Presidential runner Rudy Giuliani has presented his “12 Commitments to the American People” document, which I discovered on Hugh Hewitt’s blog. Giuliani has written:
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1. I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on Us.
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2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, and identify every non-citizen in our nation.
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3. I will restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending.
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4. I will cut taxes and reform the tax code.
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5. I will impose accountability on Washington.
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6. I will lead America towards energy independence.
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7. I will give Americans more control over, and access to, healthcare with affordable and portable free-market solutions.
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8. I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children.
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9. I will reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges.
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10. I will ensure that every community in America is prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
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11. I will provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents.
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12. I will expand America’s involvement in the global economy and strengthen our reputation around the world.
Quite frankly, I like what I see. And this is a great way to advance his stance, keep it simple, and then hit the bullets continuously. He can fill in the details during in-depth interviews.
Fred: time to weigh in. And I do mean time.
BZ
P.S.
Sorry about the run-on paragraphs. I have yet to discover why it’s occurring on this “foreign” laptop. Nor, evidently, can I throw photos into posts. I’ll do the best I can with what I’ve got. And for those who may be wondering: “why waste time blogging when. . .” This is not a good time right now. We all handle stress differently. My wife has her way; I’m finding that hitting the keyboard helps me cope. So, thanks for reading. . .
BZ, with all due respect, I’ll never vote for this guy… His steps now are totally different than his Record.
When he was mayor of NY he fought Illegal enforcement.
I think trading him for Bush would be like electing GW to another term, we would get screwed more often and faster.
But I gotta respect his handling of his campaign. He’s made it simple and easy. He too needs to define himself and disallow OTHERS to define him. And I’m finally, I think (though sanguine) ready to accept that there is NO “perfect” Conservative candidate for 2008. Once again, we’ll have to tick the box with the Least of the Egregious Ones. Hate it, don’t like it, but there it is.
If I had to “give up” some things, I’d still take Giuliani — absent Fred weighing in with some very SPECIFIC platform bullet points himself.
I hate to place it in these terms, but WHO will do the LEAST damage, Republican OR Democrat? To my way of thinking, that eliminates the ENTIRE Democrat party, leaving only a very select few on the GOP side.
BZ
BZ, I agree with the “dems are worse” theology, However; I think we as conservatives need to be prepared to sacrifice.
If we keep voting for the better of the two we will never get them to do whats right.
I think if we bite the bullet NOW, it will be far better than will be later. These NEW Republicans are narrowing the gap between the two.
I won’t be voting for McCain, or Rudy….. If they get the nod, I vote Indy or Write in.
I think we need to vote for who would do a good job protecting our nation and leading us in a time of war. Neither of those two give me a warm fuzzy and I am feeling a little like I did when I voted for Bush. I won’t be regretting my next vote.
I hope your wife is doing okay! Keeping you guys in my prayers.
As for Rudy, I love this list!! I’m thrilled that Fred and Rudy are leading in the polls right now.
2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, and identify every non-citizen in our nation.
Now, if I could just hear Thompson say it.
I look a Rudy as a practical candidate. Many of my stripe will not like him. But I think he would do well.
That all being said, he would also screw up big time about things he does not value.
I disagree about the urgency of Thompson getting involved now. It is way more than a year from the election. This crap just keeps getting earlier and earlier.
What I would like to see Thompson do right away is post his positions on a few thing on his webpage. When he announced that thing on H&C, he stated that it had positions on it. It does not. That shows that his campaign staff is totally incompetent.
