Race for the Whitehouse ’08

I have seen the future. And I know who is winning the Republican nomination in ’08. Let me break it to you gently. You are going to have to brush up on your Italian. You are going to have to learn to spell G-I-U-L-I-A-N-I. Everyone calls him Rudy. Get used to it. He is going to be the GOP nominee in ’08. You can bank on it. Remember. You heard it here first. And you can print it in six inch headlines. Here’s why.

While the Democrat candidates continue to run against George Bush (umm…he’s not running in ’08…hint hint); GOP candidates are making real distinctions among themselves. Tonight I saw Rudy appear on the Late Show with David Letterman. What struck me immediately was how warmly he was received by the New York audience. Ok…it could have been stacked. They swooned, when he vocalized certain basic principals of patriotism which are taboo to the left: (i.e. not giving your enemies a timetable for withdrawal from the arena of battle or deferring our foreign policy to the U.N.). Rudy is adept at selling these and other fundamental principals of American survival. And his feet-on-the-street presence in NYC on 9-11 gives him a patriotic credibility that no candidate, Republican or Democrat, can even approach.

Prior to 9-11, the basic litmus test for conservatism was the stance of a given candidate on the abortion issue. Viewed objectively by conservatives, when candidates were of equal stance on other issues, their stated stance on abortion could clearly discern one from another.

But 9-11 changed all of that. This election season, abortion rights advocates will be cheering the events of 9-11. Why? Because there is no leader of a centralized conservative movement. But mostly, because for conservatives; 9-11 subjugated the right-to-life to national security. This is the central theme. There is no right-to-life if we’re all dead. In a masterful stroke of short-sightedness, the politicization of the war on terror by the left, forced the pro-life agenda into the sub-floor, as a plank of the Republican Party. Pause now for the pro-abortion folks to cry foul. Aw. The truth hurts.

9-11 was a setback for those of us in the mainstream, who were longing for a conservative renaissance a’la Ronald Regan. Bush’s domestic policy (i.e. No Child Left Behind, McCain-Feingold, the TSA, Homeland Security, and the Prescription Drug Plan), proved he was not the standard bearer for a conservative revolution.

For the life of me I can’t understand why liberals are so upset with Bush. He’s helped to eliminate the first amendment during campaigns, given two new entitlements, a whole new cabinet of government and 80% of what Libs would have worked for if Gore or Kerry had won. Hell, rank-and-file Dems even got to keep their money from the Bush tax-cuts. (I had to get this story filed before I could determine how many of them gave their refunds back to the IRS. Call me lazy.)
The ’06 elections didn’t prove that America wanted Democrat leadership. It proved that Republican leadership was not conservative enough to earn the trust of the red states. Bush’s low approval rating (which is higher than Congress’) bears that out. Liberal’s hate George Bush, just because. Conservatives love him…but give him low marks because he’s just not conservative enough. The ’06 elections were a case of negative coat-tails. Voters figured it has to get worse before it gets better.

All of this brings me back ‘round to Rudy. He’s pro-choice. That would normally be a death-sentence for a Republican candidate. But the fact is that the middle-of-the-road voter doesn’t care about abortion. That same voter does care about national security. And there’s no candidate on the left that can win a head-to-head referendum on national security against Rudy. Say what you want about George Bush. But he has protected that position loyally for the future use of the party nominee. The Clinton’s and the Obama’s can talk a game. But the right owns national security (and the economy), hands down.

Because Rudy is positioned most favorably as the candidate on either side, with his finger on the pulse of The War on Terror, look for him to be the nominee of the Republican Party in ’08. His running mate will be chosen to pull the ticket to the right. Look for Hunter of California, or more likely Huckabee of Arkansas.

The left is to be congratulated. They have succeeded in changing the platform of the Republican Party. They have inadvertently relegated the abortion issue off its fulcrum-status. But in the process, by politicizing the security of the nation, they have moved themselves…farther and more irrelevantly to the left, while diminishing divisions among Republicans.

Conservatives search for a new standard bearer the way the NBA is looking for the next Michael Jordan. Though he is eagerly anticipated, there is currently no hero capable of returning the GOP to its Reagan-era status. Rudy Giuliani’s message of remaining on offense in the national security arena, and a conservative fiscal economy, resonates across party lines. He will draw votes from the left-center in a manner reminiscent of Reagan. Coming oddly and uniquely from the left-of-center of the Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani will win the Presidential election in ’08. With coat-tails he will draw significant gains in Congress. Supreme Court nominations hang in the balance. The conservative renaissance will patiently wait. And the Libs know it.