I presume you will then back the one candidate that matches that description best, the one guy tough enough to fix NYC,

Rudy Giuliani.

Of course I expect the following response:
1. I am a northeastern RINO
2. Rudy is wrong on some "culture of life" issues

Excuse me if I don't think the jihadists give a hog's ass about those things

ORONMAN -

Exactly what I was/am thinking.

Rudy will be the next president doing what is right instead of expedient.

I'm with you guys. Rudi has balls. The rest, both Dems and Reps, are worthless.

Nearly a decade later, the Flying Monkey Right still foams at the mouth about Clinton's blow job. Dubya ran on a platform of bringing dignity back to the white house (code for no extramarital fooling around).

I hear the trolls here defend Bush's lying about his agenda, his military service, the Iraq invasion, wiretapping, leaks, progress in the WOT, etc defended by an angry, sputtering "Well, CLINTON got a blow job!!!"

Yeah, well so what...? I've had one. The world would be a happier place if everybody got one.

So now, everybody wants to get behind Rudy, is that it? Um... Lemmie see. This is a married man, visited by his mistress in the governors mansion.

But I guess it's the govenors manson, not the white house... So that makes it different for you all, I assume?

Where's all the outrage?

Bill Clinton, as if I need to remind folks again, was impeached for lying under oath and obstructing justice, in order to quash a lawsuit against him. Charges which he later admitted, to Congress and to a federal judge.

The only lies, as usual, come from the Left.

DJ pegged the lefties. Elect the wrong president in 08 and thousands of Americans will die to pay for the mistake. Hundreds of military members have died in the WOT "due to the democrats" providing aide and comfort along with leaking top secret national security information. The democrats could care less how many others die, including the fools that support them, as long as they gain power for themselves. They have no interest in the safety of the people of the United States and they prove it daily. As a retired member (22 years) of the United States Air Force I no longer trust any democrat. You notice I didn't call them lefties, they are all now the mainstream democrat party. Gone as Americans and I hope soon forgotten. Hundreds of thousands are no better than Saddam and deserve the same fate.

If the expected massive terror attacks don't hapen before the 2008 eections, how is Rudy going to get elected? What is going to change the current dynamics of fading 9/11 memories, increasing frustration with Iraq, and increasing complacency due to lack of terrorist attack?

Rudy's one strength, his leadership in NY after 9/11, is a declining vote driver, and will not change unless there is another attack. That is why he will not win, either the primary or the generla election.

Sam obviously was not familiar with NYC during the Dinkins years

I think Rudy's record of overall competence (crime,jobs etal)addresses the non-terror angst of the American public

Sorry, I am fully aware of NYC in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. However, the South and West, where the Republican nomination will be decided, is not New York City.

If it were not for 9/11, Rudy would not get a second look as a Republican candidate.

His social positions are more suited to the Democratic Party, 180-degrees opposite of Republcan primary voters. His personal life is a tabloid soap-opera. Anyone who thinks Republican primary voters are going to be voting in droves for a gun-control, partial-abortion, gay-marriage supporting candidate from the Northeast is totally delusional.

He has no natural base of his own in the Republican party, neither social nor geographic. Any strength he may have in the NE is diluted by two facts: (1) Romney, and (2) the NE does not determine the Republican candidate.

The primary calendar is against him. After the media-driven hoopla of Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary, Feb 5 2008 brings up Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia. Rudy will be lucky if he wins one of the Feb 5 states, let alone Texas, Ohio, and others over the next few weeks. The Republican race will be over by middle of February.

The problem that sam addresses is absolutely true. As we get farther away from 9-11 it fades from our collective memory. The reason we haven't had an attack is that the terrorists know that under W, there will be swift and deadly reprisals. The reason we had the attack on 9-11 was because, year after year, attack after attack, there were absolutely no reprisals by the Clinton administration, and therefore no consequences.

Every few years, after a successful republican presidency, the electorate looks at the grass on the other side of the fence and elects a democrat. Usually, as in the case of the last two democrat presidents, we realize quickly that it was a big mistake. Unfortunately, I see another Democrat becoming president in "08 and the dire consequences that that will beget is another attack either on the scale, or larger than the attacks on 9-11.

Arcman:

I don't know how true it is that terrorists are scared of Bush and any retaliation. I do not believe that terror organizations would delay any massive attack if they had the capability. I think a more likely explantion is that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with security measures around financial tracking, physical movement, and comunications tracking around the world, has made it harder for terrorists to organize another massive attack in the US.