Pundits call Rudy too “liberal” to win the GOP nom, but his views on free speech, religion, and government secrecy say otherwise, writes David Greenberg of the Washington Post. Even Rudy's takes on guns, gays, and abortion—allegedly left—are far from it. “As any New Yorker can tell you, the last word anyone in the 1990s would have attached to the brash, furniture-breaking mayor was ‘liberal,’” writes Greenberg.
As NY mayor, Giuliani tried to pull art he called profane; he funded parochial schools with public dough; he seized cars of alleged drunk drivers, even when they were acquitted. "If Giuliani becomes president, he will probably emerge as an unabashed social conservative," Greenberg writes. He warns journalists to not "get fooled" like they were by Bush's "slippery slogan of 'compassionate conservatism.'" (More Rudy Giuliani stories.)