Will writes:
Huckabee’s campaign actually is what Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy is misdescribed as being — a comprehensive apostasy against core Republican beliefs. Giuliani departs from recent Republican stances regarding two issues — abortion and the recognition by the law of same-sex couples.Huckabee’s radical candidacy broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America’s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity.
I think Will exaggerates Huckabee’s unconservatism, and I am not sure on what basis he is defining the GOP’s “core principles.” But he also inadvertently makes Giuliani seem less within the party mainstream than he is.
Giuliani opposes a federal marriage amendment, as do McCain and Thompson. He also, like those two, says he opposes same-sex marriage. Giuliani’s campaign has also backtracked from his previous support for civil unions. He no longer supports civil unions that are too close to marriage–and in his view all existing civil-union laws are too close.
He seems to be well within party orthodoxy on marriage law, in other words. Will should have picked a different example–such as guns.