Giuliani Sees the Future

by shamanic

Rudy Giuliani knows how to save the GOP, and it looks for all the world like he's trying to do just that:

Giuliani made his sharpest case for moving beyond social issues this weekend in Iowa, telling The Des Moines Register, "Our party is going to grow, and we are going to win in 2008 if we are a party characterized by what we're for, not if we're a party that's known for what we're against."

Asked about abortion, he said, "Our party has to get beyond issues like that."

I can't tell if Rudy is the smartest man in the GOP or the stupidest. I also can't tell if he really wants to be president.

I do know that he's right, but the GOP coalition that was built over the course of the last three decades can't just be reformulated in the next 18 months. I have a hard time seeing how a moderate Republican president (with a penchant for scandal) could govern effectively with an empowered Democratic congress and no support from the traditional mouthpieces of the party.

But he's right. The war against gays is a losing issue, and my sense is that with the new SCOTUS, abortion will be kicked to the state level within the next decade or so. Republicans love to wage war. They love to wage war against their fellow Americans at least as much as they love to wage war against non-Americans. Since the non-American war isn't going so well, their nominee has to give them the red meat of conflict with the gays and the baby killers.

Rudy's right. He just won't ever be president.