2008 SelectSmart.com Presidential Candidate Selector Candidate Positions
Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani - Republican (Born May 28, 1944) Lawyer, businessman
War authorization: Has supported Bush's management of the war in Iraq from the start. Referring to McCaskill’s call to redeploy troops away from Iraq over the next two years, Giuliani said: “Giving your enemy the impression that you’re going to run away emboldens them.” Source
Security/liberties: Giuliani applauded [former Senator] Talent’s support for the Patriot Act and electronic surveillance of terror suspects. “Mob suspects and terrorists do not come walking into your office and confess,” he said. “You have to intrude. Source
Social Security: He favors allowing some investment in private accounts.
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Same sex issues: "Gays should be protected. I signed The Domestic Partnership Law in New York. But the way I'm portrayed by my opponents -- and I guess to drive people away from me -- is that I'm in favor of gay marriage. I am not." Larry King Show
Trade issues:
Budget issues: According to his campaign site, "Rudy Giuliani inherited a $2.3 billion dollar budget deficit and turned it into a multi-billion dollar surplus, while cutting taxes and delivering balanced budgets. He cut the number of full-time city workers by more than 20,000 – excluding teachers, firefighters, and police officers – while slowing the growth of government spending to below the rate of inflation."
Business & labor issues:
Abortion issues: Pro-choice.
Capital punishment: Supports death penalty.
Marijuana: Does not support legalization of marijuana.
Gun control: Favors gun control. "But I also understand the second amendment. I understand the right to bear arms. I think that a lot of these things have to be resolved on a state by state basis. And I used say often when I was the mayor, it's one thing for New York, it's something different for Texas." Larry King Show
Minimum wage: Opposed increase in minimum wage. Source
Health care: The nation's current system of health care is "imperfect'' but a single-payer system, such as found in Europe and Canada, is not the way to improve it, according to Giuliani.
"We (need to) build it based on private insurance, competition, markets,'' Giuliani said.
Giuliani noted that even with the current "imperfect'' health care system stories of residents from Europe, Canada and other countries coming to the United States for state-of-the-art medical treatment are common but stories of American's traveling to other countries for medical treatment are rare at best.
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Prescription drugs: Called for moratorium on prescription drug importation. "We should not contemplate opening our borders to threats to our medicine supply when in all other aspects we are searching for ways to tighten the security of our borders," Giuliani says in his report.
Environmental issues: As mayor of New York City, Giuliani's environmental record was mixed -- "pretty unremarkable, and at times dismal," said Ashok Gupta, chief energy economist for the New York City-based Natural Resources Defense Council. But he noted that Giuliani was "supportive" of the environmentally ambitious green-development projects of his close friend and colleague George Pataki, governor of New York.
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Immigration issues: Supports amnesty/permanent legalization for illegal aliens and temporary legalization for illegal aiens as guestworkers
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Education issues: Giuliani believes that every parent should have “the ability to send their child to the school of their choice, be it public, private, or parochial.” --Campaign website