Last Friday's David Brooks column on "The Real Rudy" contains some Giuliani quotes that are sure to make it into a Romney attack ad (if they haven't already!). But I think Brooks overstates the extent to which Giuliani has tacked right on the immigration issue. Here's Brooks:
At the moment, Giuliani and fellow moderate Mitt Romney are attacking each other for being insufficiently Tancredo-esque. They are not renouncing the policies they championed as city and state officials, but the emphasis as they run for federal office is all in the other direction. In effect, they are competing to drive away Hispanic votes and make the party unelectable in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Florida and the nation at large.
Thing is, Giuliani may have opposed the Senate compromise immigration plan earlier this year, but he still supports some sort of non-amnesty amnesty for illegal immigrants who are not criminals and who come forward and register for a "tamper-proof ID card" once the "border is secure." It's Romney who opposes non-amnesty amnesty, though he was open to it back in 2006. The "Real Rudy" probably still agrees with most of the quotes in Brooks's column. Which is to say: The "Real Rudy" is the, um, one stumping in New Hampshire. It's just that he's made a decision to emphasize the border enforcement-side as he runs in the GOP primary. If he's the nominee, Giuliani probably will simultaneously talk tough on the border while also emphasizing, perhaps to a much greater extent, the benefits immigration brings to the United States.