Rudy!!

Can Rudy Giuliani win the White House? I hope so. Having heard hims speak once, here in Houston to a crowd of 25,000 conservatives, I really do believe he can win. They loved him. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. says:

Still, he has another asset, noted by Steven Malanga in a comprehensive essay on Mr. Giuliani's achievements published in the winter issue of City Journal from which I have derived many of the above statistics. "Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall," Mr. Malanga writes, "has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber."

As an urban reformer and seasoned warrior in the struggle against international terror, Mr. Giuliani will be a formidable candidate for the presidency. Surely conservatives of all stripes will recognize this. What they need to hear next is where the mayor stands on conservative social issues.

I think conservatives will let go the social issues when looking at the whole picture. First, a Republican can be libertarian socially and allow the legislative branch make the laws (committing to the public that there will be no weird executive orders). Second, he can commit to appointing constructionists in the courts. Third, on gay marriage, where he is pro-domestic partnerships or whatever, he can stick to his current belief systems. It's the progressive leftists who insist that Americans won't support a candidate who is openly gay friendly. Most Americans have gay friends. They aren't homophobic. They don't want their leaders to be either. The social issues is an area where reasonable people can differ.