The religious right is making noise about the fact that Giuliani has been married three times, they find this unacceptable. I've already mentioned that I really don't care how many times a candidate has been married, it's the issues that are the problem. I think that what makes Giuliani unacceptable as a candidate is his stand on abortion. It dilutes the strength of our position to be throwing in all these other issues that really don't matter and probably won't effect our vote:
A Southern Baptist leader said Tuesday that evangelical voters might tolerate a divorced presidential candidate, but they have deep doubts about GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times.(via)
Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press that evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from his second wife, television personality Donna Hanover.
"I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land said. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."
[...]
Land noted that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been married twice, but said the Arizona senator has acknowledged his part in the failure of his first marriage.
"It's a molehill compared to Giuliani's mountain," Land said. "When you're a war hero [like McCain], you have less to prove on the character front."
I think that Giuliani's character was proven by the job he did in NY and I think that Land should remember that Giuliani has a track record for governance.
I agree completely with this take:
But politically speaking, I think the abortion issue is going to be a much harder obstacle to overcome than his marital behavior. Why? Because the voters don’t have to live with him - but they have to live with his political decisions and judicial appointments.Our focus as Christians who believe that abortion is murder should be on Giuliani's stand and to remind people that we are the pro-life party and we want to remain that way. Our presidential candidate should reflect our position and Giuliani does not. But that being said, I will still vote for him in the general but not the primary because it really does matter where the president stands on abortion. I know Republicans are trying to push the idea that abortion is a states rights issue and the president really doesn't have much say but in response to that I have three words: stem cell research. You really don't think that Giuliani would veto it, do you?
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