Tel-Chai Nation

Rudy Giuliani is now running for president. However, due to his record on illegal immigration, I think that's why I would not recommend him for candidacy.

On National Review (via Michelle Malkin), they have a good argument:

Many conservatives understandably don’t want to shut the door on Rudy Giuliani. He is very effective at fighting for, and implementing, those conservative causes with which he agrees. Indeed, he represents one of the best examples of executive ability over the last 15 years.

But for four decades, pro-lifers have resisted intense pressure from journalistic, political, and legal elites to declare the abortion question closed. Those elites would surely treat the Republican party’s nomination of a pro-choicer as their final victory. Having blocked that bipartisan ratification of abortion-on-demand for so long, pro-lifers will be especially disinclined to accept it now, after several years in which they have gained ground. (Even Democrats realize that their pro-choice extremism is an electoral loser.)

Many pro-lifers, and many conservatives, may eventually decide that for all his obvious strengths they cannot support Giuliani for president. For now, however, there is a certain symmetry of interest between conservatives and Giuliani. Conservatives should want Giuliani to agree with them on as many issues as possible. And Giuliani should want to win the nomination, without triggering any rush to the party’s exits. We hope he campaigns like it.

Surprisingly enough though, this article mentions nothing of what Giuliani did during his tenure as mayor of NYC, when he made the Big Apple a safe haven for illegal immigrants. It's very odd that they don't, since I thought that was surely the most important argument for any conservative who feels that he's not the man for the job, and having thought about this myself, I have to conclude that he's not. What if as president he went soft on illegal immigration again, and this enabled terrorists to infiltrate the US? What if this happened during the time he was mayor, and terrorists were able to hide in NYC because of his lack of responsibility on that matter?

David Frum, on the other hand, does give some mention to this:

How is he going to assure conservatives who have differed with his past policies on life issues, family, and immigration that their views will have weight in a Giuliani-led party?

When you look at what his real record was on immigration, which Frum certainly does note, you realize that the risk that he could alienate any voters who find out is possible, and that's why he'll have a lot of fences to mend on the issue, assuming that he does.

Labels: immigration