Rudy is a pure hawkish opportunist egomaniac, pure and simple, who can’t resist throwing a zinger to his opponents at every juncture.

He’s a Jekyll/Hyde personality, as well as a complete failure as father and husband imho.

And, as president, should that nightmare come to be, he will authorize the use of torture not just because he is an authoritarian who believes in it but because his understanding of the world and of his place in it begins and ends with New York and the ideological prism of religious and political authoritarianism through which his narrow experience and limited knowledge are filtered.

Michael, where do you get the idea that Rudy views anything from a “religious authoritarianism” standpoint? The guy has been criticized by many Christian conservatives precisely because he doesn’t use Christian reasoning as the basis for his opinions.

And do you really believe Rudy is some type of authoritarian who doesn’t favor individual freedoms? If so, on what do you base your opinion? The fact that he doesn’t define “torture” in the same way Democrats do? Do you see him as someone who will work to curtail our free speech rights via advocating the return of the Fairness Doctrine, for example, as Congressional Democrats are doing? Do you see him as a candidate in favor of taking away from one group, in order to benefit another, a Socialist-sounding promise made by none other than Hillary Clinton (”We’re going to take things away from
you on behalf of the common good“)? Did you know that Hillary Clinton, as recently asOctober of last year, implied there would be rare instances where so-called “torture” would be appropriate to use? Does that make her “authoritarian,” too?

I say all this as someone who isn’t a big defender of Rudy, but who is seeing some things in your argument that are questionable as it relates to Rudy’s views on freedom and religion.