I'm still trying to figure out why Giuliani remains as popular with the GOP as he appears to be. To my reality-based eyes, his life has an awful l
February 28, 2007

I'm still trying to figure out why Giuliani remains as popular with the GOP as he appears to be. To my reality-based eyes, his life has an awful lot of red flags in it to consider him electable by the red states. And as we all know, reality has a liberal bias. And as Ben Smith at The Politico has discovered, so does Guiliani, at least when it comes to nominating judges. Those pesky facts keep getting in the way of posturing yourself as a real conservative, don't they, Rudy?

When Rudy Giuliani faces Republicans concerned about his support of gay rights and legal abortion, he reassures them that he is a conservative on the decisions that matter most.

"I would want judges who are strict constructionists because I am," he told South Carolina Republicans last month. "Those are the kinds of justices I would appoint -- Scalia, Alito and Roberts."

[..](But a) Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular.

A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.

Cumulatively, Giuilani's record was enough to win applause from people like Kelli Conlin, the head of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, the state's leading abortion-rights group. "They were decent, moderate people," she said.

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