Posted by
on Monday, February 05, 2007 3:18:34 PM
Ladies and Gentlemen, Rudy Giuliani is in the race, officially. Allah and FOX News get the scoop:
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor whose popularity soared after his response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, moved closer to a full-fledged campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday.
In a sign that he's serious about running for the White House, the two-term mayor was filing a so-called "statement of candidacy" with the Federal Election Commission. In the process, he was eliminating the phrase "testing the waters" from earlier paperwork establishing his exploratory committee, said an official close to Giuliani's campaign.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting any disclosure by Giuliani.
All right, who will be the first Democrat to take the dirty swipe? Who will be the first one to go after Rudy for his divorce? We know it is coming because that is all they can attack him on. His approach to New York City as mayor is above-board, and America still remembers him as the face behind the rescue/clean-up efforts from 9/11. In terms of leadership, Rudy has more than any other Dem contender. They can cite their senatorial records. The governors can talk about their leadership. But Rudy was a lowly mayor having to deal with the aftermath of the worst attack in United States history. This was a man that attended nearly every funeral that was held for the victims. Where was Hillary? Where was Edwards? Where was Biden?
And this announcement now sets up the possibility of the ticket that Thomas and I have been pushing--Rudy/Romney or Romney/Rudy. Either way you look at it it is a devastating duo. We know the McCain-ites will come out of the woodwork pushing the old man, but we are on the record right now: Barring a gaffe that could kill either candidate, McCain will not get the nomination. McCain's newest resolution for the troop surge was politically motivated. It was an attempt to repair the damage done by his benchmark idea, his torture rules, his immigration reform disaster, his attack on free speech via CRFR, and his Gang of 14 snafu. McCain knows that he has done damage to himself, and he saw an opportunity to repair some that last week. The problem is, we believe, that it is too little too late.
Rudy is leading in the straw polls that have been conducted. He leads McCain by five points. He leads Gingrich by twenty points. And he is trouncing Mitt Romney. A note on Romney, though, is that the media has been beating the snot out of him, and he has barely begun his camapign. And we should not forget that his religion is going to be questioned by the media. The fact he is Mormon is irrelevant. They will try to make the case that his religion will be predominant, but that is not going to happen. It did not happen in Massachusetts, and it will not happen if he reaches the White House.
Giuliani will have a tougher time if he does not get out in front of the low blows that will be coming from the press and his critics. He needs to run on his leadership qualities and his accomplishments as mayor--both prior to and in the aftermath of 9/11. He is tough on national security, and has a thorough background in that realm.
Thomas and I see the nation approaching a crossroads in this war, and those roads will meet in 2008. This war is far from over, and if the nation takes the road in 2008 that it did in 2006, we will be acting selfishly rather than selflessly. We cannot afford to have any Democrat make it into the White House because they are all camapigning on a complete withdrawal of troops from the battlefield. Sure, they want to focus on Afghanistan (or so they say, but with the initial boast of removing troops from Iraq, how long before they pull out of Afghanistan?), but in doing that, they are abandoning Iraq to become something similar to--if not worse than--Afghanistan was prior to our invasion. The stakes are simply too high in 2008 to be playing games with our national security.
Marcie
UPDATE: It is starting to generate some buzz in the blogosphere. J-Pod @ The Corner weighs in:
Rudy Giuliani has filed a "statement of candidacy" for president, which simply moves the ball a few more feet toward the race. After two years of basically being tied with John McCain as the frontrunner in a speculative 2008 race for the GOP nod, in the past month Rudy has made his intention to run ever more plain — with the result that in every poll he now has a lead over McCain somewhere between five and eleven points.
Yes, a year is a long time, and yes, he will face withering questioning on all matters, and yes, his golden sheen will tarnish. But at some point Rudy skeptics are going to have to come to grips with the fact that Republican primary voters seem to want to choose him. That is a new phenomenon for someone who has no record of siding with social conservatives on symbolic issues, and it suggests a changed dynamic in the GOP.
And Roger L. Simon also shares his thoughts:
Good. As most readers of this site know, I favor Rudy. At least for now. I say "for now" because anything can happen almost two years out from an election, but for me he is a strong favorite. He seems to be the only candidate in either party with the leadership experience and capabilities to handle the global crisis we are now in, a crisis which is highly unlikely to get much better in the immediate future.
This is setting up to be a nice little story for the day, and in the days to come. Get ready for the Democrats and their attack on Rudy. It is not going to be easy for him. He can handle his critics. The question is whether or not he can handle the media. I am sure he can as no one in the media with a brain cell is going to openly attack "America's Mayor." Though I would like to see Chris Matthews try it. It would be extremely pleasing to watch Rudy spank him.
Marcie