strongest potential card: clarity and strength of purpose. John McCain’s political profile is muddy. On domestic issues, he’s a social liberal; on foreign affairs, he may be hawkish on Iraq but he’s also a Europhile and has the usual soggy prejudices about the Middle East. In other words, he reflects the ideological confusion now gripping western conservatism as it becomes progressively disorientated by the culture wars and, under the misleading banner of liberty, goes with the flow of cultural Marxism and the erosion of national identity and moral order. With the exception of gay rights and abortion, on which he is a social liberal, Guiliani stood against all that. Having famously drawn his ‘zero tolerance’ line in the sand in New York, we all knew he would draw it again where it really matters -- defending civilisation, most crucially of all, against the threat from without. For whatever reason, American Republicans didn’t buy it. Alas.

Maybe McCain will now show that he has what it takes to defend western culture, and will establish clear blue water between himself and Hillbama. But in a contest between a left-wing populist moral and cultural relativist and a conservative wannabe populist moral and cultural relativist, the left wins every time. They do it so much better. Why vote for the monkey, after all, when you can have the organ-grinder?

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Robert / New York

January 30th, 2008 6:12pm

I was a Rudy (Sir Rudy?) supporter long before it was popular and I am gutted he is dropping out. McCain will get my support now even though I have my reservations. He actually has blood in this fight since his son is in the Marine Corp serving in Iraq. The Islamofascists will have much to consider with a President McCain. Defeating Hillary is another story.

Tom

January 30th, 2008 6:19pm

"Why vote for a monkey..." That's the best line on the McCain win I've heard. BTW, Republicans did not give McCain a win, Democrats did. In Florida anyone can vote in either of the primaries. Since the Democratic contest was would not determine any delegate seating at the convention because of a dispute between the Florida and National Democratic Party, Democrats crossed over voting in the Republican primary to give McCain a win. It ain't over yet.

Brian O'Connor

January 30th, 2008 6:55pm

For conservatives, McCain falls far short on many issues: McCain-Feingold (his assault on free speech); McCain-Kennedy and the recently revealed liaison with Dr. Juan Hernandez, the disturbing Latino "spokesman" whose loyalty lies with Mexico and who favors privileging US Latinos, both legal and illegal, over all others (McCain's preference for amnesty); his absolutist position against coercive interrogation; his position on global warming (he thinks humans are responsible); etc., and in a perfect world, I'd vote against him in the general election.

But that's only half the story.

The presidential election will almost certainly be a contest between McCain and Hillary, and to me and many other Americans, the prospect of Hillary in the White House is more troubling than the prospect of McCain there. (There seems to be a surprising number of independents, and even some democrats, who loath her.)

So as much as I don't like McCain, I'll hold my nose and vote for him, if he's the Republican nominee.

As I've argued elsewhere, there are judges to be appointed, and McCain's selections would be, IMO, more in line with my thinking than would Hillary's choices.

Just as the perfect shouldn't kill the good, the good shouldn't kill the lesser-of-two-evils.

Besides, it looks like Rudy will endorse McCain soon, and if so, there's a good chance Rudy would find a place in any McCain administration. He might even be a VP candidate.

Tariq

January 30th, 2008 7:57pm

Giuliani bet everything on FL because he lost heavily in NH, despite spending lots of money there. Once he got to FL, it seems the more people saw and heard of him, the less they liked. Turned out that GOP voters are after something more substantial than (as Joe Biden put it) subject, verb, 9/11. Now the contest boils down to McCain vs. Romney, whom conservatives of all stripes view with suspicion, given his religion and recent social liberalism. McCain doesn't tick all the purists' boxes either; his opposition to torture and his willingness to seek compromise on contentious issues like illegal immigration and campaign finance are particularly vexing. But these same qualities are highly attractive to the swing voters both parties must woo in order to win. Now we'll see which party is capable of making the most pragmatic choice in that light.

Lee Jakeman

January 30th, 2008 8:14pm

Did Rudy become full of himself after 9/11? Pride coming before a fall and all that ...

Sempronius

January 30th, 2008 8:20pm

I was under the impression that Florida's Republican primary was closed (i.e. only registered Republicans could vote). At least that's what Fox News kept saying. McCain's victory was therefore more significant precisely because his vote wasn't boosted by Dems and Independents.

Sempronius

January 30th, 2008 8:24pm

This article from a Florida newspaper confirms the Republican primarywas closed: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080122/NEWS/801220494/1017/NEWS0501

Hip Gnosis

January 30th, 2008 10:08pm

Best headline I've seen today: "Giuliani Ending Campaign to Spend More Time with 9/11". The guy is a fear-mongerer. Glad he's gone.

John H M

January 31st, 2008 12:21am

Sorry Melanie, but IMHO Rudy is not the knight in shining armor you think he is and neither is he a conservative and he therefore could not win the GOP nomination.

Verity

January 31st, 2008 1:54am

A typically elegant post by Melanie, but I agree that Guiliani was never going to be a contender. For one thing - except in Florida which has loads of NY retirees - the rest of the country doesn't like New Yorkers. Although they admired what Guiliani did after 9/ll in a New York context they would continue to see him as a New Yorker - especially with his lifestyle - as opposed to 'one of us'. He appears to have made no effort to connect to regular Americans - all 270m of them - who don't live in NY. I agree that the Reps are now, however, no longer offering any clarity of purpose. McCain is a guy who wants to be president because he "deserves" it. He has absolutely no arrow to shoot. Just be there and have all his family around him clapping. What on earth happened to the Republicans?

mikeNZ

January 31st, 2008 3:36am

Mike Huckabee for President. The rest are wolves in sheep's clothing.

Ian C

January 31st, 2008 11:15am

If we reflect on what could have been - if McCain had been president instead of Bush. I cannot believe that he would have blown America's credibilty in the way the Bush presidency has. We are all worried that Clinton 2 would be as appeasing, conflict ducking, otherwise 'interests' distracted presidency as Clinton 1. I don't think that this would be the case. The disaster would be an Obama presidency, which if he gets the nomination, the momentum from which would be difficult to stop.

Scipio

January 31st, 2008 2:18pm

Rudy was my mayor for 8 years. He was a terrific mayor and would have made an effective President. I sometimes wonder about primary voters in America.

Scipio

January 31st, 2008 3:55pm

"est headline I've seen today: "Giuliani Ending Campaign to Spend More Time with 9/11". The guy is a fear-mongerer. Glad he's gone." Winston Churchill was also called a fear/war monger as well.

field

January 31st, 2008 7:29pm

Not getting in the ring is no way to win a fight! Rudy had the money. He should have gone for it.

Sammy H

February 1st, 2008 1:03pm

Sorry, Ian C, I don't buy that America's credibility has been blown. As an English person I see America as the last place to be holding out. In only two decades this country has changed irrevocably and beyond belief in the way that its institutions grovel towards Islamic law, finance, schooling and all the rest of it. While much of the media try to pretend this is some sort of multicultural dream, we only have to look at Lebanon to see what happens in this multicultural dream: the Islamists grew in stregth and number and finally helped to tear the place to pieces. This will be Europe's fate too. Hold on America, our shameful legacy may be that we lose the freedom of our future generations but we need to know hope that all is not lost.

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Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power', published by Encounter.

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