Guiliani's Battle
By: Benjamin Weathers
It had to be one of the greatest moments in presidential debate history. Rudolph W. Guiliani stood at a podium alongside nine of his fellow Republicans who were also throwing their hat in for the party’s 2008 presidential nomination.
He had proven himself as a major force in the debate that night, with a clarity and charisma that people had come to expect from the former mayor of New York, but he had to know that the question was coming.
He had to have been ready when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer opened his mouth and addressed him. “Mayor Giuliani, there was some news here today” Blitzer said. “A catholic bishop in Rhode Island…” This was it. Giuliani licked his lips in anticipation. “…said some words about your position on abortion, suggesting it was similar to Pontius Pilate’s personal opposition to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion…,” Blitzer continued.
He nodded his head and anxiously shifted in his place at the podium. He swallowed that lump back down his throat and got ready to speak. “How does that make you feel?” Blitzer finally asked.
Giuliani started to reply. He must have carefully practiced his answer beforehand. After all, this was a presidential debate not an “open mic night” at some shadowy bar in New Hampshire. He must have been ready, but then something happened, something that Giuliani couldn’t have prepared for; a divine intervention.
“Well catholic bishop…,” Giuliani began to reply right as thunder boomed outside the auditorium. He continued talking over an electrical crackle, shorting out his audio. It kicked back in right in time for Blitzer to explain that they were experiencing technical difficulties due to the lightning outside.
Giuliani jokingly pointed up to ceiling and the crowd began to laugh and applaud. John McCain and some of the other candidates cautiously backed away from Giuliani in mock fear, toying with the former mayor.He smiled, laughed and causally shrugged it off.
“For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing,” Giuliani said.
Sure, this incident provided some humor to what was essentially a serious discussion, but in a way it mirrored the dark cloud hanging over Giuliani and the very real struggle that he faces within his own party.
Acts of God aside; a presidential candidate running under a gay rights, gun control and pro-choice platform wouldn’t raise any eyebrows for say, a Democrat, but a Republican?
Guiliani’s stance on abortion alone has sent shockwaves through the party, which has historically been pro-life as the voice of Christian conservatives and the religious right. “I think abortion is wrong,” Giuliani told reporters while on the campaign trail in South Carolina this April. “But ultimately I think it is a woman’s right, a woman’s choice. And government should not interfere with it by imposing criminal penalties on people.”
Giuliani has faced searing criticism from fellow party members and religious leaders for his position, being called everything from morally repugnant to a hypocrite. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, the catholic bishop from Rhode Island Blitzer was referring to, slammed Giuliani in a diocesan newspaper, calling his position ‘pathetic, confusing and hypocritical.’
“As Catholics, we are called, indeed we are required to be pro-life, to cherish and protect human life as a precious gift from God…As a leader, as a public official Rudy Giuliani has a special obligation in that regard,” Tobin wrote. “I can hear Pilate saying, ‘You know, I’m personally opposed to crucifixion, but I don’t want to impose my belief on others.’”
Ouch, a truly harsh criticism for a Roman Catholic who once considered joining the priesthood. So how is Rudy dealing with the damage control? If the GOP debate is any indication, then he’s doing quite well.
“In a country like ours, where people of good faith, people who are equally decent, equally moral, equally religious, when they come to different conclusions about this, about something so very very personal, I believe you have to respect their viewpoint,” Giuliani recently told an audience at Houston Baptist University. “I think ultimately even if you disagree, you have to respect the fact that their conscience is strong as yours about this and they’re the ones the most affected by it.”
This is a rare strategy for a republican seeking the party’s nomination, but many republicans and political analysts are betting that if anyone can pull it off, it’s Rudy. Americans still remember that image of Giuliani in the streets during 9/11; like Moses leading his people through the desert of a New York covered in dust.
And in case playing the “let’s agree to disagree” card doesn’t work, Giuliani has frequently referenced his record as mayor of New York. During his time as mayor, abortions dropped 16 percent while adoptions increased by 66 percent, according to Giuliani’s official campaign website, www.joinrudy2008.com.
“If I were asked my advice by someone considering an abortion, I would tell them not to have the abortion, have the child,” Giuliani said at Houston Baptist University. “And if nothing else, the adoption option exists, and it’s the one that I would hope personally, if I knew you, if you were a friend or a relative.”
Currently, Giuliani is the Republican frontrunner for the White House, according to the latest Gallup Poll, www.galluppoll.com. However, with a buzz surrounding Republican Senator Fred Thompson who recently announced forming an exploratory committee and the election still over a year away, nothing is certain.
Let’s face it; Republicans are in a rough place politically. The candidates seem to agree on some issues like Iraq, but the war is still deeply unpopular in the country.
Republicans need a savior. Will Giuliani once again become the great leader the country remembers during 9/11 and rally his party behind him? If he doesn’t, Republicans might lose their best chance of winning the White House.
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