Monday, March 12, 2007

Rudy's Newser   [Byron York]

Rudy Giuliani held a news conference in downtown Washington this morning to announce the endorsement of Louisiana Sen. David Vitter — Giuliani's first big endorsement in the South.

Vitter said he chose to endorse Giuliani for three reasons.  The first is Giuliani's "Churchill-like" qualities that make him the best man to conduct the war on terror.  The second is Giuliani's record as a conservative reformer in New York City.  And the third, Vitter explained, is, "I am convinced that Rudy will appoint the best federal judges of all the major candidates.  Obviously I disagree with Rudy on some significant social issues…but after numerous personal meetings with the mayor, it's very clear to me that he is not running for president to advance any liberal social agenda."

Judges became a theme of the press conference as the speakers addressed, without directly addressing, the differences that Giuliani has with the pro-life conservative Republicans who make up a significant part of the GOP primary electorate. Washington lawyer and former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who has also endorsed Giuliani, was on hand this morning, and he too stressed Giuliani's position on judges.  "I think that President Giuliani will appoint the kind of judges we expect in this country," Olson said, "people who respect the rule of law and the role of judges."

Giuliani himself picked up the theme in his remarks.  "Because of my view of the Constitution and how important it is to our freedom, I would do everything I could to appoint judges who would interpret the Constitution rather than execute their own social policy," Giuliani said.  "That takes a great deal of discipline.  Your job as a judge is to figure out what the framers meant when they wrote the Constitution…not, in retrospect, what you would like it to mean."

The subtext of the news conference was what has become the subtext of the Giuliani campaign.  Will the issue of national security outweigh the concerns of those Republicans for whom abortion and marriage are threshold issues?  Giuliani is betting that the answer is yes.  And he's also betting that he can win not just on the issue of national security, but also of leadership and competence.  At the news conference, Vitter was asked whether Giuliani would be a "tough sell" in Louisiana.  "I don't think he's going to be at all," Vitter said.  "Especially after Katrina."  The message: Rudy Giuliani is a guy who can get things done. 

03/12 11:07 AMShare