Poor Rudy never had a chance
January 30th, 2008 at 06:46am Pat Cunningham
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Rudy Giuliani, who finished third in Tuesday’s Florida primary, is expected to DROP OUT of the race for the Republican presidential nomination today and endorse John McCain.
The pundits will have their post-mortems on Giuliani’s candidacy, but let none of them say he ever had the slightest chance of becoming the GOP standard bearer.
Even during Rudy’s 10-month ride as the front-runner, anybody with half a brain should have recognized that I was more likely to win the Nobel Prize for Physics than “America’s mayor” was to become the Republican nominee.
Giuliani’s early lead in the polls owed to the fact that most rank-and-file Republicans knew little about him other than his having got some ashes on his suit when the World Trade Center was attacked.
The more people learned of his three marriages (one of them to his cousin), his pro-choice position on abortion, his favor for gay rights, his anti-gun rhetoric, his colorful lifestyle and numerous other elements of his story, the more his political star faded.
Nor did he help his own cause when he way, way, way overplayed the Sept. 11 thing. He so overdid it that he turned a national tragedy into a joke, the butt of which was him.
POSTSCRIPT: The demise of Giuliani’s candidacy and the gradual fade of George W. Bush’s unpopular presidency are factors in the DECLINE of the Republican Party’s semi-official propaganda machine, the Fox News Channel.
Entry Filed under: Sept. 11, Florida Republican Primary, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani
8 Comments Add your own
1. Kaus | January 30th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I suppose that you can’t even give credit to Rudy as US Attorney fighting organized crime? It beats serving time on the Wal-Mart board like one of your ‘approved’ choices for prez. He has a lot of back bone.
2. Pat Cunningham | January 30th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Sure, I can give Rudy credit for being a crime buster. Big deal. That doesn’t make him presidential material. Neither do the ashes he got on his suit on 9/11. As for one of my “approved” choices serving on a corporate board, so what? Are you one of those anti-business commie hippie types? Not me. I’m a free-enterprise guy. (By the way, so is Rudy.)
3. Tom McMahon | January 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
With two terror-supporting regimes gone and the nation safe from a major terrorist attack for the past 6-plus years, George W. Bush has made 9/11 less of an issue.
4. Kaus | January 30th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
“that doesn’t make him presidential material”….
1. 3 marriages has nothing to do with presidential material either
2. Obama was a lawyer with only a few years in corrupt Illinois legislature working with ‘criminals’
3. I am all for free enterprise and I own a piece of walmart, but being a democrat, I thought I’d appeal to your senses
4. Straightening out New York City is a lot more work than Obama has ever seen.
5. I think you should compare Obama’s real experience next to Rudy…you can’t tell me Obama wasn’t privy to the glad handing tactics of Chicago politics. Get real.
5. Pat Cunningham | January 30th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
My point regarding Rudy’s marital record was that it wasn’t likely to sit well with some Republican conservatives, especially the so-called values voters. Aa for your suggestion that I should “compare Obama’s real experience next to Rudy,” that’s a pointless exercise. Rudy’s out of the race, while Obama might yet become president. Rudy might still be viable if he had run as a Democrat. Which gets back to my original point. There was NO WAY he was going to get the Republican nomination.
6. Kaus | January 30th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Ok Mr. Political Pundit, (I read you everyday and respect your intellect). BUT…. even I can read your bias between the lines. Since you generalize all republican voters as having less than half a brain anyway, ..To say there was NO WAY he was going to win the nomination based on YOUR points? No way….If he would have competed in every primary ala McCain, he could still be in this race. McCain has been married thrice, McCain is way left of center, Mccain is pro war and uses that slogan just like Rudy used his 911 slogan. So maybe your real point is….no Republican should even bother to run. By the way….GO MIT rah rah rah !!!!!!!
7. Pat Cunningham | January 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
You’ve given me a lot to deal with, Kaus. Let’s do it in your order: 1) Thanks for the compliment about my intellect (such as it is). 2) You don’t have to read between the lines to discern my bias. I’m a liberal Democrat. 3) It wasn’t because of MY points that Rudy never had a chance to get the GOP nomination. It was because of the prevailing ideology in the Republican Party. 4) McCain is not “way left of center,” as you put it. He has a lifetime rating of 82.3 percent from the American Conservative Union. He’s a fiscal conservative (never voted for a tax increase), an avowed opponent of abortion, a military hawk, etc., etc. 5) I never said Republicans have “less than half a brain.” Some do, some don’t, just like Democrats. Oh, and I like your cheer for Mitt. I predicted weeks ago that he will win the GOP nomination. But he can’t beat either Hillary or Obama in November. His flip-flopperyness (gay rights, abortion, guns, immigration, etc.) will do him in.
8. Kaus | January 30th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Ok…I’m done rantng. You have more quality blogs to write. Thanks for responding…I respect your taking any time with your readers and the growth in readership will only continue to grow for this wonderful blog…. although…. you have to be joking on point 5. Mit stood by his campaign promises in Massachussets, and gave his constituents what they wanted. He hasn’t flipped on his new campaign promises as President. Hillary flip flops during her current presidential campaign on immigration and health care.
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