instructions to voters

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 03, 2007

New York Post columnist John Podhoretz thinks that Rudy Giuliani stumbled in his early presidential campaign by talking about how much influence his (latest) wife could have in the White House. It was a rare mistake, Podhoretz observes:

Until that moment, he had handled his presidential bid as perfectly as could be imagined - maintaining the enthusiasm of social conservatives even as they learned of his stances on behalf of abortion rights and gun control.

Huh? Show me a social conservative who's enthusiastic about Giuliani's campaign, and I'll show you the product of a neoconservative imagination.

This column is based not on reporting but on wishful thinking, and on a desire to instruct conservative voters. Republican strategists who are not particularly keen on the social issues fervently believe that the social conservatives should swallow hard and accept a candidate like Giuliani, since (where have we heard this before?) he'd be better than Hillary. And from the observation that they should do it, it's a short step to the observation that they have done it. If they haven't, you see, they're disobeying instructions from their betters. So it's really more charitable to keep saying that they are accepting Giuliani-- enthusiastically, mind you. And keep saying it often.