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Rudy Won't Answer Faith-Based Abortion Questions, Promotes Drug War

A voter in Iowa asked Rudy Giuliani yesterday how much his Catholic faith affected his views on abortion. Rudy wouldn't say.

"My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not so good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests," Giuliani said. "That would be a much better way to discuss it. That's a personal discussion and they have a much better sense of how good a Catholic I am or how bad a Catholic I am."

Rudy on his personal life:

"I believe that things about my personal life should be discussed personally and privately," he said, adding that his personal life is relevant only to the extent that it would affect his performance in office.

Rudy touted both the war on drugs and his extensive experience jailing people:

[H]e told about 300 people at the town hall meeting that it was essential to expand the nation's anti-drug effort. He said no other presidential candidates has his experience fighting drugs.

"It's something I understand really well," said Giuliani, noting his experience as a prosecutor and mayor of New York City. "I've been doing this kind of work longer than I've been in politics."

Yes, Rudy, you have. And you are terrible at both.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Hitler was an (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by jondee on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 03:17:24 PM EST
    anti-vivesectionist and you're for national health care (supposedly).

    Dosnt negate the fact that all three of you intentionally align yourselves with cowards, thieves and liars. Birds of a feather and all that.

    Rudy Won't Answer, jondee (none / 0) (#5)
    by Edger on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 06:48:43 PM EST
    He takes lessons from the ppj's of the world, whose comments speak volumes to their educational background.

    I won't even mention intellect.

    Parent

    edger on free speech (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 07:41:28 PM EST
    First of all, (none / 0) (#67)
    by Edger on Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 03:18:25 PM EST

    Do we offer them respect? Absolutely not. We do our best to marginalize and get rid of them.

    by Edger on Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 02:17:12 PM EST ......

    Anyone who wants me or others to be constrained from saying things that insult so that they will NOT feel constrained from doing things that kill, is trying to draw equivalence where there is none, and deserves absolutely no respect, civility, or any kind of tolerence whatever.



    Parent
    off topic personal attack (none / 0) (#18)
    by Sailor on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 05:12:37 PM EST
    besides the fact that ppj is a notorious advocate for limiting free speech, e.g. bumpersticker =expulsion; t-shirt=expulsion, etc.

    Parent
    Actually (5.00 / 0) (#19)
    by Edger on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 05:42:35 PM EST
    He saves me the trouble of repeating myself.

    But he only does it because he doesn't understand it.

    Parent

    Or, which is more likely (5.00 / 0) (#20)
    by Edger on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 05:44:09 PM EST
    he is just pretending to be too dumb to understand it.

    Parent
    His "experience as a prosecutor" (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Ben Masel on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 11:57:56 PM EST
    included a ruling that he'd acted "in bad faith" in a civil forfeiture action in which I was the claimant, resulting in the first award of attorneys fees in a federal civil forfeiture. United States v. $37,590, 736 F.Supp. 1272 (S.D.N.Y. 1990)

    His lack of legal ethics has nothing to do with his religion.

    Rudy Guliani's Fraud on the American people (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by bobalaska on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 12:24:52 AM EST
    I'm pleased that Rudy Guliani believes that "his personal life is relevant only to the extent that it would affect his performance in office."

    Since he and Judy Nathan (now his 3rd wife) had an affair for a year while Rudy was living with his wife at Gracie Mansion, and kept what they call this "little romantic secret" to themselves, perhaps Rudy would answer one basic question about his integrity:

    If he would lie to his wife, why would he think that we would believe that he wouldn't lie to the American people.

    This is far more important- it's indicative of a basic character flaw- than his pandering flip flops on abortion rights, gay rights, and other positions he espoused as mayor of New York City.

    bobalaska (1.00 / 0) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 08:29:06 AM EST
    That's the Repub Clinton argument. Did you apply same??

    Parent
    I do. (none / 0) (#12)
    by Deconstructionist on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 12:12:36 PM EST
     I think it's absurd to pretend that human beings possess "partitions" that allow anyone to suggest that attitudes and behaviors displayed in one arena  have no likelihood of manifesting themselves in another.

     

    Parent

    Deconstructionist (1.00 / 0) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 01:16:08 PM EST
    I take your comment to mean that you did.

    Parent
    Yes... (none / 0) (#16)
    by Deconstructionist on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 01:30:42 PM EST
      I can assure you that you can search my writings far and wide and find nothing which even implicitly condones Bill Clinton's "personal" behavior, suggests it is irrelevant to his fitness for office--  or for that matter  disagrees with any assessment of him as having engaged in some corrupt and dishonest public acts.  I see no need to debase myself by defending Bill Clinton in order to support the Democtatic Party generally or other Democrats.

