Why not Giuliani?

Here at RFO, we get a lot of very pointed mails and posts. About half of them boil down to something along the lines of "Forget that ultra-liberal commie dork Obama. Why don't you support <insert candidate here>?!" So in my next several blogs I'm going to attempt to summarize my thoughts regarding the GOP front-runners. Today I'll start with Giuliani.

I'm going to try not to get personal, here. I'm sure you're aware that Giuliani has been married three times. You may even have heard that his own son is not supporting the campaign. But let's set aside personal problems.

GOPs like Giuliani because of his:
Fiscal conservativism: Giuliani took a city with a multi-million dollar deficit and reformed it into a fiscally solvent entity. He lowered taxes and moved citizens off of entitlement programs into employment.

National defense: Because Giuliani led New York through recovery after 9/11, Americans trust Giuliani with the war on terrorism. He pledges to continue to fight terrorism and to win the war in Iraq.

GOPs are concerned about Giuliani because of his:
Social liberalism: Giuliani has a history of supporting abortion rights and gun control. He now says that these policies were necessary in New York but would not be appropriate on a federal level. Either way, his history defending socially liberal policies in New York will alienate many religious conservatives.

Lack of experience: With his background as a mayor and in the justice department, Giuliani has little/no experience with defense at the federal level. Even Congressmen with no military service at least have the opportunity to serve on committees and research legislation regarding foreign policy and defense.

Fiscal irresponsibility: Although Giuliani likes to cite (as noted above) his history of fiscal conservativism, critics like to point out "the rest of the story." Note this analysis by George Marlin:

...In Rudy's second term, when the economy was booming, he abandoned fiscal restraint and became a big-spending liberal. City budget expenditures jumped 25 percent – twice the inflation rate – and Giuliani left his successor a projected operating deficit of $4.5 billion and New York's citizens with the highest tax burden in any major municipality in America.