Social Conservatives, Rudy Giuliani, and the End of the Litmus Test

Noemie Emery of The Weekly Standard makes a compelling argument about why social conservatives will buy into former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for the presidency of the United States in terms of the Republican nomination.

To sum it all up it comes down to four points – the war against terrorism (his leadership amidst the aftermath of 9/11 and his fervent support of the Bush’s administration agenda in regards to this issue is the reason why he is the frontrunner now in the Republican primaries), he’s a pro-choice Republican furthest from being a liberal (in terms of law and order), the shape of the field (McCain is the only Republican candidate right now with the best pro-life record but a lot of conservatives – myself among them – hate him for a variety of reasons), and abortion has become a non-issue as of right now (it hasn’t been outlawed but neither has it become an unequivocal civil right with the new Democratic majority now in power in Congress). I don’t agree entirely with each of his premises but I understand where he is coming from and it makes sense.