Dorchester Republicans Pick...Giuliani for Pres??

This may be the only tasty nugget of Dorchester info that Carla didn't provide this weekend, and to my mind it's an awfully curious nugget:

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid looks like it's picking up steam in Oregon.

Giuliani easily won a straw poll Sunday taken among delegates to the Dorchester Convention, an annual gathering of influential Oregon Republicans. He picked up 60 votes from attendees, nearly twice that of his closest competitor, former Georgia Rep. Newt Gingrich, who finished with 35 votes.

Among the other marquee candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has received endorsements from Oregon GOP party chair Vance Day and former gubernatorial candidate Kevin Mannix, pulled in 23 votes. Arizona Sen. John McCain brought up the rear with 19 votes, though he has won the endorsement of Oregon's most prominent Republican, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith.

"There's a recognition that we need to do something different to win," said Troy Nichols, a Republican consultant. "And Giuliani, if you look at his record in New York, he's done more on Republican ideas and principles than any other candidate."

Giuliani's relatively liberal leanings on social issues are likely to play well in Oregon and the West, delegates said, where many Republicans have a strong libertarian streak and shy away from government regulation of individual behavior.

Giuliani is the choice of the Oregon right wing? Really? Do they even know what the guy stands for, or are they just desperate for someone who doesn't have "19th century troglodyte" stamped in ink on their forehead? I thought the state Republican base was turned off by faux-wingnuts like Ron Saxton, and were angry at Republicans like Gordon Smith, who they think has sold them out on Iraq and immigration.

So why would they then pick Rudy? Who are they kidding?

• Rudy is pro-choice, AND backs late-term abortions (what the right wing calls "partial-birth"


• Rudy backs same-sex marriage, not to mention civil unions.


• Rudy backs the President's amnesty AND guest worker proposals. (That ought to have been enough to disqualify him from the entire Dorchester ballot!)


• Rudy wants all gun owners to be licensed.

There may be more, but really, isn't that enough? Does it shock no one, that Oregon Republicans have just indicated at one of their biggest functions of the year that their favorite candidate for President is a thrice-divorced, pro-gay, pro-choice, pro-gun control, "pro-illegal immigrant" guy whose own son won't help him get elected?

Care to explain, trolls of Loaded O?