How Giuliani ‘played’-with the crowd, and the press

So how did it go for Rudy Giuliani and the Values Voters Summit in Washington this weekend? As in all things political, it depends on who’s reporting it. None of the media claim he was a huge hit, but what those reports reveal is at least interesting.

Here’s an Associated Press report:

Rudy Giuliani tried to find peace with a restless bloc of the Republican Party Saturday, telling religious conservatives not to fear him for his stand on issues such as abortion or expect he would change purely for political advantage.

The GOP presidential candidate sought common ground with his audience by casting himself as an imperfect man who has asked for guidance through prayer…

“My belief in God and reliance on his guidance is at the core of who I am, I can assure you of that,” Giuliani said. “But isn’t it better for me to tell you what I believe rather than change my positions to fit the prevailing wind?”

One wonders whether he is telling God what he believes, or listening for that guidance.

“People of good conscience reach different conclusions about whether abortions should be legal in certain circumstances,” he said while vowing to increase adoptions.

“We may not always agree,” he said. “I don’t always agree with myself. But I will give you reason to trust me.”

He is using the ‘conscience’ excuse to refuse the guidance of the “Vicar of Christ” and the moral authority of his Church. His private prayer for guidance still leaves him strident about his position on abortion. And he doesn’t always agree with himself. No reassurances there…

Now here’s how the New York Times reported it:

After an earnest appeal for acceptance from Rudolph W. Giuliani, Christian conservatives ended their two-day summit here Saturday still divided about which of the Republican presidential candidates to marshal their collective might behind.

Collective might. Okay, but has the Times ever referred to the secular progressives marshalling their collective might? No matter…

Whatever the outcome of the weekend, Mr. Giuliani’s appearance was one of the most anticipated moments of the campaign.

One of the most anticipated moments of whose campaign?

Like past presidential candidates who addressed their harshest critics with direct talk, he had the potential to create a signature moment for his campaign by strolling directly into the maw of the religious conservative movement.

The “maw of the religious conservative movement”? My Oxford dictionary defines ‘maw’ as “the jaws or throat of a voracious animal”.

This is clearly tendentious reporting. But this is the Times.

And then…

He was followed to the podium a short while later by Mr. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist minister, who drew repeated boisterous standing ovations. Mr. Huckabee’s speech, full of his trademark quips, adept use of Bible stories and red-meat declarations about faith and values, had the feel at times of a Pentecostal tent revival.

His “adept use of Bible stories” and “red-meat declarations about faith and values”, and the atmosphere of a “Pentecostal tent revival.”

This is yet another media manipulation of public opinion to paint people of faith as extreme and instill fear of religious extremism in the minds of voters.

Not all reporters are on that agenda, however. By contrast, the AP story reported the same appearance this way:

But [Giuliani’s] reception was in stark contrast to the ovations for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a one-time Baptist preacher who is a sentimental favorite of many religious conservatives.

Huckabee mixed humor, biblical references and the rhythms of a man used to the pulpit as he implored the crowd to put values above politics and not make expedient decisions.

He called for a constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be between a man and a woman and decried the “holocaust of liberalized abortion.”

“We do not have the right to move the standards of God to meet cultural norms. We need to move the cultural norms to meet God’s standards,” he said, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Their GOP rivals, in speeches Friday, courted the conservative religious voters, who have a tradition of influence in elections.

Which is another – less scary - way of saying they have “collective might.”