May 15, 2007 12:05 AM

Rudy Redux

The Republicans debate again tonight, which means Rudy Giuliani gets a do-over. But I doubt it will do him much good.

Giuliani has a big problem for a Republican presidential candidate. He's pro-choice, and there's no way he can talk his way around it. He's pro-choice. He has given money to Planned Parenthood. He says poor women should have the same rights to an abortion as other women. This says remarkably like -- you guessed it -- Hillary Clinton.

He may say he "hates" abortion. He may say, to mix it up, he "abhors" abortion. But he's pro-choice in an anti-choice party, where a lot of people equate abortion with murder. So what's a poor Rudy to do?

First choice: Not what he did the last time.

In the last debate, he said it would be "OK" if Roe v. Wade were overturned by the Supreme Court. And he said it would be "OK" if Roe v. Wade were not overturned. The waffle part wasn't as bad as what sounded like, you know, either way it's OK by him. Is indifference ever really the right answer on abortion?

Giuliani made a do-over speech last week in Houston about his stand on abortion. Abortion, he said, is "morally wrong." He said, though, he still believes the choice is ultimately with the woman. Now you may think that's a sane approach. But if you do, you didn't write the Republican party platform. It's also the stance of many, uh, Democrats. And it's the stance that Giuliani says Republicans have to accept if they want him as their nominee.

That might work in a speech. But I guarantee it won't work in a debate, where nine other candidates strongly oppose abortion and want you to know that. They also want Giuliani to look very lonely on another stage.. And he could look even worse, depending how the questions go in the South Carolina debate.

You see, he could get stuck again. Abortion is a huge problem for Giuliani in, say, a South Carolina primiary. It's not his only problem.

Here's a 1994 Giuliani quote from a Washington Post story on illegal immigration and the debate:

"If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city."

Which brings us to the inevitable Tom Tancredo segue. Tancredo was, of course, the only candidate who had a worse night than Giuliani at the Reagan Library. This is also a do-over for Tancredo, who basically forgot what he was doing in the first debate. I mean, does anyone really think Tancredo can become president? My theory is that Tancredo blew the first debate by trying to be presidential. Let's just say it didn't work.

He's the single-issue guy, and all he can do is show that illegal immigration is his issue. And if he can't make a dent in McCain and Giuliani at the same time, what's really the point? In the last debate, McCain ripped him and Tancredo said . . . nothing. In the cast of 10 candidates, he looked completely lost. Chris Matthews forgot he was there.

One problem for Tancredo is well known to anyone who has ever interviewed him. He can ramble. Ask him a question and often he'll get to what he watched on the History Channel last night before he gets to the answer. In the last debate, he took so long to say he was "proud" of George Bush that he didn't get a chance to say that he's not really that proud of him and that, in fact, in many ways Bush has been a disaster. It's what Tancredo said to Politico just days before the debate.

He gets another chance to blast away tonight. Of course, he still faces the same question he has faced all along - will anyone care if he does?

Giuliani doesn't have that problem. In fact, as the Republican poll-leader goes into the debate, worrying about getting noticed may be the only problem he doesn't have.

Posted by Mike Littwin at 12:05 AM | Comments (4)