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Can'thavenuthingood
02-12-2007, 06:43 AM
He's going to speak at the Farm Show in Tulare tuesday morning as part of the opening ceremonies.
I'm going to make an attempt to convince myself I need to go there and mingle with the maddening mob of people. Its only 40 minutes away and the show itself is good.

Hillary ought to be popping in anytime now.

I'm all atwitter.

Vick

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Rural Californians Abuzz as Giuliani Is Set To Visit
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 12, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/48436

As Mayor Giuliani looks over the acres of gleaming tractors, mammoth cotton harvesters, and high-tech cow milking equipment at a fair in California's vast agricultural heartland tomorrow morning, he will surely feel like he's a long way from Manhattan.

The prospect of a visit from the man billed as America's mayor already has local folks in California's central valley atwitter. "Honestly, this is probably the biggest name we've had," the chairman of the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., Bruce Shannon, said yesterday.

Mr. Shannon allowed that Mr. Giuliani had "probably not run into a lot of combines and tractors" on the streets of Manhattan, but the organizer said the former New York mayor's reputation precedes him. "Rudy's very popular here," Mr. Shannon said.

In the coming year, these kinds of rural visits and forays to California's sprawling cities could become commonplace for Mr. Giuliani; the Golden State is poised to become a linchpin of his strategy for winning the Republican nomination for president.

One of the key factors pushing California to the fore of Mr. Giuliani's agenda is Governor Schwarzenegger's plan to move the state's presidential primaries up to February 5 from the current date in June.

"I think it will have a big impact," Mr. Giuliani said Saturday after addressing a state party convention in Sacramento. "You're going to have to spend a lot of time here. That's not so hard," he joked.

A political analyst at the University of Southern California, Sherry Be***** Jeffe, said the state's large number of socially liberal Republicans and independents could give a boost to Mr. Giuliani, if he can't win January contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"If he really does well in California, it could make up for stumbles in the early states, because they're really not his strengths," Ms. Jeffe said. "I can't believe he won't pay special attention to California. … He could be helped quite a bit by California moving its primary."

In a little-noted California poll last month, Mr. Giuliani held a sizable lead over the rest of the Republican field. The American Research Group survey found that Mr. Giuliani had the support of 33% of likely Republican primary voters; a former House speaker who is mulling a bid but not formally exploring one, Newt Gingrich, was at 19%; and Senator McCain of Arizona had 18% support. A former Massachusetts governor who is painting himself as the most viable true conservative in the race, Mitt Romney, had just 3% backing. Some 22% of the 600 Republicans and independents surveyed said they were undecided.

Also fueling a possible romance between the former Gotham mayor and the Golden State is the unexpectedly warm reception he got Saturday from Republican delegates and activists, who tend to be much more conservative than primary voters. "It quite impressed me," Ms. Jeffe said. "These guys believe he is the consummate anti-Hillary. He looks to them to be the only person who has the chance of beating her."

In his speech, Mr. Giuliani promised determined leadership in the fight against terrorism, but he generally ignored social issues such as abortion and gay rights, where he is at odds with many in his party. Several delegates interviewed by The New York Sun after Mr. Giuliani spoke said he would get wide support despite any differences on social issues.

"I liked his take on the troops and Iraq," a retired state employee from Solano County, Calif., Julia Thompson, said. "I think most of us have come to realize that there are emotional issues and there are real issues. A lot of the issues he didn't talk about are ones that are not going to affect my daily life."

A professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College, John Pitney Jr., attributes Mr. Giuliani's popularity to the pre-eminence of the war on terror in the minds of many Republican voters.

"He's established his machismo on that issue. That gives him a certain amount of running room on social issues," Mr. Pitney said.

Still, it was clear at the Republican convention that Mr. Giuliani is not everyone's cup of tea. The leader of a conservative caucus within the party, the California Republican Assembly, complained that Mr. Giuliani promised to meet the group Saturday but jilted them. "He failed to show up at our meeting that he was asked to come to and committed to come to," the group's president, Mike Spence, said.

The Giuliani campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the episode.

Mr. Spence said Mr. Giuliani was attempting to evade questions about his views on gay rights and abortion but would not be able to elude them during the back-and-forth of the upcoming campaign. "He still has to answer the questions," the conservative leader said.

