Rudy for Veep?

By James Lewis

John McCain is the GOP candidate for president. But who will run for Veep? One of the smartest decisions George W. Bush made was choosing Dick Cheney. Contrary to the Cheney image peddled by the hysterical Left, a sort of a projected Darth Vader on the screen of their childish nightmares, in reality Dick Cheney is wise, experienced, thoughtful, calm, humorous, and ready to step up to be president. Cheney is not a hot electoral commodity; he excels at governance.

So does Rudy Giuliani.

McCain has his pick of running mates, but Rudy stands out. He is younger than McCain, but not so much as to create a negative contrast with the presidential candidate. Having recovered from his cancer scare, Rudy can campaign vigorously. Giuliani was the best mayor New York City has had in the last fifty years, by objective standards of markedly improved economic health, lower unemployment, lower welfare rolls and much lower crime. In New York Rudy demonstrated the power of conservative ideas to fix what had become a liberal disaster area. And that was before 9/11, when he performed with real bravery and intelligence.

Rudy is very smart and well-informed, and has a good sense of humor. Like Barack Obama, he can think on his feet, but he is far wiser and more experienced than Obama. He has decades of executive experience starting in the Reagan Justice Department. He understands market economics and how it can be mobilized to enhance the general welfare. Giuliani appeals to liberal states and big cities. He successfully fought the Mafia. And he is a walking reminder of the terrorist menace. (It would be fun to see him debating a Democrat denier about the war.)

Mitt Romney comes closest to Rudy in executive experience and overall competence. But there is something off-putting about Romney, a sort of mannequin perfection that does not connect with people. That is not Romney's own fault, but I find it undeniable. Rudy has the common touch -- at least for New Yorkers.

Rudy has been unfairly slandered as being pro-abortion. That was always malicious nonsense. Giuliani is a social conservative along the lines of the Manhattan Institute, the think tank that originated many of his best ideas as mayor. He believes in families, parental authority, and the preciousness of life. His bottom line during the campaign was that he had in fact ended up reducing abortions in New York City. That is a darned good outcome in a city where the establishment is rigidly leftist. A strong anti-abortion amendment to the US Constitution is not going to pass, as a practical matter. And any moral legislation to abortion has to balance the delicate question of the mother's health against the life of the fetus.

The great abomination today is that the MTV culture has trivialized the immensely serious choice of aborting a fetus, the most agonizing moral dilemma that most of us will ever have to cope with. By trivializing life in the womb, the pro-abortion crowd has become a cult of feticide for nothing more than one's personal convenience. In those hard-to-change circumstances, Giuliani decided to go for the bottom line of saving lives. One can debate the pros and cons of that position, but it is grossly unfair to call it pro-abortion.

In sum, McCain might place Giuliani on his short list of potential running mates. We could do far worse than having Rudy Giuliani as Vice President, especially in a White House that must constantly battle the croc-infested swamplands of Washington. And in eight years, Giuliani will be as old as John McCain is today.

James Lewis blogs at dangeroustimes.wordpress.com/