Giuliani not pure, but he sure is tough

Detroit News

Nolan Finley

It defies reason that a presidential candidate would appeal to a nation soured on war with a message of military aggressiveness and unyielding toughness in the face of the terrorist threat.

But Rudy Giuliani says: "You can lose the argument on Iraq and still win the election." Why?

Because, "The American people are not going to vote for a weakling," says the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, who, with the exception of John McCain, lumps about all of his opponents from both parties in that category.

"They're going to elect someone who will protect them from terrorism for the next four years."

The rap on the former New York mayor is that he's Republican in name only, a Democrat in elephant's clothing, the personification of the GOP's conflicted and withering East Coast wing.

But listening to Giuliani talk to supporters in Birmingham last week, he sounded less like Michael Bloomberg than he did Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon whose name he invoked repeatedly during his remarks.

On dealing with Iran, Giuliani says he would stare the mullahs down the way Reagan did 30 years ago and tell them the United States will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power.

"The Iranians saw something different in Ronald Reagan's eyes than they did in Jimmy Carter's," Giuliani says.

He does not think invading Iraq was a mistake, saying the war should already be considered a victory because it got rid of Saddam Hussein. "We are better off now than we were when Saddam Hussein was sitting there with billions of dollars to support terrorism."

He scolds his Democratic opponents for not being able to utter the words "Islamic terrorists" and says that despite the internal turmoil over Iraq, America must continue to wage an offensive war against terror, taking the fight to where the terrorists live.

Oh, and for good measure, Giuliani describes himself as a devoted Reagan supply-sider who believes in cutting taxes and slashing regulations to stimulate growth. He'd make retaining the Bush tax cuts a priority and perhaps offer new reductions. And one of his main beefs with President George W. Bush is that he spends too much money.

Giuliani seems the throwback candidate the GOP has been looking for to restore conservative Republican values to the White House.

But many in the Republican base can't get beyond Giuliani's messy personal life and his support of stem cell research, gun control and abortion rights.

Too bad. Giuliani strikes me as the one candidate from either party who has staked out his principles and is not waffling away from them. He's consistent, firm and a proven leader. And more than anyone else in the race, he can appeal to the broad middle of the electorate who will decide the election.

If hard-core Republicans won't give candidates like him an honest look because they fail the litmus test on social issues, they may end up with a president in the White House who's a lot less appealing to them than Rudy Giuliani.