Is Giuliani Trying to Move The Republican Party To The Left?

Buried in a story about how Rudolf Giuliani has been invited to speak at Regent University, the theocon college founded by evangelist nutcase Pat Robertson and made infamous by Monica Goodling, this interesting litle tidbit got my attention today (God, I hate linking to the Post):

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’ve always been suspect of the right’s real commitment to social issues like abortion and immigration. If the Republicans were committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, they would have done it by now. Certainly with 6 years of total control over two of the three branches of our government, and a very slim minority in the third, one would think that they would have at least mounted some kind of attempt to outlaw abortion, but it never materialized. Yes, I know they passed an onerous law in South Dakota last year, but that was short lived and they never tried to bring it to the test. If they overturned Roe, they would lose it as a campaign isssue. The same holds true for immigration and many of the other social issues that Republicans hold dear.

So when I read this it suddenly occurred to me where Rudy may be going with his campaign. It sounds an awful lot like Giuliani may be planning to cast off the theocratic right wing fundamentalist base and try to bring the Republican Party back toward the center, to it’s historic roots, and liberate it from the stranglehold that the extreme religious right has had on it since Reagan. In effect, bring GOP back toward the left.

I’ve been of the opinion that the Giuliani candidacy has been a dead man walking. I’ve been of the opinion that he would never have the support of the “base” once they learned of his personal history and attitudes on social issues. But I think that this might be a very shrewd tactic by Rudy. There is no Republican candidate out there who is breaking with the religious and extremist base. Rudy would be the first to do this, to court the massive numbers of Republicans who have deserted the party as Iraq has decesnded into hell, more and more scandal metastasizes inside of the Bush administration and the Republican side of the aisle in Congress, and large sectors of our government are discovered to be infested with fundamentalist idealogues. These voters really have nowhere to go. They don’t want to vote for Democrats, and they feel raped by their party so they will most likely stay home. That’s how I see it. If Rudy could tap into this constituency he may be able to give the Democrats something to think about.

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