Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, a moderate Republican best known for his stewardship of the city after the 9/11 attacks, has taken the first step in a 2008 presidential bid. (H/T Ted)
Giuliani was widely praised for leading the city during and after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has said for months that he would wait until the end of the 2006 elections to decide whether to embark on a White House bid. The former mayor is a moderate who supports gun control, same-sex civil unions, embryonic stem-cell research and abortion rights — stands that would put him at odds with the majority of the GOP conservative base. Giuliani has tried to sidestep those differences and offered strong praise for Bush at the 2004 GOP convention in New York. “It doesn’t matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him or defeat him. They ridiculed Winston Churchill. They belittled Ronald Reagan. But like President Bush, they were optimists. Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present, and it’s set on a future of real peace and security,” Giuliani said. “Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership.”
What are your thoughts on Rudy? In the Straw polls I have seen, he and Newt are in the top…