Rudy Blows It

A number of conservatives like me have been very willing to consider voting for Rudy Giuliani. He has obvious strong points (including a good chance of beating Hillary), and although Giuliani is pro-choice, his promises to pick justices in the mold of Roberts or Alito sounded good to pro-life conservatives.

Last February I wrote: "...one of the things President Bush did his first week in office was withdraw federal funding for international abortion programs. Giuliani pledging not to restore that kind of funding would be a significant way to build bridges with pro-life conservatives."

Unfortunately the mayor blew it today, saying that he supports federal funding for some abortions, which are "a constitutional right."

Oh, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy...you were really in the process of winning me over. I won't support McCain and don't particularly like Romney, either -- and I don't think Romney could win the general election, in any event.

I am willing to bend to a certain degree -- we have a War on Terror and Hillary Clinton to worry about -- but the belief that I should have to fund someone else's abortion is just much too much for me.

As Ed Morrissey writes: "Even conservatives who adopt the more libertarian position on abortion as a personal choice object to the government funding of those procedures under any circumstances. Personal choice does not equate to government financing -- which makes each abortion so funded a public policy by definition."

Bring on Fred Thompson...please?

Update: Rudy's campaign follows up today with a pledge that Rudy "will not seek to change current law as described in the Hyde Amendment."