Mr. Spence also cautioned against reading too much into the warm reception given to Mr. Giuliani weekend. "Six months ago, everybody was falling all over Romney. It's different when you get them all on the same stage and you have to make a decision," Mr. Spence said.

Mr. Giuliani also cultivated California talent for his campaign team recently, hiring a former communications director for Mr. Schwarzenegger, Katie Levinson.

February 12, 2007 Edition > Section: National > Printer-Friendly Version

AJAX22
02-12-2007, 07:08 AM
I hope some of our more rural citizens ask him WTF he's been doing with his unconstitutional gun controll policy's.

It's been a while since we've had anyone tarred feathered and run out of town on a rail.

Can'thavenuthingood
02-12-2007, 07:18 AM
This is the first I've seen him address gun control and it was a snippet, something to quash the question and move on. He knows there is more to it than hunting but won't go there.
Hope someone can drag him out for clarification of who he thinks ought to control the gun.

Vick

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021100766.html

Giuliani: Gun Control Helped Lower Crime

The Associated Press
Sunday, February 11, 2007; 4:28 PM

SACRAMENTO -- Rudy Giuliani addressed a potentially troublesome issue with conservative voters, saying his policies as mayor to get handguns off the street helped reduce crime in New York.

"I used gun control as mayor," he said at a news conference Saturday during a swing through California. But "I understand the Second Amendment. I understand the right to bear arms."

He said what he did as mayor would have no effect on hunting.

Addressing another potential trouble spot with conservatives, Giuliani spoke in favor of a border fence, saying, "You have to have secure borders, you have to have a fence, and the fence I think has to be a highly technological one."

The nation needs to know, he said, who is coming into the country and why. But he provided scant details on how he would deal with illegal immigrants already in the country. Citizens, he added, should be able to read and write English.

Giuliani was to make an address Monday in Silicon Valley and he was to appear Tuesday at an agricultural fair in the Central Valley.

Asked when he would make a formal announcement that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination, Giuliani said: "Well, formally announce? I don't know."

He then alluded to making an announcement in multiple locations "so we get more attention" but provided no details.

© 2007 The Associated Press

triggerhappy
02-12-2007, 08:55 AM
I'd also like to ask Rudy, how he figures being a big city slickster brings to him farm country. Politicians suck.:mad:

CalNRA
02-12-2007, 09:38 AM
honestly, after the whole "I support hunting" rethoric, how much would the rural California farmers care about his stance on th 2nd? No offence but the rural people aren't the most up-to-date in the fight in Sacramento and what Giuliani stands for. I think they would just eat it up and content to support a Republican.

royta
02-12-2007, 10:00 AM
honestly, after the whole "I support hunting" rethoric, how much would the rural California farmers care about his stance on th 2nd? No offence but the rural people aren't the most up-to-date in the fight in Sacramento and what Giuliani stands for. I think they would just eat it up and content to support a Republican.

I sure hope you're not right. I grew up in as rural of an area as you probably could. Siskiyou County. I know/knew, through my father, some very intelligent business owners (you can still be quite intelligent and work with your hands for a living), and I'm quite confident that they would be able to see through the Giuliani BS.

Wulf
02-12-2007, 10:26 AM
The fact of the matter is I believe it will be increasingly hard to find truly "pro" gun canidates that utter those convictions fully in public. I think in the future we need to learn to make our line in the sand with canidates that protect the constitution and then count on a properly constituted judiciary to protect guns specifically.

Executive office in a representative government needs to be more about safeguarding the rule of law and representing the will of the people than about expressing your own personal convictions. Of course taken too far you get a Clinton or Hillary that does nothing but follow the day to day drift of the polls. There's definately an art to being a true leader, leading based on personal conviction and a sound sense of what is right and wrong, but still being an honest representative of the people.

Guliani's historic position on gun control, essentialy for "reasonable" gun control, represents about as pro-gun a stance as you're likely to find in a successful New York politician; to do anything more pro gun would be substiantially contrary to the people that elected him. My hope is that when faced with a national audience he will strike a more moderate (less anti) stance more in line with the U.S. at large; but tempered with a fundimental respect for the constitution. The fact of the matter is if Guliani said what we have is enough, but any more is unacceptible and then worked with judge picks and the DOJ to bring the states into line with the feds, it would be a substiantial step up for us here in Ca. CCW repreocity, insti-check, high-caps, and real AR grips would seem like a joy here.

