On the March 5 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper declared that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) “seems coated in political Teflon” because conservatives “seemed willing to overlook” Giuliani's “liberal views on abortion, gay rights, and gun control” for “one reason”: his response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In fact, recent public-opinion polling shows that many conservatives and Republicans are unaware of Giuliani's “liberal views” on the aforementioned issues, and when made aware of his positions, they have indicated they are less likely to support Giuliani.

According to a Newsweek poll conducted February 28-March 1, "[o]nly a quarter (26 percent) of Republican voters claim to know “a lot” about the pro-choice and pro-gun-control Giuliani, while a full third (34 percent) admit to knowing little or nothing about him." The poll found that a “large number say that knowing where he stands on those issues and his opposition to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage will hurt his chances with them.” Fifty percent of “self-identified social conservatives” indicated that Giuliani's “support of Roe v. Wade would at least make them less likely to support him,” while 44 percent “say the same of his opposition to a ban on same-sex marriage;” and 30 percent “say his stance on gun control could lead them to support someone else.”

A February 22-25 Washington Post/ABC News poll yielded similar results. Forty-six percent of respondents who “leaned Republican” indicated they would be “less likely” to vote for Giuliani after being informed that “Giuliani has been a supporter of legal abortion and gay civil unions.” Of that 46 percent, nearly half -- 49 percent -- stated that given his views on gay civil unions and abortion, there would be “no chance” they would “vote for Giuliani for the Republican nomination for president.”

Also, a February 23-26 poll conducted for Time magazine found that 68 percent of respondents “do not know anything about Giuliani's position on gun control (47%) or think he opposes gun control (21%).” The poll also found that “38% of Republicans and 30% of voters overall say they are less likely to support a candidate favoring gun control.”

To show why Giuliani's “liberal views” are purportedly being “overlooked” by conservatives, Tapper aired a “person on the street” interview with an unidentified New Yorker who stated that Giuliani was her “hero” because of his actions on 9-11. Media Matters for America has documented (here, here, here, here, here, here) numerous media figures' hyping of Giuliani as a “hero” while ignoring allegations that Giuliani was responsible for terrorism-related failures before, during, and after the September 11 attacks.

From the March 5 edition of ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson:

TAPPER: For now, at least, Giuliani seems coated in political Teflon, even when the former big-city mayor with liberal views on abortion, gay rights, and gun control addressed a conference of red-meat conservatives.

GEORGE F. WILL (Washington Post columnist and conservative pundit): Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you a man for whom pugnacity is a political philosophy, Rudolph Giuliani.

GIULIANI: You and I have a lot of common beliefs that are the same, and we have some that are different.

TAPPER: They seemed willing to overlook those differences for one reason.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He was my hero. Really helped us all through very, very difficult times when life here in America, and especially in New York, was in total chaos.

TAPPER: Observers say it is a unique phenomenon based on an intense emotional moment.