As a potential pro-abortion candidate for President, Rudy Giuliani has challenges gaining the support of the pro-life community. He's already using Mario Cuomo's famous "I'm personally opposed to abortion" line despite that fact that the very reason to be opposed to abortion is the same reason it should be illegal (check our Ramesh Ponnuru's Party of Death for more on this topic).
Bill Kristol explained on FoxNews a strategy Giulinai could use tor win social conservatives:
I think if Giuliani is conservative on judges, if Giuliani says look, I served in the Reagan Justice Department with John Roberts and Samuel Alito, they're the kinds of judges I'll put on the court, I might vote differently as a legislator on abortion, but let's not have the federal courts resolve these issues, let's give them back to the democratic processes in the states -- if he makes that a very key part of his campaign -- his conservative view on judges -- I think he has a chance to overcome social conservative concerns.Kristol is not the first to use this line of reasoning on Giuliani's behalf - other conservatives are already suggesting that his stand on judges should appease pro-life critics.
I'm wondering why nobody is talking about Giuliani's support for judges like Justice Ginsburg (Hannity and Colmes):
COLMES: Now, Roe vs. Wade -- You are pro-choice. How important is it to you as a pro-choice Republican to have a pro-choice on the court as someone...More fundamentally, doesn't it strike you as irrational for Giuliani to personally believe that abortion is wrong (i.e., an innocent life is killed) and at the same time assert that abortion should be legally protected?GIULIANI: That is not the critical factor. And what's important to me is to have a very intelligent, very honest, very good lawyer on the court. And [Roberts] fits that category, in the same way Justice Ginsburg fit that category.
I mean, she was -- she maybe came at it from a very different political background, very qualified lawyer, very smart person. Lots of Republicans supported her. I expect, and listening to Senator Nelson, I expect that John Roberts will get support from a lot of Democrats.
Update: Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took one step closer to officially seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination Monday by filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Thank you, PLB. That's _very_ useful information. So this "conservative on judges" Giuliani is a hypothetical construct. Granted, I gather he's said some negative things about Roe. (SK quotes these on his tending-towards-pro-Giuliani post linked in an earlier pro-life blogs post.) But your quotes here sound like a "be friends with everybody on judicial appointments" kind of guy, not like a guy who would be trying his hardest to overturn Roe. In fact, if he thinks Ginsberg is so well-qualified and that it's just a matter of a "different political perspective," how upset can he be about Roe, even from the perspective of jurisprudence? Not very.
All of which is setting aside the fact that pro-lifers are just wrong, wrong, wrong if they start throwing their weight behind a totally non-pro-life candidate. At that point, we've sold the farm and have told the GOP they have to do pretty much nothing to retain our votes. Just run against Hillary!
Justice Alito voted against the NJ Partial Birth Abortion
Ban. His love affair with process (precedent) might
have gotten him the death penalty, had he been part of
the Nuremberg Trials.
The blood of 50 million innocents cries out for justice!
Should America elect a proudly pro-abortion president,
we will be doomed.