One Conservative Who Supports Giuliani

Rep. Jim Nussle of Iowa is a conservative who is supporting Rudy Giuliani for president. Given that many of Giuliani's social views are moderate to liberal, it's interesting to read Nussle's reasoning behind his support for Giuliani, as expressed in a note to Rich Lowry at National Review:

Dear Rich, I wanted to share with conservatives why I'm supporting Mayor Giuliani. As a proud and consistent conservative Republican, I want our Party and our ideas to have a voice. Even more importantly, I want our Party and our ideas to achieve meaningful results.

“Perfect” has become the enemy of the “good”, and we saw that borne out during this past November’s elections. I am hopeful that our Party will avoid needless debates over a non-existent perfect candidate.

It is true that Mayor Giuliani and I don’t agree on every issue. My support for a person who doesn’t see eye to eye with me on all issues doesn’t mean that I am turning my back on those beliefs. But our country is at a crossroads and we cannot forsake progress for perfection.

I have chosen to support Mayor Giuliani because I believe we need to embrace the ideals and the values that unite us. It is the only way we can successfully move forward as both a Party and a country.

Rudy Giuliani is the results Republican our country needs. Mayor Giuliani took office facing difficult challenges. New York City was littered with crime, corruption and decay. The city’s murder rate was so high that an uncommon day was one with only a few murders.

The Mayor led a team that reduced crime and reformed welfare. He cut taxes 23 times while actually reducing the size of the City bureaucracy. The Mayor transformed a historic deficit into a multi-billion dollar surplus with a balanced budget. New York City became a safe place for families and small businesses to invest in their future. In Rudy Giuliani, New Yorkers had a leader. One they could believe in.

All of this he did before the tragedy of September 11, 2001. That day the rest of the world witnessed Mayor Giuliani’s steady and principled leadership firsthand.

Today, America needs to make progress in so many difficult areas, and on so many fronts that while addressing challenges with philosophical absolutes makes for good rhetoric, it oftentimes achieves little by way of results.

After over 20 years in public service, I am still confident that free enterprise, living the American Dream and putting the protection of our nation first are the right ideals for the direction of this country.

Rudy Giuliani has consistently governed under these ideals, turning rhetoric into results, which is why I am confident President Rudy Giuliani will be best for our country come November 2008.

I'm a long way from picking a candidate for '08 and I find Nussle's defense of Giuliani interesting, especially in light of the fact that many conservatives find Giuliani unacceptable due to his views on social policies. Nussle does make the argument that there will never be a "perfect" candidate, and I fear that too many conservatives have become such single-issue voters (abortion) that they will eagerly back a weaker candidate just because of his views on that one issue alone. In doing so, they not only risk helping elect a Democrat who's not only pro-abortion, but pro-a lot of other stuff that conservatives find abhorent.

Yes abortion is important, but the president really doesn't have that much control over an issue that has been decided by the courts. President Bush is anti-abortion, but has abortion stopped because he's president? No, and it probably won't until there's a change in the hearts of the people, and while the president may have some effect on that, in reality the president has little to no ability to change abortion in terms of its legal standing.

For now, I'm keeping my options open.