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12 Feb 2007 10:06 am

Quote for the Day

"The great moral issue of Ronald Reagan's time was defeating communism, and he understood that. The great moral issue of our time is defeating terrorism," - Rudy Giuliani, Saturday.

If that's his platform, it could work. It relies upon allowing the social issues to be determined at the local and state level, while focusing on homeland security in wartime. It's a shrewd and effective way of dodging the issues that divide the right so deeply while emphasizing the one issue - national security - on which there is consensus. But it begs a lot of questions. He seems to believe that merely taking a stand in warfare, even if it is a wrong one, is some kind of virtue in itself. Surely Iraq proves how mistaken this view is. It is important not only to be strong in warfare, but to be smart as well. He also seems to think that the Christianists don't really believe that abortion is the moral equivalent of the holocaust and that acknowledging gay relationships will lead to the destruction of the earth. Maybe he's been in New York City too long. The Christianists have gone into politics precisely for these causes. Why should they elect a man who disagrees with them on these core moral issues? Then there's immigration. He won't have Lou Dobbs or much of the Republican base on a critical issue. If he's friendly with gays and against the fence, it's hard to see him making much headway.

Will the Christianists buy it anyway? We'll see. But Romney has become tainted; Brownback cannot win a national election; McCain is Satan; Jeb is too much dynasty. Without a serious Christianist candidate for the GOP, what choice do they really have?

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