Rudy Doesn't Make the Grade

I'm hearing more and more about Rudy Giuliani gearing up for a 2008 presidential run.

First let me acknowledge and tip my hat to his leadership to New York City (and to an extent, the rest of the country) on 911 and the dark days immediately following. He was decisive at a time when anything less would have made the disaster even worse. He's to be commended for that.

However, if Guiliani wants to put a Democrat in the White House in 2008, he should proceed with his efforts to make a full-fledged bid for the presidency.

Conservatives--who make up the base of the Republican Party--will never support Guiliani. His liberal stance on abortion and the homosexual agenda are not going to cut it with the base. No matter how much he may try to cash in his 911 capital, conservatives aren't going to make the exchange.

Remember Bob Dole in 1996? As dissatisfied as most of us were with philanderer-in-chief Bill Clinton, there wasn't much in Dole for conservatives to get fired up about; he, too, was too liberal.

And if the base doesn't get fired up about a candidate, then those malleable moderates who vote whichever way the wind blows, they're not going to see the energy for that candidate they need to help them detect wind direction.

We just saw that this election season; can we learn the lesson before 2008?