Rudy Giuliani flailing
January 28th 2008 19:23
It's an interesting question - what happened to Rudy? Once ordained by many Americans and most of the Fox News pundits as the surefire Republican nominee, Giuliani now is facing a probable third place finish in Florida tomorrow. Rudy dodged his dismal showings on earlier voting by explaining he was focusing elsewhere, mostly in Florida. But his once big lead is gone. Latest polls going in show him at around 15%.
Where did Rudy go wrong? The obvious answer is that voters did what primaries are supposed to allow them to do - they got to know him. They got past his image as "America's mayor" and began to see him more as an opportunist trying to ride a "9/11 wave" all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. A man with possibly even less scruples than Mr. Bush, if you can fathom that. A man who is so see-through that you could use him for shrink wrap. Rudy is reduced to hoping that the more than 400,000 Republicans who have already voted early did so before they met him.
But what gives? Since when did Republican voters care about a candidate's honor or sense of truth? Why did they continue to support Bush in 2004, and why do some still do to this day? There's an intangible in the Republican electorate, and it is inclusiveness. Not of other ideas, not of minorities or women, not of those who think differently. To the right wing, inclusiveness means someone they can identify with, someone "like them." That sense is most strongest when it comes to religion. If they think a person is "a good Christian," they will gladly put on blinders and give them a free pass when it comes to legitimacy or honor. Of course there are variables, but that analysis holds true for a great many.
That's also part of what has made the Republican race so more wide open than it was expected to be. The evangelicals had a hard time latching on to a candidate. Again, a disclaimer. Sure, they don't always all vote the same. Just the vast majority. A big part of the fall of Rudy is that evangelicals could not support him for the most part. That wing of the party has been slightly weakened, but it is still the strongest component. Rudy had hoped that he could breeze through the nomination and the evangelicals would swing to him in the general election. True enough, if he could have made it that far. It looks likely that Giuliani won't last past super Tuesday.
Where did Rudy go wrong? The obvious answer is that voters did what primaries are supposed to allow them to do - they got to know him. They got past his image as "America's mayor" and began to see him more as an opportunist trying to ride a "9/11 wave" all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. A man with possibly even less scruples than Mr. Bush, if you can fathom that. A man who is so see-through that you could use him for shrink wrap. Rudy is reduced to hoping that the more than 400,000 Republicans who have already voted early did so before they met him.
But what gives? Since when did Republican voters care about a candidate's honor or sense of truth? Why did they continue to support Bush in 2004, and why do some still do to this day? There's an intangible in the Republican electorate, and it is inclusiveness. Not of other ideas, not of minorities or women, not of those who think differently. To the right wing, inclusiveness means someone they can identify with, someone "like them." That sense is most strongest when it comes to religion. If they think a person is "a good Christian," they will gladly put on blinders and give them a free pass when it comes to legitimacy or honor. Of course there are variables, but that analysis holds true for a great many.
That's also part of what has made the Republican race so more wide open than it was expected to be. The evangelicals had a hard time latching on to a candidate. Again, a disclaimer. Sure, they don't always all vote the same. Just the vast majority. A big part of the fall of Rudy is that evangelicals could not support him for the most part. That wing of the party has been slightly weakened, but it is still the strongest component. Rudy had hoped that he could breeze through the nomination and the evangelicals would swing to him in the general election. True enough, if he could have made it that far. It looks likely that Giuliani won't last past super Tuesday.
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