Rudy looks like he's running for prez in '08. Did Bush concede today?

[AP]

Watching FTN today I totally got the vibe that Rudy was running for prez against Kerry in 2008. His mac was basically Rudy vs. Kerry, with only occassional reference to the contrast between Bush and Kerry.

I suspect the VRW conspiracy is going to be encouraging terrorism from 04-08 and Rudy will run an anti-terror campaign.

[PCIntern]

1. He oughta run an anti-hypocrite campaign

How he can stand there and praise * when there is no question that there was complicity of at the very least a passive nature in the event which brought down his city on the day of their primary election is beyond all reason.

[kanrok]

2. KKKArl Rove's next butt-boy will not be Rudy

IMHO it will be Sen."Cat-Killer" Frist. That is, of course, if Rove is not kicked to the curb after losing the election for Chimpy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Rove's record is incredible and even loosing

thuogh will marr it, will not remove the magic from him

[A Simple Game]

17. An orange jumpsuit

is a known antidote to magic!

[AP]

5. I think they got someone for every contingency. Frist's high profile...

...totally coincided with Edwards's growing popularity. Frist is no doubt the guy they want to run against Edwards (most likely) in 2012.

After watching FTN, I'm sure that Rudy is the fascist they'll run if 2004-2008 is all about terrorist attacks on the US (probably on the same ticket as former marine Tom Ridge).

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. Have you SEEN Frist on TV though? He's the worst, soulless ghoul

ever put in elected office. Edwards vs. Frist = Dem blowout.

[Carla in Ca]

33. I agree it is not Rudy, but not Frist, either

Rudy's affair, played out on TV, won't go over well and Frist is not doing well as majority leader. My guess is Pataki.

[barbaraann]

3. Two words for why this will not happen.

Bad hair. ;-)

[goclark]

6. He has bad dentures

and they make him look like a skeleton.

He is such slime.
What he did to his 1st wife and kids will forever live in my memory.

I think he is positioning himself to run if Georgie "resigns" before Nov. 2nd.

I think their will be an October surprise - GW will drop out because of illness.
Or Cheney will drop out and Rudy will run.

Am I dreaming or is that legal?

[beyurslf]

7. He can't get the nomination. He is pro choice and look what he

did to his ex wife. Never gonna happen.

[MADem]

21. And I am not sure if he is going to do another term

I thought he wanted to go home and kill more cats.

By the time the next election comes, the neocons will either have killed all the moderates except for the ones that escape to the Democratic Party, or the moderates and true conservatives will have killed the neos. This crap can't continue--the wheels really are coming off, it is obvious.

Rudy can forget it--Donna Hanover will probably do a beaut of a commercial for the opposition, or write a juicy tell-all to be released at just the right time. If not, there's always Kitty Kelley!

[acmavm]

8. The thought that Rudy would be the choice of the fundy party in 2008

makes me laugh. A true laugh, not just a giggle. That would be the ultimate definition of hypocracy (sp?).

Of course, if he's born again (perish the thought, once is enough) and God forgives his sins, who knows what those delusional fruitcakes will do.

[LoZoccolo]

10. Explain this "vibe".

I'd like you to substantiate why you think this about Rudy Giuliani.

[AP]

11. Because Rudy was comparing himself to Kerry more than he was comparing

Bush to Kerry.

Who cares how Kerry stacks up against Rudy, excpept people named Rudy who think they might be running against a President Kerry in 4 years.

Is that sufficiently substantial?

[Senator Lamb]

12. never happen

do you honestly think a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, gun control supporter, with a public break up with his wife and living in a gay couples house will ever ever ever win the GOP primaries no matter how good they are? no i dont think so. maybe NH, not south carolina. bye bye pataki, romney. I bet John Aschcroft gets the nomination.

[AP]

14. I don't think he'd win the nomination. But he was certainly talking like..

...a guy who cared more about beating President Kerry in '08 than he sounded like a guy who was trying to help Bush beat Kerry.

[MADem]

24. I think you are right in that he may throw his hat in

...for the PRIMARY, as will all the usual suspects, Pataki, maybe McCain, Mitt the Shit Romney, maybe even Liddy Dole (just to jack her husband up)...there are others, too. Ah-nuld would do it if he could.

Primaries are funny things--if the rightwing kooks are banished from their party, then the fundies no longer hold sway, and they are the ones who are forced to choose between the "lesser of two evils." And they are dumb, if they voted GOP four times in a row, there's no other option for them--they're hardwired. They'd find a way to convince themselves that Rudy's first wife was a "temptress" and his second wife a "wanton whore" and poor Rudy was the victim. Besides, the divorce rate in the Bible Belt is the highest in the country--surprisingly, they can live with that and not realize that it kind of fucks up the "family values" argument.

It is too far ahead to see who will actually win the 08 GOP primary, but the field should be interesting.

