Giuliani’s Pass

Clayton comments:

My guess is that the reason Giuliani has been getting a pass from NRA leadership is:

1. They perceive him as someone that can defeat Clinton in the general election.

2. He’s not a social conservative. I get the impression from who NRA leadership favors that they are libertarian, not conservative.

Maybe Giuliani has really changed his mind on this. But call me skeptical.

Well, at this point, it wouldn’t really make good political sense to snub Giuliani, Romney, or really anyone. It’s very early in the game, and the winner is far from clear. It would be unwise to alienate the candidate that walks away with the nomination. Giuliani is certainly, from a gun rights point of view, far far from a desirable candidate, but if he wins, that’s who we have to work with, if Hillary or Obama is the nominee.

If by some miracle Bill Richardson wins the nomination, then Richardson should get the endorsement, because he’s more pro-gun than any of them. But it’s probably going to be Hillary. Given that, if I were NRA leadership, I’d be very prejudiced to endorsing Giuliani for 2008, but would hold out the possibility, if we like how he treats us on our issues, of an endorsement in 2012.  In 2008, I would agree that we’ll help tar The Hildabeast, and make it clear to our membership what Hillary’s record is on our issue.  In short, I’d make people hate me by playing politics ;)

I agree with Clayton that I doubt Rudy has had a real change of heart. But I’m not sure that matters. What matter is that he understands where his bread gets buttered. It’s not ideal. As I mentioned yesterday, it helps to have a real friend in the White House, but absent that, a guy you can deal with is better than Hillary.