I think we better all get used to the idea of Guliani being the Republican canidate. Aside from his stance on abortion his nomination would be all but a done deal. And I think the fact that he's from new york gives him a built in excuse to moderate his stances on gun control, abortion, and gay rights without looking like an issue whore like McCain.

jumbopanda
02-12-2007, 10:27 AM
"I support the people's right to keep and bear arms!.....with reasonable restrictions..."

CalNRA
02-12-2007, 10:34 AM
it has NOTHING to do with intellegnce. My grandparents and most uncles are coal miners in West Virginia and they are real smart people, but they don't care about gun laws enough beyond their 870s and 1300s. Does your father care about the latest legislations regarding OLLs? does he have time to call and write the legislature constantly? I hope so.

Heck even I am not upto date on the latest stuff sometimes, a hard-working farmers doesn't have all day to contemplate gun laws, and that's where the anti-gun GOP elements can attack and sneakly win.


I sure hope you're not right. I grew up in as rural of an area as you probably could. Siskiyou County. I know/knew, through my father, some very intelligent business owners (you can still be quite intelligent and work with your hands for a living), and I'm quite confident that they would be able to see through the Giuliani BS.

h.bowman
02-12-2007, 11:01 AM
He was on Hannity and Cadaver the other day and Hannity pressed him on the issue of gun control. He danced aound for minute, and when pressed, he cited his anti-gun stance was really all about NYC in the 90s when crime was so bad, something had to be done about it. He said that he wouldn't be so tough in less populated areas with less crime. I don't believe any of it. His record is anti-gun and thats all I need to know.

Sundowner
02-12-2007, 11:04 AM
Well, shucks, folks. I live hear in "the country" and all the farmers I know have at least a Bachelor's degree in Ag Science and can actually read and write! We have TV's, Internet and all that good stuff which does kinda keep us in touch with the "real world". Gosh, I'd hate to think that you smart city folks don't believe we can help in the 'good fight' for gun rights.

CalNRA
02-12-2007, 11:20 AM
geez, don't hang me in a hurry folks. It has NOTHING to do with intelligence, and I repeat, this has nothing to do with intelligence, just priority in one's life.

bg
02-12-2007, 11:21 AM
I'd ask him why he's pro illegal immigration while
being so against the Right to Keep & Bear Arms.

CalNRA
02-12-2007, 11:31 AM
I'd ask him why he's pro illegal immigration while
being so against the Right to Keep & Bear Arms.

kinda hard to preach against illegal immigration in a farming community now that a lot of small farm owners have been squeezed out of business.;)

last time I checked farm owners in Pajaro valley are thrilled to pay 3.50 anhour for strawberry pickers.

besides, even according to the logic of many calguns folks, he is just giving them "basic human rights".

Californio
02-12-2007, 12:18 PM
I don't buy the hunting deal. The 2nd is not about hunting but RKBA period, he is creating his version of the 2nd and it’s not mine.

We bash Canada a lot but the growers up there go to Mexico and at grower expense put the hires up in a hotel, fly them to Canada, provide housing while at work in Canada and when the work is done put them back on a plane to Mexico. It works and we should do the same.

I am for fence and kill zone at the Southern Border, for more issues than just illegal immigration. I think the Central Valley Growers could be brought on board with a National plan that works like Canada.

Wulf
02-12-2007, 12:24 PM
I don't believe any of it. His record is anti-gun and thats all I need to know.

Well, Romney's in the same ball park as Guliani on gun control. McCain is a little better on guns than Guliani and Romney but only a little, which is inexcusable seeing as how he's from ARIZONA! I can understand an New Englander or a New Yorker having to be flexible on the Gun issue to stay viable at the State level, but McCain from Arizona has no excuse....and besides its not like McCain wouldent flip flop if it got him a soft ball interview and favorable treatment by the media. Brownback is solidly pro, but he doesnt have any money, poll position, or intrinsic name recognition.

If Guliani wins and gets us another Justice like Scalia or Thomas (which is what he's suggested he'd do), and put in a AG that expoused a "individual rights" interpretation, I'd consider it as huge a pro-gun win as we have any right to expect out of a Presidential election. And I think both of those are reasonable expectations from Guliani.

m1aowner
02-13-2007, 12:30 AM
He's a rudy poo candy asss.