1. Giuliani is STILL a supporter of abortion, no matter WHAT his current spin is…
2. Giuliani is STILL a GUN GRABBER, always has been, always will be…
3. He STILL supports the ILLEGALS, he hasn’t changed his spots, bet on it…
4. Giuliani is STILL a RINO…
Don’t fall for it folks, Giuliani is PANDERING, the same way Bush did, and we all held our noses, well, some didn’t, they happen to lust for the guy, but most of us voted for him because he was the lesser of 2 evils, and the American people deserve a lot more than ANY kind of evil, and only a FOOL falls for the same line of bullshit twice…
And if Thompson gets the nomination and does something really stupid, like naming Giuliani as a running mate, I’ll drop Thompson like a hot potato…
And anyone that would support a candidate like Giuliani or McCain, IS A FOOL…
I hate to have to say it that bluntly but BOTH are more Democrat and liberal than most liberal Dems and to support either is a slap in the face for ‘thinking Repubs’ and ALL Conservatives…
Who will do the LEAST damage?? I don’t even believe I read that here, we need to force the BAD out, and do it NOW, and anyone willing to settle for less than the very best needs to re-evaluate their own perspective on this government and what they expect from it…
I like what I see in Rudy too, BZ, and I like his record in New York, but I like Fred Thompson even better, and you’re right, BZ… it’s time for him to step up to the plate and declare himself.
I like what I see in Rudy too, BZ, and I like his record in New York, but I like Fred Thompson even better, and you’re right, BZ… it’s time for him to step up to the plate and declare himself.
I want a candidate that will stop the likes of Monzer al-Kassar from delivering tens to hundreds of tons of automatic weapons, RPGs, explosives and such to groups in places like Trinidad and the rest of the Latin American terrorist groups. Quite frankly with the lack of what I have seen this Administration do with Mr. Kassar, I am convinced that they are not serious about curbing Transnational Terrorism. He does not need to be tried in a Federal Court, but before an Admiralty court for his role with aiding Abu Nidal and his piratical acts in the killing of Leon Klinghoffer and for his support of Hezbollah and al Qaeda. Mr. Kassar has a long, violent and deep history with organized crime, narcotics trafficking and transnational terrorism. His work goes all the way back to BCCI which, if one remembers, also took part in the Keating 5 and the personal bank of Saddam Hussein, Mr. Kassar and quite a few other sorts, along with Mr. Keating, some of his associates and Marc Rich.
Mr. Kassar is just the worst of a number of such individuals, including Viktor Bout (responsible for an assassination in El Paso) and Sarkis Soghanalian, arms and weapons supplier to Saddam and implicated in the BNL scandal where arms production capability was transferred to foreign companies in places like S. America and re-sold to Saddam. These arms, narcotics, black market goods, informal banking and transnational terror networks need to be brought down and HARD. If we cannot get a President who will do *that* then we will be in a fine set-up where the attacks will be here and continuous and make Iraq look sweet and nice as the police will be unable to apprehend or stop such groups. Particularly with folks like the ACLU, CAIR and AMU just waiting to complain about anything as a ‘violation of civil rights’.
We do have laws on the books to get this done, but we can no longer call it *terrorism* and pretend that folks out to kill us who have declared war on us are not fighting a war against us. And as Piracy is *also* a war crime and it specifically allows to go after not only the organization but its *supporters* and bring them down and in, and the activities of terrorists do fall into that category so many times it is not funny, that we must *call them by their actions*. Which means civil criminal prosecution is a *last* and least thing to get to. It doesn’t work and more than three decades of it not working and continuing to not work leaves us no safer today than on 9/10.
Which means more than ‘talking a good game’.
If a candidate steps up and says this is war, then they must put forward that *all* of the war powers and laws with it must be used, and I don’t particularly care if they date back to 1787.
*Use them*.
Because this war is taking place in modern times does not make it any different than the wars of that era when the Republic was founded. We were civilized then and used every tool we had as a Nation to survive. If we are too faint of heart to re-open that toolbox and use it like those that brought this Nation forth *wanted* us to use them… then we do deserve the war that will come here, because we are too civilized to name our enemies and fight them.
I don’t really care what other stance someone takes beyond that because that is a damned full plate. And it will not be won in 8 years, either. Like organized crime it may *never* be ended, but the response must be far more vigorous than it ever has been against organized crime. Because that was just a warm-up.
And we failed.