TIME: Giuliani has foothold in Houston, support from "Christian" Right

[DeepModem Mom]

Rudy Heads South
"America's Mayor" tests the national political waters very far from the Big Apple
By HILARY HYLTON/AUSTIN
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006


Political pundits have long discounted former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential prospects, claiming that his particular brand of tough-talking, socially-moderate conservatism would never play south of the Mason-Dixon Line. But Rudy has never been one to listen to conventional wisdom, and lately at least, he has been turning up the heat in southern conservative political circles.

In just the last week, he endorsed Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry for re-election and met with Evangelicals in Florida. Most impressively, he actually outpaced U.S. Senator John McCain in a just-released Georgia poll, garnering the support of 28 percent of Georgia Republicans to McCain's 22 percent, echoing numbers in December's CNN/USA Today/Gallup nationwide poll. The conservative blog, RightWingNews, reported last week that while Condoleezza Rice was the top choice of 230 conservative bloggers for the Republican nomination, Giuliani came in second, beating out US Senator George Allen and Newt Gingrich. Nationwide, Rudy earned a 63 percent favorable rating in a Pew Research Center poll in October.

In addition to supporting Perry, Giuliani has planted a Texas-sized footstep in the Lone Star State -- now with three more Electoral College votes than New York. Last spring, he became a name partner in a Houston law firm, Bracewell and Giuliani, noted for its Bush connections and roster of major energy clients.

The Catholic mayor is also busy burnishing his ties to Christian conservatives. Pat Robertson has said Rudy would make "a good president" and the mayor was a headliner for a fundraising committee supporting former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed in his bid to be Georgia's lieutenant governor. Last week, Giuliani dropped by an Orlando meeting of the Global Pastors Network and told the Evangelical leaders that "only God knows" if he will run for president. The group offered their prayers for him and he responded in kind, showing an openly devout side not many people had seen before: "I can't tell you from my heart how much I appreciate what you are doing - saving people, telling them about Jesus Christ and bringing them to God."...


http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1154798,00.html?cnn=yes

[babylonsister]

1. Oh please, NOOOOOOOOOO! nt

[IndianaGreen]

2. As if we didn't have enough problems already...

now we get Rudi to deal with.

[mcscajun]

3. OMFG

:puke:

[patricia92243]

4. Is he the one that had his mistress in the governor's mansion at the same

time that his wife was living there?

[DeepModem Mom]

5. He visited Judi Nathan, IIRC, at other locations, while his wife...

and kids continued to live in Gracie Mansion, the Mayor's residence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She, I think, eventually kicked him out, and he lived for a while, to everybody's delight, with two very nice gay guys.

The whole thing, divorce included, was really messy, complete tabloid fodder.

[karynnj]

10. Also that was his second marriage

He dumped his first wife to marry Donna Hanover. His excuse was that he didn't realize she was a second cousin rather than a third (as he claimed he thought when they married.)

Telling the press before your wife that you filed divorce papers is pretty bad.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. That was bad, indeed. Not an admirable marital history. nt

[dsc]

6. I have to say that any conservative christian who votes for him

has no principles what so ever.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. a.m. kick

[Bridget Burke]

8. Bracewell & Giuliani also lobbies...

www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/profile.aspx?act=firms&year=2003&lo=L000821

They did a lot for Enron, but Enron "went away" before Giuliani was hired.

[Stephanie]

9. Great! He cheated on his wife while in office -

He publicly dated his mistress while mayor and still married, tried to throw his wife and kids out of the mayoral mansion, his wife had to get a restraining order to keep him from bringing the mistress home while she and the kids were there, then he announced he was getting a divorce in a PRESS CONFERENCE before he even told HER, then he moved in with a gay couple so he could date his mistress during the separation. And that was his SECOND affair while in office - the first was with Christine Lategno (sp) who was on his STAFF. And then there is his crooked business partner Bernie Kerik. Please, please run Giuliani! Bring it on!


*edit* Oh, and this is his THIRD marriage. The first was to his cousin.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

11. Well, being married 3 times to 3 different women sure doesn't

seem to bother the hypocrites in the Christian Right. Take Newt Gingrich for example.

I guess "what God has joined, let no man put usunder" doesn't apply to them.

[Stephanie]

16. And adultery's okay too.

And running a law enforcement consulting firm with a business partner who's a mob-tied criminal is just fine as well.



Company With Kerik Links Is Under Mob Investigation

POSTED: 4:35 pm EST December 20, 2004
UPDATED: 6:56 pm EST December 20, 2004
Email This Story | Print This Story

NEW YORK -- The New Jersey construction company with troubling links to former NYPD head Bernard Kerik is under criminal investigation for its alleged mob ties, NewsChannel 4's Jonathan Dienst reported.

Sources said that Interstate Industrial -- and its owners Frank and Peter DiTomasso -- are under federal investigation in connection with their alleged ties to the Gambino crime family.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/4011656/detail.html

[DeepModem Mom]

13. I forgot Christine Lategano (sp?)! nt

[fujiyama]

14. I have to say

as the '08 nominee, he scares me a lot less than McCain, who I believe has more appeal.

Giulliani wouldn't be easy to beat, but I'd have more confidence going against him than McCain.

[Stephanie]

17. I seriously don't think McCain's in good enough health to run

Whatever he's dealing with does not look good, all those surgeries to his face. I really don't think he will run.

[blm]

15. Proof that Christian right are full on HYPOCRITES. Abortion is ONLY an

issue if it's a Democrat that supports abortion rights. Or gay rights. Or gun control.

[Cha]

18. Yeah, that makes sense since

the "Christianright" have nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with the fristians.

[NYCGirl]

19. He's testing "the national political waters very far from the Big Apple"

because we in the Big Apple don't like him very much!