Guiliani

[moderate_devil_dog]

I've seen in several posts he has some baggage about a wife or ex-wife?  Could someone shine some light on this subject for me?

[nick]

He had an affair, which resulted in a divorce.  That about sums it up.  Depending on who you ask they will be more graphic and rude, but he owned up to his mistake and its over with now.  Still, it probably ruined any chance of him seeking higher office, IMO. 

[dazzleman]

He's on his third wife.

I don't know much about his first marriage.

His second marriage was to Donna Hanover.  It was essentially a sham for quite some time before he publicly announced that he would divorce her in 2000 after she humiliated him by appearing in the "The Vagina Monologues," a racy feminazi play.

He was rumored to have been having an affair with his communications director long before that, and by then he was seeing the woman to whom he is now married, Judy (Nathan) Giuliani.

It's not a history that will go over well in the south, even though the rates of divorce there are higher than those up north.

[No more McShame]

It will make it that much harder for him to win over social conservatives who rule the Republican Party nomination process.  As if his views on issues near and dear to their hearts wouldn't have been damning enough.

[Joe Republic]

I didn't know this about Giuliani either.  Looks like he really is doomed if he ever tries to run in 2008.  His critics will just add this to the ones about him being a RINO.

[No more McShame]

I didn't know this about Giuliani either.  Looks like he really is doomed if he ever tries to run in 2008.  His critics will just add this to the ones about him being a RINO.

I don't think Guiliani is a RINO.  He's too socially liberal to win the Republican primaries and his oppositon to the partial-birth abortion ban are sickening even to a social moderate as myself.  However, he is a legitimate fiscal conservative and takes the Republican position on law and order issues.  He's a true Republican who disagrees with the party line on abortion and gay marriage which are not litmus issues to who is a "real" Republican and who is a RINO.

[moderate_devil_dog]

What does RINO mean?

[nick]

What does RINO mean?

RINO = Republican In Name Only
DINO = Democrat ... .... ....

[Joe Republic]

I didn't know this about Giuliani either.  Looks like he really is doomed if he ever tries to run in 2008.  His critics will just add this to the ones about him being a RINO.

I don't think Guiliani is a RINO.  He's too socially liberal to win the Republican primaries and his oppositon to the partial-birth abortion ban are sickening even to a social moderate as myself.  However, he is a legitimate fiscal conservative and takes the Republican position on law and order issues.  He's a true Republican who disagrees with the party line on abortion and gay marriage which are not litmus issues to who is a "real" Republican and who is a RINO.

Very true, and I applaud him for refusing to blindly 'toe the line', but my point is that it doesn't take much for his opponents from the right to paint him as one.

[dazzleman]

Giuliani is definitely not a RINO.

The spectacularly successful policies that he adopted as mayor of NYC, especially with respect to fighting crime and returning a sense of civility to daily life in the city, were singularly Republican.  No Democrat would ever have carried them out.  And proof of their success was that the Democrats and some of their most favored constituencies tagged Giuliani's policies as "racist."

Giuliani cracked down hard on crime, taking a zero tolerance approach to the quality of life crimes to which Democrats had turned a blind eye for years.  He also pushed tough welfare reform, opposed by Democrats, and sought to contain the growth of city government.

These are all staple Republican policies, and they worked beautifully, bringing the city back almost from the dead.  Giuliani is definitely not a RINO.

At this point, Pataki is pretty close to being a RINO, but not Giuliani.

[So the Heroes Fall]

except while cracking down on crime he also cracked down very hard on guns and gun ownership. Yeah, the NRA would definately just overlook that if he ran for the nomination. Anyone who thinks he could win is living in a dreamworld.

[Joe Republic]

OK, Giuliani is certainly a true Republican considering the nature of NYC politics.  But compared to the conservatism of the Deep South, Plains and Rockies, Giuliani's big-city moderate politics just don't compare.

[Pictor Ignotus]

I'll add that the mistress, Judith Nathan, was basically cohabitating with him in Gracie Mansion before his divorce was finalized.

[skybridge]

He had an affair, which resulted in a divorce.  That about sums it up.  Depending on who you ask they will be more graphic and rude, but he owned up to his mistake and its over with now.  Still, it probably ruined any chance of him seeking higher office, IMO. 

Ha! Like Gingrich was any better when it came to that!

[Pictor Ignotus]

He had an affair, which resulted in a divorce.  That about sums it up.  Depending on who you ask they will be more graphic and rude, but he owned up to his mistake and its over with now.  Still, it probably ruined any chance of him seeking higher office, IMO. 

Ha! Like Gingrich was any better when it came to that!

Yes, either won would be a fine nominee, says the smiling Democrat.

[dazzleman]

I'll add that the mistress, Judith Nathan, was basically cohabitating with him in Gracie Mansion before his divorce was finalized.

Not really true.  Giuliani's wife Donna Hanover lived in Gracie Mansion, while Rudy lived in an apartment with a friend in Queens.

[Smash255]

Rudy would get demolished in the primaries.  He is pro-choice, anti PBA ban, pro gay rights, pro gay marriage, pro Gun Control.  He is more socially liberal than half the Dems in Congress, that would really hurt him in the GOp primaries