Great Sucking Sound in New York

If you hear a great sucking sound in the direction of New York City, in my opinion it will be the presidential hopes of Rudi Giuliani going down the drain. Rudi has made such an incredible gaffe on the subject of funding abortion that I do not think he can recover from the momentum he will lose over it. Right now, the maximum I see for him is a shot at V.P.

As many others, I tend to stay away from the topic of the legality of abortion. My comments in this post do not address whether or not abortion should be legal. My position on that is obvious. My concern over Rudi's statements go deeper. Captain Ed at Captains Quarters provides a transcript on an interview with CNN's Dana Bash that includes a statement from a years old video(my emphasis in bold):

BASH: There's something on -- you know, on YouTube from 1989. It's flying around the Internet. It's -- it's a clip of you.

[tape]GIULIANI: There must be public funding for abortions for poor women. We cannot deny any woman the right to make her own decision about abortion because she lacks resources. [applause] I have also stated that I disagree with President Bush's veto last week of public funding for abortions.

BASH: Is that also your -- going -- going to be your position as president?

[live]GIULIANI: Probably. I mean, I have to reexamine all those issues and exactly what was at stake then. It is a long time ago. But, generally, that's my -- my view. Abortion is wrong. Abortion shouldn't happen. Personally, you should counsel people to that extent. When I was mayor, adoptions went up. Abortions went down.

BASH: So, you...

GIULIANI: But, ultimately, it's a -- it's a -- it's a constitutional right. And, therefore, if it's a constitutional right, ultimately, even you do it on a state-by-state basis, you have to make sure that people are protected.

BASH: So, you support taxpayer money or public funding for abortion in some cases?

GIULIANI: If -- if it would deprive someone of a constitutional right, yes. I mean, if that's the status of the law, then I would, yes.

I think that Giuliani could have survived his pro-choice stance. He had stated he was against abortions and had promised to appoint constructionist judges. There are many in the GOP that are pro-choice and many others that put the war on terror as a higher priority than abortion. He could have weathered this position until this interview.

Like Mitt Romney, Rudi has past positions that would not sit well with the conservative base. Romney has reversed himself on these and actually has a public record of votes for this reversal when he was MA. Governor. While many may put other issues higher than abortion, one thing they cannot abide is the notion of their money going toward paying for abortions. Rudi's first mistake was to reinforce his position of public funding for abortions. In this interview, he could have ducked (weak, but surviveable). He could have made a promise not to vote for such funding without stating his current position. On the positive, he did not lie or evade. On the negative, he not only has an unpalatable position for the GOP primary - he underlined it.

Rudi's second mistake was to brand abortion as a "constitutional right". One may be in favor of legalized abortion - the passing of laws to make it legal. However, to claim abortion a constitutional right where no such right is even hinted at in the Constitution brands Giuliani as a liberal to the core. A liberal will take something they want where the law is against or silent and the Constitution is silent and they will create a court ruling out of thin air. Such was Roe vs. Wade. It is one thing to think the laws of the land should allow abortion. It is another to proclaim an abortion is a Constitutional right. It takes a serious legal process of interpretation and converts it into a ridiculous "magic wand" to get what you want.

Rudi's third mistake is to take an already serious breach on conservative principles and add something far worse. He adds the notion that since it is a "constitutional right" those that cannot afford it should be assisted with public funds. This is ludicrous. A local talk show host this week compared this warped thinking to public funding for guns. There is more in the Constitution to grant the right to own a gun than to have an abortion. By Rudi's thinking if someone is too poor to afford a gun, which is their constitutional right, public funding should spring for it. This analogy shows the folly of such thinking in clear terms.

Conservatives have been burned so many times by presidents, senators, congressmen and judges they have supported. Once in office, these have turned against the things they were voted into office for. The GOP president and congress had a strong opportunity to advance the cause of conservatism and strengthen the country. Instead, they sold us out by spending money like drunks no differently than their Democrat predecessors. They refused to enforce our borders from the invasion of illegal immigrants. They refused to enforce existing immigration laws creating a scenario where they present a false need to create new immigration laws. Bush '41 burned us when he said "Read my lips" and then raised taxes instead of cutting spending.

Having been burned so much, this stumble by Rudi Giuliani will cause enough fear of being burned again that the GOP will look elsewhere. Rudi will not survive the the primary unless some miracle happens to help him gain back the momentum he has lost here.