    Parent
    Decon (1.00 / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 04:51:14 PM EST
    Hmmmm. Well, I don't think you agree with the KOS crowd, or the DLC as currently controlled by the Clintons... So welcome to my wide wonderful world of trying to figure who is the best of the worst.

    No Demo is on the list. Liberman would if he were running.

    Parent

    I don't care (5.00 / 0) (#21)
    by Deconstructionist on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 06:20:36 PM EST
    with whom I agree or disagree. I think and believe what I think and believe-- and it may not even be what I thought and  belived before or will think and believe in the future.

     I'm not running for office and don't have to pander. All I ever really try to do here is motivate (through various devices of varying tact and diplomacy) people  to THINK and make decisions based on knowledge, morals, reason and logic rather than letting others do the thinking for them and simply spewing the party line spoon fed to them. You sometimes manage to display some independent thought  but frequently seem to be doing what you (often quite accurately) accuse your enemies of doing.

     

    Parent

    Decon (none / 0) (#23)
    by Sailor on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 09:15:40 PM EST
    Did you notice that ppj drew you off topic into his bizarro world?

    Oh, the irony!

    Parent

    Guliani's lack of integrity (none / 0) (#24)
    by bobalaska on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 10:26:26 PM EST
    Yes I did.  It wasn't only a "Repub Clinton argument" (except whether impeachment was deserved).  Many non-R's were disappointed, and very well might not have voted for Clinton if the Lewinsky issue had occurred during the campaign.

    A national politician's private life- especially that of someone running for President- should reflect what we can expect if the person is elected to office.  If you think otherwise, just ask Gary Hart.

    Parent

    et al - Now that we have proven we know (1.00 / 1) (#7)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 07:47:14 PM EST
    how to insult at about the middle school level, and I have shown edger's method of operation, my comment remains.

    Rudy has clearly established that he believes in separation of church and state and that his personal life should be ignored as long as it doesn't impact his professional life.

    I seem to remember that plea/comment/defense being used a few years back.

    If you accepted it then and don't now, how do you defend your double standard??

    hold on! (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Deconstructionist on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 11:57:10 AM EST
     Separation of church and state is one issue and the significance of a candidate's or  office holder's "personal" life in relation to his "fitness" for the office is another.

      Politicians too often use the "personal" excuse as a club to deflect reasonable inquiry into how revealing their "personal" decisions might shed light on their public behavior.

      Is it reasonable for some people to suspect that a person who (take your pick) lies, cheats, dissembles, betrays... in their "personal" life might have more of a tendency to do the same with respect to their public duties?

      Candidates are rarely shy about emphasizing the "personal" life things that cast them in a good light.

       We elect more than a container of policy positions.

    Parent

    Well (none / 0) (#1)
    by s5 on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 02:55:19 PM EST
    To some extent, I think he's right (not about the drug war stuff obviously), and I wish every candidate would leave their religious views out of politics. Separation of church and state will only happen when the electorate stops viewing the election as a competition for America's Next Top Pastor. And that goes for Democratic candidates too (ahem, Obama).

    Unfortunately, it's clear that Giuliani is just being an evasive putz because he has something to hide, rather than taking any kind of principled stand.

    s5 (1.00 / 1) (#2)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 03:03:18 PM EST
    So he has done the right thing, but his reason for doing so is wrong??

    Parent
    Rudy (none / 0) (#13)
    by GKR on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 12:35:34 PM EST
    My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not so good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests," Giuliani said. "That would be a much better way to discuss it. That's a personal discussion and they have a much better sense of how good a Catholic I am or how bad a Catholic I am.

    I think Rudy is saying that religion is personal, it should not be dealt with in a public forum.In answer to the religious right it seems to me his position is government should stay out of religion.

    But (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Deconstructionist on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 12:42:10 PM EST
      he's (not so artfully in my opinion) hiding behind his "religion" and evading the character issue.  

      Cheating, lying, behaving recklessly without regard for the consequences to others, etc. areall perhaps significant in assessing "how good a Catholic" he is and I'll gladly leave the assessment of how good a Catholic he is out of it, but those behaviors are ALSO siginificant in assessing his fitness for office regardless of what religion he follows or if he follows no religion.

     

    Parent

    Fear, Fear, Fear (none / 0) (#22)
    by mrsircy on Thu Aug 09, 2007 at 08:39:07 PM EST
    That's all he's got.