Tom Roeser Pitches Rudi in '08

Tom Roeser is one of my favorite conservatives. Having lunched and dined with him on several occasions, he doesn’t shrink from throwing his philosophy and opinions into the public arena.

But on this one, while I see the connection, Rudi can’t possibly win the nomination;

There's only one guy in modern times who started with such an advantage: Dwight D. Eisenhower. When Eisenhower announced for president, few knew anything about him other than he was a man of decisiveness. On June 4, 1944, he looked at his watch and the weather reports and said, ''We'll go.'' Did we ever.

And as for those who say that Giuliani is too liberal, I say: Wait for the change as the campaign unfolds and he won't have to romance just New York City. His critics forget the magical fluidity that is politics. Ike started out as an FDR man, JFK an America Firster, LBJ a segregationist, Nixon a Red China-basher. Reagan was originally a pro-choicer who co-founded Americans for Democratic Action. George H.W. Bush, who was called "rubber George" in the House, wanted the feds to control population and was an enthusiastic pro-choicer. And remember, George W. was a supporter of humble, stay-at-home foreign policy.

One more thing: Let 'em pair Giuliani, whose words spout like bullets from a machine gun, with a veep who talks slow, with the vowels dripping syrup on hominy grits swimming with butter: Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who brilliantly handled Hurricane Katrina. Manhattan and Mississippi. Yeah: I like that.

First off, the examples are riddled with yea buts --

Yea, but…Ike was never vetted by social conservatives,
Yea but…JFK was a popular VP possibility at the 1956 Convention,
Yea but…LBJ had MLK to link with;
Yea but…Nixon had debated Khrushchev in 1959,
Yea but…Reagan was a two-term governor and labor leader,
Yea but…Bush 41 had, Dukakis,
Yea but…Bush 43 had 9/11.

Rudy is indeed a national political celebrity, but he has no infrastructure, short of CNN, FOX, MSNBC and CNBC, to advance his campaign. Like U.S. Senator John McCain before him, Rudy is vulnerable to being cast as a media hound. Remember, McCain is a real live war hero/POW and still, the Bush campaign out-muscled him for the nomination in 2000.

Rudy is indeed America’s Mayor, but he has a long row to hoe before conservatives put him in a position to nominate future Supreme Court Justices or executive order new definitions of marriage. And how would his Judiciary react to local lawsuits on gun manufacturers?

Tom is right. If the Christian Coalition, the NRA, and the hundreds of other activist groups with millions of members give Rudy a pass, then winning the Republican nomination may be in sight. However, those same groups, such as Robert Jones University, did not give McCain such a reprieve.

I can see a McCain-Guiliani, 3rd Party ticket winning in 2008 long before I see Rudi capturing the GOP nomination in 2008.