And poor Kerry will have his work cut out for him. THEY ran up the national credit card, now WE will have to pay the bill. He will have to get us the fuck out of Iraq, make friends again, and that will be a challenge. If he can't get the House or the Senate, it will be VERY hard. So the GOP will be taking notes from day 1, just like they did with ole Bill. And they will be gunning for him. Once he is elected, our work has just started, really.

[IIgnoreNobody]

13. The thugs will never nominate a pro choice candidate

[AP]

15. If they get blown out this year, something is going to have to give with

the Republicans.

They've given up on overt racism. The next core issue to go will probably have to be abortion.

[MADem]

25. GHW BUSH was pro choice

...until he changed his mind to get the fundie endorsements of Falwell and Robertson. He was pro choice all his life, in Congress and even when he was running for VP. His position changed when little George started talking to the fundies, and getting their little platform planks in exchange for cash, influence and huge amounts of votes. There were a number of interviews about it...he never really explained himself, and Bar said "It doesn't matter what the eff I think...!" or words to that effect.

[sonicx]

16. rudy won't get the nod. evangelicals won't go for it.

[eriffle]

18. Lose/lose

This is dependent on a Kerry win, which I believe will happen, but dependent nonetheless...

Moderate Rudy/Ridge/McCain gets GOP nomination, fundies break ranks and back someone like Fallwell or Robertson

neo-con or fundie or both gets GOP nomination, and moderate repubs come back to us.

Either way they lose the White House in 08 and 12. If Bush gets reelcted I don't know, but which Cheney and Jeb Bush saying they won't run in '08, I don't know who they'll get.

[inmania]

19. Rudy might run in the primaries but doubt he could win

His personal history wouldn't go over well with the fundies. Actually, wait a minute...all he needs is a conversion experience a la Shrub to clean him up in their eyes.

[Tatiana]

20. I saw Rudy being interviewed on MSNBC, I believe.

And I was really struck by his comments. He was basically giving a laundry list of all the great things he had done in NYC (helping police officers, the fire department, fighting crime, Wall Street, budgets, etc.) and contrasting that to Kerry's record (or lack thereof, in his opinion). It was near the end of the interview where the light bulb went off and he threw in Bush's name as someone who would protect us from the "terrorist threats."

This guy spent nearly 10 minutes waxing poetic about himself. Either he's an egomanic who doesn't know his purpose for being on TV is to shill for Bush, or he's contemplating a run for national office, himself. That being said, I don't know if the RNC would support him. However, the question remains, if Bush loses, who do the Republicans have? Bill Frist? Frist has nowhere near the national status that Giuliani does.

So, I think you could very well be right in that Rudy is contemplating a Presidential run.

[AP]

27. That's what he did on the show I saw. I thought the Bush people must be

pissed at him.

Was he there helping himself or what? The only way it matters how Kerry stacks up to him is if Kerry wins.

The whole tone of the interview was a presupposition that Kerry wins.

Either Rudy's an egomaniac or he's a huge idiot. Or both.

[neoteric lefty]

22. You don't think Jeb is gonna just sit back and

let someone outside of his family run. Everything in me says that Jeb wants to run in '08

[MADem]

26. He said just awhile ago that he was not going to n/t

[neoteric lefty]

29. really?

he probably said that thinking that there would be a second Bush term. When his brother gets defeated in two weeks, Jeb will become the new golden child in the Bush family.

[MADem]

32. See this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/politics/campaign/18jeb.html

It's one thing to have a skeleton or two in your closet, but between his horrible kids, his wife who lives, basically, in Mexico with her family, all of his tawdry affairs, and who knows what else we don't know, to say nothing of the voter felon fraud....he's no fool. He probably has a feeling that someone will come after him with something absolutely damning if he even tries.

[JI7]

23. Rudy Giuliani could not win in a Republican primary

although he would be competitive in a general election. but his stand on gay rights, abortion rights, gun control will mean he will not allow him to get through the republican primary.

[charlie105]

28. The funny thing about rudy is his level of popularity in NY.

In the NY area, every time there's a TV poll question about the possibilty of Rudy running for Pres. in 2008, about 60-70% of respondents are against it. Not a scientific poll but a pulse nevertheless. Folks in NY know he was a heartbeat away from being a footnote in NY history. And then 9/11 happened and the myth of 'America's Mayor' was born.

[Lexingtonian]

30. What he needs

He really needs to wear the black hood and robe more and he always 'forgets' to bring the scythe along to press interviews.

I think of the Grim Reaper every time I see him on the tube.

A most excellent iconography for him.

[Sugarbleus]

31. Rudy is a punk.

That smarm should NEVER ever get his name onto a ballot for anything.

We should be extra vigilent even after a Kerry win so as to stave off further runs by RWers in the future. We need to keep a lookout for the VERY BEST Democrats/liberals/progressives so they can be "readied" for an election out in the future.

Never ever let a Republican/ultra conservative take the White House again!!!