Saturday, March 31, 2007

Giuliani at the Club for Growth   [Ramesh Ponnuru]

The consensus was that he helped himself. People liked hearing that he is committed to cutting taxes and spending, although he was no more specific than Romney about the tax cuts and less specific on spending. One member of the audience complained that, unlike Romney and Brownback, he hadn't said anything about entitlements. Ed Crane, the president of the Cato Institute, commended the speech and thought the mayor gave a "nuanced" answer to a question about abortion.

Rep. Trent Franks challenged him on the issue, and he said that he did not believe the government should put someone in jail for making a decision of conscience with which he disagreed. He also said that people would stop respecting him, and it would be hard to govern, if he altered his positions for political reasons. The crowd applauded.

03/31 02:50 PMShare