March 21, 2007
My paisano Rudy
Philip Klein picks up the NY Post piece about whether Rudy Guiliani's Italian hertiage will be a help or a hinderance.
I think it will be a hinderance as "ethnic types" do not do well in the heartland but, hey, what do I know? I'm one of those people who still believes Rudy can't win the primary because few of his positions match those of the people who vote. Most people around me, however, seem to believe that it won't matter and conservatives will vote for a married-three-times New Yorker who is pro-choice and anti-gun on the strength of his personality. We'll see, I guess.
Posted by Karol at March 21, 2007 01:51 PM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: Rudy+Guiliani Election+2008
Karol,
Longtime Pro-Life, Reagen-Conservative, here. I'm voting for Rudy in the primaries. I don't agree with his stances on some things, but his track record, would be extremely tough to beat.
Plus, you have to remember, you and I only vote in primaries. Our votes don't count in general election. The electoral college chooses the President, and they'll be more willing to accept Rudy than Newt Gingrich. Unless, we want to look at 4-8 years of Hillary or Barack.
Posted by: Brennan at March 21, 2007 02:34 PMIs Giuliani really perceived as "Italian" outside of the NYC-area? (At least in the various places I grew up, ethnicity among whitefolk was generally ignored -- I suspect it's more important to the heartland that he's white than whether he's irish/english/whatever.) If anything, I think the fact that he's a northerner might potentially be more of a drawback...
Posted by: Alceste at March 21, 2007 02:51 PMAnd a Catholic couldn't win in West Virginia.
Instead of starting from assumptions, why not start from data:
An analysis of Republicans' primary nomination preferences in recent Gallup Polls show that while conservative Republicans are less likely to support Rudy Giuliani than liberal or moderate Republicans, the former New York City mayor is the clear leader among both groups.
Moderate/Liberal Republicans%
Rudy Giuliani 48
John McCain 26
Mitt Romney 3
George Pataki 2
Sam Brownback 2
Newt Gingrich 2
Tommy Thompson 2
Conservative Republicans%
Rudy Giuliani 38
John McCain 20
Newt Gingrich 14
Mitt Romney 8
Tommy Thompson 2
===============
Do you really think Red State America hasn't seen/heard the noise about Rudy the Closet Commie/Crossdresser? At some point the conventional wisdom becomes downright insulting...
Posted by: Mark Poling at March 21, 2007 04:05 PMI see how people could think that.
Giuliani isn't as bad as some, Al D'Amato comes to mind, but I doubt most people see him in the same vein as Tom Tancredo, Samuel Alito, Al Salvi, i.e. an all-American, non-ethnic high-achiever.
Ironically, his prosecution of organized crime probably accentuates some of the qualities that he should be downplaying.
Posted by: Gerard at March 21, 2007 07:31 PMIt's 2007, and outside of Pat Buchanan and Von Bek, I don't think that very many Americans even think twice about Giuliani being of Italian extraction.
By and large, I think Americans embrace folks for their values and track record, rather than for which little box you check when filling out a form for the Census Bureau.
