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November 27, 2007
"Give me that Conservative Banner!"
Once again the Republican candidates are bickering over who is the most conservative. The debate flared up when Rudy Giuliani made the claim that Mitt Romney was soft on crime during his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts. Giuliani cited the fact that Romney appointed a judge that later set free a convicted murder that is now charged with killing two young couples after his release.
After Giuliani brought it up Romney immediately called for the Judge's resignation. WHAT!?! Romney going back and changing his past decisions and opinions, I'm shocked! Aside from the crime issue, this event again proves that Romney is a Republican John Kerry that flips and flops like a fish out of water. The Democrats will have so much blackmail on him if he is the nominee that they won't even need to run a candidate with strong values, just a campaign that shreds Romney.
Anyways, After Giuliani’s comment Romney fired back by saying that Giuliani was too liberal to carry the Republican banner in 2008. Now ok, it may be true that Giuliani is liberal on social issues, but how can Romney get away with saying that. It is the definition of Hypocrisy. Romney was elected governor of the most liberal state in America; he couldn't have been that conservative. Oh, but now I remember, Romney has pretty much changed all of his positions since he left that office. A fact that Giuliani pointed out when he claimed that Romney was running away from his record as Governor of Massachusetts. Hey, I would too if I was running for the Republican nomination.
So as both candidates are jockeying too carry the conservative torch to the White House it is almost turning into a game of who will have to change the least. I mean it is obvious that neither of the candidates are the conservatives' favorite son. Romney has chosen the strategy of changing all his positions so that he can slip into the conservative mold perfectly. This may work great for him in the primaries so long as he can avoid the flip flop label and not be seen as a conservative mirage that will evaporate once he is elected. However, I think that Romney will suffer dearly for this strategy in the general election because he'll have alienated independents, while at the same time only be seen as a new convert to conservatives. This will likely make them uneasy and less likely to get out there and vote.
Giuliani, on the other hand has chosen a much different strategy. He has not changed many of his positions, but at the same time is taking some heat for what some conservatives consider being liberal. This will likely hurt him in the primaries, but make him much more appealing in the general election because he will not have given the Democrats as much to play with. In the end, I think Giuliani is hoping that his actions as mayor of NYC during 9-11 will be enough to win over conservatives in the primaries.
As of now it is way too early too tell who the Republican nominee will be, however I would be willing to bet that either Romney or Giuliani will come out on top.
Posted by niemij at November 27, 2007 04:51 PM