- ‹ previous
- 5777 of 8795
- next ›
It Was Just a Matter of Time Until the Rudy Flip-Flops Began
I think the Republican strategy in the 2008 election is to flip-flop so many times, the public becomes completely immune to it. It'll be a massive paradigm shift in which people go from seeing flip-flops as indicative of weakness in character (see Kerry, John) to seeing flip-flops as politics as usual. (I'm only half kidding.)
MoJoBlog has documented McCain and Romney's flip-flopping and pandering over and over and over. So very many times, I'm starting to doubt I have the stomach for it. Not to be outdone, Rudy Giuliani is getting in on the act.
A top Rudy advisor has told the conservative National Review that Rudy opposes public funding for abortions. That's very different from Rudy's position in the 90s, when he ran for office touting his support for public funding.
This isn't the first time Rudy has pulled a U-turn on abortion. Earlier this month, he told Sean Hannity that he opposes late-term abortions, which is funny because once in 1999 and once in 2000 Rudy said very clearly he supports a woman's right to a late-term abortion. And when asked about the issue again in 2000, he said, "All of my positions are firm. I have strong viewpoints. I express them. And I--I do not think that it makes sense to be changing your position."
We have always been at war with Eurasia!
I think this is not even Giuliani's biggest flip-flop. As I stated in an earlier blog topic, Giuliani is now quoted as saying, "If you're not a liberal by the time you're 20, then you have no heart; if you're not a conservative by the time you're 40, then you have no brain."
This is actually a self-insult for him. Many of us here in New York City remember that as mayor he ran on both the Republican and Liberal tickets. Later, when he went against the Republican Party and endorsed Cuomo over Pataki, he recommended voting for Cuomo on the Liberal ticket. In this way, he was not crossing party lines. He was being loyal to the Liberal party that helped him tremendously to get elected in a liberal city.
Interestingly, he became mayor at age 50. Therefore, he was still a liberal at 50 and by his own statement has no brain.
Personally, as a liberal myself, I find his rejection of liberalism as brainless to be quite offensive. I voted for him as mayor, but will certainly not do so for president.
For anyone concerned with civil liberties that may not have been paying attention to the minutia of New York City's local politics at the time, I would also like to relate an interesting story about his dealings with the taxi drivers in our city.
Giuliani had many changes he wanted to make to the regulations on taxi medallions in this city. They were mostly very positive changes. However, they increased cost to the drivers dramatically, especially for the increase in insurance that they must now carry. He denied them a rate increase to cover these costs during that time. This is rough on people with modest incomes, but is within the limits of acceptable morals.
However, when the drivers wanted to exercise their right of peaceable assembly by driving slowly across the Brooklyn Bridge at rush hour, he denied them their right. No matter which side you take in the debate on the regulations and rates, it is unconscionable to deny people their first amendment rights. He could choose to ignore the protest and go ahead with his plans anyway. But, to deny people their right to disagree with him is absolutely unacceptable.
And now, to call all liberals over 40 brainless is just outrageously insulting, including to himself.
This posting with all capital letters, made under an alias and with a faked email address has been removed by the moderator.