The last Republican candidate Sam Brownback would possibly consider endorsing is Rudy Giuliani. The Kansas senator made opposition to abortion rights the centerpiece of his unsuccessful presidential campaign. As recently as a few weeks ago, Brownback said during a debate that he would only support the GOP nominee if he’s “somebody that is pro-growth and pro-life.”
Which is exactly why this comes as quite a surprise.
Sam Brownback said he was reassured about the abortion position of Rudy Giuliani after meeting with the pro-abortion-rights former mayor for over an hour this afternoon. But the Kansas senator, who last Friday abandoned his White House bid, said he was not yet ready to offer his endorsement.
Standing just outside his Senate office suite next to Giuliani, Brownback, an ardent abortion opponent, said twice that he was “much more comfortable” with his former rival’s stance on what he called the issue “of life.”
“He’s talked about a number of key pieces of what a president would have, whether it’s funding, appointments on the court, I’m much more comfortable with that,” Brownback said.
Asked if he could support somebody who supports abortion rights, Brownback said, “I don’t know that he would … whether he’d describe himself as a pro-choice mayor or a pro-choice candidate.”
Yes, in private, Rudy Giuliani — the NARAL award-winning, Planned Parenthood-donating mayor who supports public funding of abortion — has apparently convinced Sam Brownback that he’s not actually pro-choice. This, just a few weeks after Giuliani surrogates started touting the idea that the former mayor really is “pro-life.”
It got me thinking: just how far is Giuliani willing to go?
The strategy in any presidential campaign isn’t rocket science — appeal to the party base during the primaries, move to the center during the general election. Don’t go too far during the first step, or it makes the second step exceedingly difficult.
And yet, Giuliani seems to have lost sight of his general election vision. In fact, I’m surprised more people haven’t challenged him on this. His stump speech has three central themes: 1) 9/11, 9/11, 9/11; 2) Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton; and 3) electability.
On that last point, Giuliani’s basic pitch is that he can compete “in all 50 states” because he’s a moderate Republican who’ll appeal to Dems and independents. After all, he’s pro-choice, progressive on gay rights, and supports gun control.
Except he doesn’t. Now, he’s pro-life, is open to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, loves the NRA, endorses torture, and can’t wait to invade Iran.
So, how is it, exactly, that he’s going to appeal to all of those Dems and independents?