Diogenes Borealis suggests that the Republicans would do well to allow Giuliani to be nominated as the Presidential candidate.
If the Republicans don't nominate a pro-lifer, they will lose. The so-con base is not going to move mountains the way they did for George Bush for some guy who is not nearly as pro-life as he is.
Consider this: George Bush is (mostly) pro-life, but you can't say he's had stellar success on the fetal rights issue. Sure, he passed the Partial Birth Abortion ban and nominated conseravtive judges. He's also made a few other minor moves on that front.
But all in all, those are fairly timid actions on the fetal rights front. Sure, some of them are important and have longstanding implications.
If this is what we can expect from a moderately pro-life president such as George Bush, what makes anyone think Giuliani will be do any good for social conservatives?
Push comes to shove, Giuliani will sell out the so-con base. Now, it's all fine and good to say that it may not do any harm in the polls.
But so-cons are keen in the US. They do a lot of the grassroots work. They get out the vote. They vote their consciences, even when, as in the case of many Catholics, they'd rather vote Democrat.
I can see lots of Catholics voting Democrat because of the lack of pro-life support, and lots of Evangelicals and sundry other so-cons voting for a third-party candidate to ease their social consciences.
I can see many so-cons saying: why should I move my butt for a pro-abort? Is this what I've been fighting for?
The silver lining is that social conservatism tends to get a boost under socially liberal regimes in the US. There comes a point when American social conservatives get so sick of the liberal leadership at the top, they move their butt to get rid of it, just like they booted out the Democrats in 1994 (at the mid-terms) and in 2000.
I just can't see as much momentum for Giuliani as for George Bush. In the US, conservatism is largely a package deal. You can't get away with being conservative and soft on fetal rights. It won't play well in Mississippi.
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