The Individualist: Why I Gave Rudy Giuliani an A

Posted by Joe Rivett on 08.06.2007

I gave Rudy an A on 411's political mid term report card and explain why in further detail... Plus I give my take on his questionable pro-choice stance, his hatred of France, and his love of 9/11

I was dismayed at some of my colleague's grades given in the 411 midterm primary report card. Rudy Giuliani received some Fs. Justin Baragona stated that he has run an "inept campaign". Then why the hell is he leading in the polls? You can argue that some of his decisions will cost him in the long run but to give an F to a guy that has been leading for many months tells me that partisanship is winning over common sense. I don't want to single Justin out so I'll also point out that Ray Church and Brian McLain gave Rudy Fs as well. Clearly, anyone that has read Ray's columns would not expect him to like Giuliani but the fact that we can't judge someone's campaign effectiveness due to partisanship is scary.

I guess I take grading seriously. Maybe it is the former teacher in me talking but when I graded students, I did not grade them based on whether or not I liked them. To show that I wasn't biased I often attached a rubric so that the students knew why they earned the grade they received.

So I figured that a rubric could apply to the Individualist column. Let's look at the basic question… evaluate the candidates of each party and assign them a grade. So, what is the criteria? I have come up with six categories that define a successful campaign.

1. Name recognition – Everyone knows Rudy
2. Money – Rudy comes in second to Mitt Romney
3. Doing well in the polls – Rudy is leading
4. Important endorsements – Even Sean Hannity loves Rudy
5. Gaffe-free – Other than sounding wishy-washy on Roe v. Wade in the first debate, Rudy has handled himself well.
6. Can you identify his message – Whether or not you like it, his message in 9/11, offense, and Hillary is a socialist… Now tell me what Mitt Romney's message is?

This is why I gave Rudy a good grade. The only thing keeping him from a solid A as opposed to an A- or B+ is that Romney is beating him in the first two contests.

While I'm on the topic of Rudy Giuliani, I think we need to ask an important question. What makes a person pro-choice? All I hear is that Rudy Giuliani is pro-choice. However, he has promised to appoint strict-constructionist judges which more than likely would overturn Roe v. Wade. Yes folks, Rudy Giuliani has pulled one out of the page of John Kerry's playbook.

What Giuliani is doing is actually being pro-state's rights. His position on abortion is that he will appoint judges that would most likely overturn it and then the states would deal with abortion. This makes him pro-choice? This is the same belief as Mitt Romney but Mitt Romney calls himself pro-life. This may be the one case where Mitt Romney is clearer on a position than Giuliani.

Therefore, Rudy Giuliani is not pro-choice; he is for state's rights. One who is pro-choice believes that the federal government should not force you to do something with your body that you don't want to do. For instance, the government cannot force you to donate a kidney to save a person's life.

My final point on Giuliani is a negative point. I really do not like the way that he attacks single-payer health insurance. I just don't expect America's respect around the world to increase when our presidential candidates label possible legislation as a socialist European way of doing something. Here is another Francophobe quote: "I have this feeling that Sarkozy is on an airplane headed to the United States, and Hillary, Barack, and John Edwards are on an airplane headed towards France."

For years I have always believed that Conservatives have been more successful than liberals because they tend to win the war on ideas. However, labeling universal health care as "socialist" does not prove that Rudy's idea of making health insurance like car insurance better. It really isn't going to sit well with Americans that do not have health insurance.

Rudy isn't the only one doing this. The New Hampshire Union Leader praises Giuliani's plan and does not dissect what is wrong with the Democrat's plan. Okay, so Rudy's plan will save you money because you can buy the insurance inter-state and if your employer does not cover you, you will get a tax break. That sounds fine but why is it better AND more effective than Hillary Care?

It seems that everyone hates how he invokes 9/11. Well, much of our public policy is based on what happened that day. You may think he is exploiting a tragedy, but he would be stupid not too. Anytime a Democrat whines about Iraq, they are exploiting a tragedy.

Despite the couple issues Giuliani has, he is doing a damn good job. According to Real Clear Politics, which averages all of the polls, Giuliani has a nine point lead. In the last New Hampshire poll he has surpassed Mitt Romney (the hometown boy). I think Rudy's biggest problem is going to be in the general election but by focusing on the Democrats as enemy number one, voters are overlooking the issues they disagree with and that is why Mr. Giuliani deserves an "A" right now.