It's hard to offend both major branches of the Republican Party in one fell swoop, but Mayor Rudy Giuliani's confirmation today that he still supports publicly funded abortions has put him at odds with leading social and fiscal conservatives.
For example, Grover Norquist, a leading fiscal conservative and president of Americans for Tax Reform, told me this evening:
"Some Republicans are in favor of legalized abortions. No Republican is in favor of stealing money from the taxpayers to subsidize abortions."
And Dr. Carl Herbster, a leading Christian conservative had this to say: "... Not only are we not in favor of supporting abortions, we're not in favor of abortions, period. He also added: "I do appreciate his honesty. I just totally disagree with his position."
And Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition told me:
“Mayor Giuliani is not going to be able to have any strong base of support from the religious right or the conservative base. Supporting federally funded abortions is an anathema to all of us who believe abortion is murder ... Tell Mayor Giuliani to look out: That Governor from Massachusetts is coming right up the middle!”
Referencing Robert Mapplethorpe's controversial "art," Dr. Richard Land said:
"There's a huge difference between having the right to do something and having the government to subsidize it ... As a lawyer, (Rudy) should know better."
When I contacted the campaign about this story, Mayor Giuliani responded (through his campaign): “As I have indicated before I will not seek to change current law as described in the Hyde Amendment.”