Ryan Sager says Rudy Giuliani has flip-flopped on McCain-Feingold with his statement today, in which the former New York Mayor and current Republican presidential candidate said, "I support this Supreme Court decision, which is a welcome victory for free speech and personal liberty. The ruling protects freedom to participate in the electoral process and recognizes political free speech is the foundation of our First Amendment rights."
Says Sager:
This is big news, as Mr. Giuliani had been supportive of McCain-Feingold in particular, and campaign-finance reform in general, in the past.
Sager cites a Club for Growth piece on Giuliani's position on McCain-Feingold earlier this year...
Rudy Giuliani's record on protecting political free speech falls woefully short. When John McCain launched his campaign finance crusade on
the political stage, Mayor Giuliani was an unabashed supporter, telling
CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a 2000 interview: "I'm a very, very strong supporter of campaign finance reform. A very strong supporter of McCain-Feingold for a long, long time now."
As recently as December 2006, Giuliani was still praising McCain-Feingold. When radio host Dennis Prager pressed him, asking "Why shouldn't people just be allowed to give any amount of money they want to any candidate, and just have it publicly known? Why should there be a law limiting that freedom?" the notoriously blunt Mayor hesitated, but ultimately embraced his previous support: "I think there are very good arguments on either side of that. I've always lived under a campaign finance law that had limitations on it, so I'm sort of pretty comfortable with
it."
Sager: It seems difficult to reconcile the two positions. Mr. Giuliani may never
have specifically addressed the ad ban, but I've never heard a skeptical
word from him on the issue until now. Mr. Giuliani's new position is certainly one conservatives will be happy to hear him take (this libertarian finds it to be good news), but it puts him in the company of Mitt Romney, whose newfound loathing of campaign-finance reform also represents something of an "evolution."
McCain-Feingold is an albatross around John McCain's political neck. That's why Romney and Giuliani are praising today's Supreme Court decision.
Comment Preview