Red County Interview: Bill Simon On Rudy Giuliani

The state Senate yesterday voted 31-5 to approve to hold a California presidential primary election (separate from the regular June primary) on February 5 of 2008 -- making our mega-media-market state on of the earliest primary states. It's the latest chapter in our state's dozen year quest for relevancy in the presidential nomination process.

For readers who weren't active in GOP politics in California prior to 1992, it will lead to a brand new experience: major Republican figures frequently coming to California to campaign and meet volunteers -- not just pick up checks.

Arguably, the GOP candidate who would most benefit is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Given the cost of competing statewide and the size of the delegate prize, Guiliani's enormous name ID, fundraising ability and earned media-attracting star quality would give him a leg up on the other candidates here.

Since an early primary means more presidential politicking at the local level in California, Red County will be devoting more attention to the presidential race. Monday evening, I had the opportunity for a quick interview with Bill Simon, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2002. Simon goes way back with Rudy Giuliani and is Chairman of Rudy's California campaign. I hope this to be the first in a an ongoing series of interviews with leading figures from the various presidential campaigns.

Matthew Cunningham: I watched Rudy's Hannity & Colmes appearance, which I thought was a good introduction for Rudy to deal with issues of concern to conservatives, who tend to dominate the primaries. I wanted to ask you, straight off, why you are supporting for the Republican presidential nomination someone who really cannot be considered a movement conservative?

Bill Simon: I think Rudy will make an extraordinary President. I don't know of anyone I'm in 100% agreement with respect to every issue -- even my fellow conservatives. So I'm not troubled if I don't agree with someone on every issue as long as they demonstrate very strong leadership qualities, which Rudy does, and a very strong sense of public service, which Rudy does, and a very firm agenda in areas that are important to me and in a way in which he can execute -- all of which Rudy does.

When you think about the priorities he's expressed -- things like national security -- I don't know of anyone better in the public arena now who can handle issues of national security better than Mayor Giuliani.

And when you talk about issues related to fiscal conservatism, which are important to Rudy, I don't know anybody in the public arena who has cut taxes 23 times as Rudy did when he was mayor of New York;  who has shrunk the size of government, which he did when he was mayor of New York; reduced the welfare rolls by over 50 percent, which he did when he was mayor of New York. And that's not going into reducing crime by 65% and many other things that he did while mayor in a situation that, before he became mayor, was widely regarded as the second toughest job in American politics, and was widely regarded as an ungovernable situation.

I think he did an extraordinary job as Mayor of New York in a Democrat-controlled environment, and being able to function as a fiscal conservative in that Democrat-controlled environment is an amazing achievement.

Cunningham: How long have you known Mayor Giuliani?

Simon: I met Mayor Giuliani back in May, 1985 when I went to work for him as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Cunningham: I'd like to move on to another issue-oriented question. I know a big  question mark for a lot of Republicans is whether a pro-choice candidate can win the nomination given that pro-life voters are a large and powerful element of the GOP and their weight is felt in the primaries. So how does Rudy go about winning their votes given his strong, long-standing pro-choice stance?

Simon: I think the Republican Party is obviously composed of many different types of people. There are some segments where the social issues are very important, and there are other segments where issues that relate to the economy and national security are more important. And frankly, if you look at the polling over the course of the last six months, Rudy is at the top, or in second, in every single poll. I'll bet you there's been fifty polls over the last six months, it's the same result pretty much everytime. People know about Rudy's stances.

When you think just purely and simply about the horse race, Rudy is a known quantity. unlike some of the others in the race like a Romney, who is going to have to educate the public on what he stands for.

But Rudy is a known commodity, his name ID is probably second only to Hillary Clinton -- it's virtually 100% -- every politicians dream! I think he's somebody that people know and to a great extent people feel comfortable with. I think that when you talk about the fact there may be areas where he's not quite so conservative, I think you might put California in that category. I also think it's quite likely California's primary is going to move up, and if that happens I think it is going to be a tremendous advantage for Rudy.

