Which might just hint that: Marco Rubio is not the candidate for this primary. Republicans in 2016 don't want a 'Uniter not a divider.'
"Is Marco Rubio frittering away the very asset that makes him such a formidable political talent?"
"That’s the subtext of a good piece out this morning from Bloomberg Politics. It argues that Rubio’s need to chase after Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is leading him to sound a lot more angry and a lot less like the fresh, youthful, forward-looking optimist that he had plainly hoped to run as this cycle:
"Rubio has adopted a darker tone in the first week of 2016, deploying increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric and fiercer attacks on Republican rivals that provide a stark contrast with the relatively non-confrontational brand of sunny optimism that had characterized his presidential campaign through 2015…."
"While Rubio isn’t jettisoning the hopeful message of reviving the American dream that endeared him to many center-right Republicans, he’s now alternating it with a more ominous one. The effect is to make him sound like Ronald Reagan one minute and like a character from the popular TV series 24 the next."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/01/07/is-marco-rubio-squandering-his-most-precious-political-asset/
But I don't think there is any puzzle here:
"To Democrats watching from the sidelines, Rubio’s strategy is something of a mystery. On the one hand, he’s plainly shaping his long-term strategy around the idea that the way for Republicans to win the White House is to make peace with diversifying America and the need to make inroads among the growing voter groups that comprise the Democratic coalition. Rubio still holds out the hope of legalizing the 11 million and won’t definitively say when he’d end Obama’s executive action protecting the DREAMers from deportation. This puts him in direct contrast with Cruz (who would end that executive action on Day One and has flatly ruled out legalization) and Trump (who has pledged to carry out mass deportations), both of whom are generally shaping their strategy around the idea that the way to win the White House is to ride a wave of white backlash."
For me the mystery is different: how can there be Democrats who could think that Rubio is 'trustable'-I have to say that Kevin McCarthy's Neologism can be kind of helpful in spots-on immigration or anything else?
Rubio more than anyone is a pure cipher. His image is more 'moderate'-though he is about as conservative as you can get on issue after issue. This image is mostly due to his 'amnesty' bill back in 2013 that he has since repudiated.
But he initially ran as a Tea Party firebrand in 2010 who was totally opposed to amnesty. So how can anyone be so sure the 2013 version is the real Rubio?
It does seem that his faux sunny optimism is not finding quite the audience he hoped and that's something to be grateful for.
"Is Marco Rubio frittering away the very asset that makes him such a formidable political talent?"
"That’s the subtext of a good piece out this morning from Bloomberg Politics. It argues that Rubio’s need to chase after Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is leading him to sound a lot more angry and a lot less like the fresh, youthful, forward-looking optimist that he had plainly hoped to run as this cycle:
"Rubio has adopted a darker tone in the first week of 2016, deploying increasingly apocalyptic rhetoric and fiercer attacks on Republican rivals that provide a stark contrast with the relatively non-confrontational brand of sunny optimism that had characterized his presidential campaign through 2015…."
"While Rubio isn’t jettisoning the hopeful message of reviving the American dream that endeared him to many center-right Republicans, he’s now alternating it with a more ominous one. The effect is to make him sound like Ronald Reagan one minute and like a character from the popular TV series 24 the next."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/01/07/is-marco-rubio-squandering-his-most-precious-political-asset/
But I don't think there is any puzzle here:
"To Democrats watching from the sidelines, Rubio’s strategy is something of a mystery. On the one hand, he’s plainly shaping his long-term strategy around the idea that the way for Republicans to win the White House is to make peace with diversifying America and the need to make inroads among the growing voter groups that comprise the Democratic coalition. Rubio still holds out the hope of legalizing the 11 million and won’t definitively say when he’d end Obama’s executive action protecting the DREAMers from deportation. This puts him in direct contrast with Cruz (who would end that executive action on Day One and has flatly ruled out legalization) and Trump (who has pledged to carry out mass deportations), both of whom are generally shaping their strategy around the idea that the way to win the White House is to ride a wave of white backlash."
For me the mystery is different: how can there be Democrats who could think that Rubio is 'trustable'-I have to say that Kevin McCarthy's Neologism can be kind of helpful in spots-on immigration or anything else?
Rubio more than anyone is a pure cipher. His image is more 'moderate'-though he is about as conservative as you can get on issue after issue. This image is mostly due to his 'amnesty' bill back in 2013 that he has since repudiated.
But he initially ran as a Tea Party firebrand in 2010 who was totally opposed to amnesty. So how can anyone be so sure the 2013 version is the real Rubio?
It does seem that his faux sunny optimism is not finding quite the audience he hoped and that's something to be grateful for.
Mike, you and I agree that the scariest true believers (TBers)are the ones that seem to lack a sense of self preservation. Pablo Escobar wouldn't think twice about killing his oldest friends or 1000s of innocent people with car bombs under the theory that killing innocents would create the terror he needed to improve his bargaining position with the government, but threaten him with extradition or threaten his family and you get his attention. So as scary as Escobar was, he had that Achilles heel (sorry, I watched the Netflix "Narcos" and have been reading more on the man recently, so he's on my mind).
ReplyDeleteBut scarier than that is a 9/11 hijacker. Even Escobar's most loyal mass killers never knowingly went on suicide missions.
And then I read Ms. Rubin's column this morning on Rubio's ad (which she praises):
" Our goal is eternity, the ability to live alongside our Creator for all time. To accept the free gift of salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ.
The struggle on a daily basis as a Christian is to remind ourselves of this. The purpose of our life is to cooperate with God’s plan.
To those who much have been given, much is expected. And we will be asked to account for that. Were your treasures stored up on earth or in heaven? And to me, I try to allow that to influence me in everything that I do."
What makes that different than an article in ISIS's "Inspire" magazine intended to drum up recruitment? About the only thing I can see are the words "Jesus Christ" and "Christian." Just replace those with "Allah" and "believer" you're there.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2016/01/07/one-hit-one-miss-for-rubio/
Sounds like a doozy of an ad. TK for the link. Rubio is anything sooner than a moderate.
ReplyDeletehttp://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/01/rubio-less-crazy-than-trump-still-not-moderate.html#