Before his appearance at the Club for Growth in Washington this morning, Rudy Giuliani announced that he has the endorsement of Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry appeared with Giuliani and strongly endorsed the mayor’s record and candidacy. “I’ve taken the measure of the man,” Perry said of Giuliani, “and I believe without a doubt or reservation that Rudy Giuliani is the most capable, the most prepared individual of either party to be the next president of the United States.” Perry said “I’ve looked [Giuliani] in the eye and asked him the tough questions.” When asked to name one of those tough questions, the strongly pro-life Perry said:
The one that I had concern with, the one that I wanted to hear him give me the answer and to look me right in my eyes, was that issue of who can I expect, what type of individual can I expect on the Supreme Court. And he clearly said, look, I did this for Ronald Reagan, I vetted the judges for President Reagan, I know what those conservative principles are that a Reaganesque individual would be looking for. He said you can look for people like Scalia, Roberts, and Alito. Well, let me tell you, I can live with that.
For his part, when Giuliani was asked what he will tell pro-life activists at the Family Research Council when he speaks to them on Friday, he gave his now-standard, let’s-emphasize-all-the-things-we-agree-on answer. Then Perry, who is the first governor currently in office to endorse Giuliani, was asked about supporting a candidate who had views on social issues with which he disagreed:
When I go to buy a pickup truck, if it’s got one option on it that I’m either not particularly fond of or not looking for, it doesn’t mean I discard that pickup truck. I’m looking at the results. And I think that’s what Americans will coalesce to. They’ll look to the results. What is the result of his candidacy going to be?
Byron York
National Review Online
10/17/7
Magnolia Tribune
