SACRAMENTO — Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph W.
Giuliani praised President Bush's war leadership on Saturday and
mocked supporters of a nonbinding congressional resolution condemning
the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq.
The former New York City mayor came to Bush's defense as he promoted
his White House candidacy at a California Republican convention.
Drawing parallels between Iraq and America's Civil War, Giuliani
compared Bush's political troubles to Abraham Lincoln's. When
the Civil War was unpopular, Giuliani said, Lincoln "kept
his eye ahead."
"He was able to say, 'I know my people are frustrated, and
I know my people are angry at me.' " But after weighing public
opinion, Lincoln had "that ability that a leader has —
a leader like George Bush, a leader like Ronald Reagan —
to look into the future," Giuliani said.
Giuliani's defense of the currently unpopular president comes
as he is portraying himself as a decisive leader unafraid to buck
public opinion.
Several potential Republican presidential candidates, including
Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
as well as Giuliani, have supported Bush's plan to add more than
20,000 troops to U.S. forces in Iraq.
The major Democratic candidates have opposed the move. Several
are senators who have advocated a nonbinding resolution condemning
the buildup.
"In the business world, if two weeks were spent on a nonbinding
resolution, it would be considered nonproductive," Giuliani
told the lunch crowd, setting off a burst of laughter.
He called the concept "a comment without making a decision."
America, he added, is "very fortunate to have President Bush."
"Presidents can't do nonbinding resolutions. Presidents
have to make decisions and move the country forward, and that's
the kind of president that I would like to be, a president who
makes decisions."
Giuliani, who takes liberal stands on abortion, guns and gay
rights, avoided those issues in his speech to party delegates,
many of whom are staunch social conservatives. They warmly applauded
him, giving him several standing ovations for a speech that emphasized
tough rhetoric on terrorism and repeated invocations of Reagan
and other Republican icons.
"The great moral issue of Ronald Reagan's time was defeating
communism, and he understood that," said Giuliani, whose
national popularity burgeoned after he led New York through the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "The great moral issue of our
time is defeating terrorism."
Giuliani spent a good deal of time in Sacramento courting Republican
lawmakers, part of his early effort to build the foundation of
a political operation in California.
The state, long an afterthought in races for parties' presidential
nominations, California is likely to play a much larger role in
2008 because lawmakers are on the verge of advancing the state's
primary to Feb. 5.
That could benefit Giuliani, since California's Republicans are
somewhat more accommodating to socially moderate candidates than
those in other states. He plans to spend Monday and Tuesday in
California as well, raising money and introducing himself to key
voter groups.
Giuliani made the rounds of Republican constituency groups at
the convention, attending small meetings of women, Jews, Asian
Americans and lawyers.
But he canceled a plan to take questions from members of the
conservative California Republican Assembly. The group's president,
Mike Spence, called it "your basic snub."
"His problem is that his views on so many issues are out
of the mainstream of the Republican Party," Spence said.
"He has a lot of explaining to do."
But Bruce L. Bialosky, a moderate Republican fundraiser in Los
Angeles, called Giuliani "an excellent candidate" after
hearing his speech.
"He can really connect with the American people," Bialosky
said.
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