11.15.2004
Right-Wingers Take First Bite Out of Rudy (Observer.com)
by Ben Smith
The Rudy Giuliani backlash has begun.
A week after the former New York Mayor gave his final speech for President George W. Bush and emerged as the poll-tested front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2008, the party’s religious conservatives have opened fire. Claiming Nov. 2 as their own victory, conservative leaders are moving to pre-empt any resurgence of their party’s socially liberal wing.
In interviews this week, an official at the Family Research Council suggested that religious conservatives would defect to a third party if Mr. Giuliani won the Presidential nomination in four years, and a prominent conservative activist unleashed a broadside at the former Mayor.
"We don’t want to nominate The New York Times’ favorite Republican," said Richard Viguerie, the Virginia-based direct-mail guru who helped create the modern conservative movement in the 1960’s. Mr. Viguerie pointed to Mr. Giuliani’s stance on abortion, gay rights and gun control, as well as the former Mayor’s personal life.
(More ... Right-Wingers Take First Bite Out of Rudy) ¶ 20:13
The Rudy Giuliani backlash has begun.
A week after the former New York Mayor gave his final speech for President George W. Bush and emerged as the poll-tested front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2008, the party’s religious conservatives have opened fire. Claiming Nov. 2 as their own victory, conservative leaders are moving to pre-empt any resurgence of their party’s socially liberal wing.
In interviews this week, an official at the Family Research Council suggested that religious conservatives would defect to a third party if Mr. Giuliani won the Presidential nomination in four years, and a prominent conservative activist unleashed a broadside at the former Mayor.
"We don’t want to nominate The New York Times’ favorite Republican," said Richard Viguerie, the Virginia-based direct-mail guru who helped create the modern conservative movement in the 1960’s. Mr. Viguerie pointed to Mr. Giuliani’s stance on abortion, gay rights and gun control, as well as the former Mayor’s personal life.
(More ... Right-Wingers Take First Bite Out of Rudy) ¶ 20:13
