Hugh and Rudy

Center-right conservative Hugh Hewitt interviewed Rudy Giuliani on his radio program yesterday. I'd recommend you read the transcript here. It's pretty good stuff. Here's an excerpt from early in the interview:

HH: Let me ask you, Mayor. You’ve got a Brooklyn kid, Catholic Italian, you’ve got a white Mormon Massachusetts guy running. Are the Evangelicals in the south just going to say forget about it for you and Governor Romney?

RG: I think, I think all Republicans, however you want to describe them, from the south, from the north, from the east or west, they’re going to look at all of us, and they’re going to try to figure out which one fits better what we want. And you’re never going to find somebody you agree with 100%, or is exactly like you are, and there’s nobody like that. So you look at the overall person, there’ll be a few things you disagree with, hopefully a lot of things you agree with, and the big question is, who do you think can lead the country more effectively? Who’s had the experience to do that? And who has the better ideas for the future?

HH: Richard Land, I’m sure you saw, he was on record this week saying I don’t think Evangelicals will vote for Rudy. I disagree with that, but how do you get past that kind of a block?

RG: Well, I have spent a great deal of time over the last three, four years in various places, talking to many, many people including clergy, who are, who would describe themselves, I think, as Evangelicals, They are. Some of the people working on my campaign are very committed as Evangelical, born again Christians, and I have a great knowledge of religion, and a great respect for it, and I think there’s a great deal of commonality. And I find that when we spend time together, or in other words, I talk to groups that would describe themselves as Evangelical Christians, or very committed to religion, that they come away feeling that on most issues, there’s agreement. There are some disagreements, but that there’s a basic core of looking at the world in very much the same way.

While there are some evangelicals who are pretty adamant about rejecting Rudy based on abortion alone, I'm finding quite a few more that are looking at the possibility of a Clinton or Obama presidency and quickly deciding that Rudy is certainly preferrable. The old saying goes "perfect is the enemy of good", and since there isn't going to be a perfect GOP candidate who will match up on all issues and who can win, I'm hoping a good candidate, who may not touch every evangelical hot button but who is strong enough to win against an Obama or Clinton, will be attractive enough to win over those who were hoping for perfection. It would be a shame to hand the White House to a liberal Democrat just because a candidate wasn't "perfect".