Giuliani or McCain: Both are bad choices

I know many of you have hearts that are still a-flutter after watching the recent Rudy Giuliani love-fest on "Hannity and Colmes." But I implore you, do not be fooled by the packaging lest you forget we fooled ourselves in 2000, and apart from that candidate's appointment of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, his intractability pursuant to the war on terror and an overall good economy – we now have someone who refuses to halt illegal immigration and has abandoned border guards who should have received medals of valor for stopping illegal Mexican dope smuggling criminals, but instead received 11 and 12 years in prison. Our "globalist in chief" continues to spend billions on a flawed education plan where children learn less in the classroom than they learn in one of my columns.

Rudy is no conservative – he is a liberal Republican. As mayor of New York City, Giuliani was an anti-gun, social liberal, fiscal moderate (more left leaning than right), who rid Times Square of prostitution and pornography and significantly curbed crime.

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And no, I'm not impressed with what he did post-9/11. In my mind he did nothing that any other mayor (save Ray Nagin of New Orleans) would have done. He used the resources at his mayoral disposal to calm and reassure New York residents – he implemented the best emergency plans presented to him and he was a walking photo-op, as he should have been at that time. But none of those things or those things unmentioned makes him fit to be president.

Rudy is window dressing in an empty house. People who make purchases based on outward appearances and the six o'clock news are destined to be disappointed. It should also be noted that, literally, one hour before 9/11, Giuliani was one of the most disliked mayors in New York City history.

We don't need window dressing. We don't need someone the RNC is trotting out because they view said person as enabling them to keep power/control. When will it sink in that keeping "them" in control doesn't translate into our not getting hosed? Rudy may have spoken of appointing jurists who upheld the Constitution, but he also praised Justice Ginsburg – should we not be questioning if she does not best reflect his social positions and thus, by default, his definition of one who upholds the Constitution?

John McCain, on the other hand, has been little more than an impediment from the beginning. He was one of the principle lawmakers involved in the "Keating Five" – a congressional scandal related to the worst savings and loan collapse in history. It was reported that he, along with four of his congressional counterparts, attempted to undermine and influence the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which is responsible for regulating the banking industry, during its investigation of the Lincoln Savings and Loan collapse. It was also revealed that McCain and his counterparts had collectively received at least $1.3 million in campaign contributions from Charles Keating, the former chairman of said savings and loan, who was faulted with its failure.

To ensure that the voters never again have the ability to have such criminal activity revealed, or be reminded of same before the offenders are elected, McCain co-authored the McCain-Feingold Act – a campaign finance reform bill that did absolutely nothing to correct campaign financing, but did have the desired effect of limiting what the voters could be told about the candidates.

Because of McCain, we watched his "Gang of 14" negotiate a compromise that was successful in sticking it to the voters and those from across the country who had worked tirelessly, and at great personal cost, in the judicial-nominee trenches.

Keep in mind it was former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie who said we (the conservative base) might not like Rudy's positions, but we would vote for him anyway because to not do so would leave us with Hillary – to which I responded at the time, "I was tired of holding my nose and compromising my values to keep them in office." Voters were repeatedly warned what Arnold Schwarzenegger would be like if elected, but glitz and paparazzi blinded people until it was too late. Not learning from past mistakes means you are doomed to repeat them, often with more devastating results than the first time.

Conservatives may not want a Clinton, Obama or Edwards – but they need not think a Giuliani or McCain will be any better. McCain is an egotistical politician, enamored by his own reflection in the glass – and Rudy may be a nice guy, but Al Sharpton is a genuinely nice guy, whose company I thoroughly enjoy – but I wouldn't vote for him either because he, too, would be bad for America.

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