Cunningham: In the last couple of weeks I've noticed Giuliani drawing support from a wider spectrum of Republicans than I would have initially expected, and would like you to comment on why you think that is.

Simon: Well, I think it is coming from the fact that leadership is going to be an very important criterion in this election, as well as national security and, I'd say, managerial skill. People know Rudy, and they have confidence in him. Just like Reagan, who was able to reach across the aisle to a group of voters subsequently titled Reagan Democrats, people who didn't necessarily agree with Ronald Reagan but who knew where he stood and knew that they could trust him. So, I think that some of those intangible qualities of leadership he clearly possesses are very important in many peoples' minds, regardless of their political stripes.

Comments

[The Mechanical Eye]

It's going to be hard to square the circle of Guliani's past positions on immigration, though. I'm personally not scared of the magical words "amnesty," since I think it might be a reasonable way to accomodate 12 million illegal immigrants while kicking out the more violent offenders. But the talk-radio crowd that pushes and pulls the GOP electorate into supporting pointless protest candidates like Jim Gilchrist may not be so amenable.

Then again, none of the GOP front-runners are as anti-immigration as the hard-liners would like them to be. I'd be curious if Tancredo will be around by the primary election, and how he'd do compared to the front-runners.

DU

[Roastedredpeppers]

Jubal,

Your first question to Bill Simon assumes facts not in evidence. What leads you to believe that Giuliani is not a "movement" conservative? Giuliani certainly ran New York as a "movement" conservative -- where he reformed welfare, reduced taxes, fought the teachers and "social service" unions, raised standards at the CUNY, sold off surplus housing, and took on the mob. But don't take my word for it, read "Yes, Rudy is a Conservative," by Steve Malanga: http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_1_rudy_giuliani.html

Seems to me, you confuse social moderates with that go-along, get along, passion-less generation of Republicans like former Republican leader Bob Michel. Rudy is no big government squish, that's for certain.

[Critic]

I always thought that a very strong pro-life position is one of the core values of movement conservatives.

From the official CNN transcript

KING: Let’s move to some things domestic. You’ve had some quotes lately that — that seem contradictory. I know you’re pro-choice, you’ve always been pro-choice.

GIULIANI: I am.

KING: Yet you’ll say you’ll appoint judges who are strict constructionists. If that’s the case, they’re going to vote to overturn “Roe v. Wade,” which you don’t want.

GIULIANI: I don’t know that. You don’t know that.

KING: Well, what is strict constructionist?

GIULIANI: Well, OK, there are a lot of ways to explain that. I mean (UNINTELLIGIBLE)…

[Bladerunner]

Jubal---Sean Hannity fed Giuliani easy leading questions like a skilled trial lawyer. Rudy has alot of positives but the polling I've seen shows that when GOP rank and file voters get a taste of his pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control views his support drops significantly.

What remains to be seen is whether Rudolph Giuliani's apparent tactic of not disavowing his positions but nuancing them will work better then Willard Romney's flip flop. I suspect that Giuliani will fare better.

[charles miller]

RUDY,

SCOOTER LIBBY WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN THROWING AN AMERICAN AGENT TO THE WOLVES. FOR WHAT, TO PLEASE CHENY. AMERICAN AGENTS ARE MUCH LESS SAFE IN THE WORLD. PEOPLE WITH CRITICAL INFORMATION THAT COULD POSSIBLY HELP AVOID CATASTROPHE WON'T COME FORWARD. AND YOU, YOU COME OUT AND SAY HIS SENTENCE IS TOO EXTREME. WHY NOT GET OVER WITH AND GO WORK FOR FOX NEWS OR MAYBE YOU ALREADY DO.

[Robert grandyer]

i thnik that guliani is a fake a big black nigger that we shoulnt listen to go to hell bitch hhaahahahahahahahahahhaha

kkk
whits power
heil hitler