Ted Olson May be Rudy's Key to Social Conservatives

James Taranto has a piece in OpinionJournal.com on Ted Olson and his role in helping Rudy win the hearts and minds of social conservatives:

WASHINGTON--Rudy Giuliani doesn't always follow Ted Olson's advice. "I remember conversations with Rudy before he became mayor when he was thinking about running," Mr. Olson says. "I was asking him, 'Why in the world would you want to do this? A, you can't get elected. You're a Republican; it's New York City. And B, there's nothing that can be done about New York City. It's too big; the problems are too deeply engrafted onto the city; the city's in the grip of labor unions, crime, high taxes, heavy burdens. The city's a terrible place, and it's too big to govern.' "

Just as Mr. Olson was sure Mr. Giuliani couldn't get elected in New York because of his party, it has been a common assumption that the former mayor cannot win the Republican presidential nomination because of his liberal positions on social issues, particularly abortion and guns. Mr. Olson is one of the nation's top conservative lawyers, having represented President-elect Bush in Bush v. Gore and served as Mr. Bush's solicitor general. As chairman of Mr. Giuliani's Justice Advisory Committee, he intends to help the candidate defy conventional wisdom again.

Sitting in Mr. Olson's law office during our early-morning interview, I ask how his candidate can reassure social conservatives. Mr. Olson points to the judiciary: "Judges have taken some of those decisions off the policy table, taking them away from the people by constitutionalizing these issues. The only thing that someone elected president can do about those things is appoint good, solid judges who will act as judges--interpret the law, not make it up; not create new rights that weren't there in the Constitution. I am convinced . . . that Rudy knows how important it is to appoint the right kind of individuals as judges, and that he will do that."

In my book the assurance that a candidate will appoint strict constructionist judges trumps that candidates views on abortion because I know that, other than appointing judges, there's little the president can do about abortion. That's why I would not feel uncomfortable voting for Rudy should be become the party's nominee.

Read the rest of this interesting piece here.