Posted on 11/21/2012 10:02:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind
On Twitter yesterday, some of my conservative friends beat me up for writing about Marco Rubio’s comments to GQ about the Earth’s age.
Their point was that it was a silly question (it was.) And that it was feeding a liberal meme (it is.)
But the notion that this means we should ignore it is also silly.
In the heat of a campaign, it might be wise to parry such questions – and pivot to talking about your strengths. This is called staying on message. But I’m not on a campaign. And the election is over.
If there were ever a time to have a serious conversation about such topics, it is now. Sweeping controversial topics under the rug obviously won’t help.
Conservatives have another point — which is hypocrisy. Remember the time Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson worried that putting more Marines on Guam could cause it to capsize?
And as Slate points out that Barack Obama has ducked a similar question to the one Rubio dodged. But the “they do it too!” argument isn’t an excuse to avoid actually coming up with a coherent worldview that squares God and science.
Because conservatives have willfully allowed this to metastasize — liberals have effectively cast Republicans as the anti-science party. For this reason, incidents that seem to confirm this narrative are especially hurtful.
Mark Halperin nailed it on “Morning Joe”:
“There’s one area where Democrats are really far ahead of Republicans right now. Science and technology, no. It’s doing this thing that Democrats failed to do in 2000, to stop George W. Bush, which is really, really early on using the left-wing Freak Show to define anyone who’s thinking of running for President, as quickly as possible, in negative terms on Twitter, on cable, on the Internet. They’re all over this Rubio thing because they want to control his image in a negative way and they did it this cycle too. They went after Romney early, it really hurt him. And they’re doing it now.”
And so, this is a strategy. Like Sarah Palin in 2008, Democrats view Marco Rubio as a major threat — not just for one or two elections — but someone who could undermine their advantage among the college educated, the young, and Latinos. Like Palin in ’08, he is viewed as an existential threat.
And just like Palin — whom they feared — they wan’t to destroy his credibility; to make him a joke.
For obvious reasons, it is vital that Rubio — and, in fact, all conservatives going forward — be able to articulate a serious conservative worldview that doesn’t fit the “anti-science” stereotype. (This is part of what I mean when I talk about cosmopolitan conservatism.)
Rubio might think he’s just getting his feet wet, but it’s “game on.”
Is Marco Rubio even eligible to be President?
This is formulaic for the media.
Ask a republican candidate a question regarding a biblical passage such as the age of the earth.
Whichever answer he gives he alienates a large segment of the voters.
It is using wedge issues to create a half life scenario where a candidates ideological supporters are systematically eroded.
We need a new coalition among republicans. The current one is too easy to defeat.
What will change in 4 years?
No, but the "powers" don't care anymore.
The Dem main stream press has 4 years to take him out and likely will be successful.
Republicans act like they are being given fair questions. NO. Democrat reporters ask these questions to hurt Republicans (be it Palin, cain, Bachmann, Rubio, Romney any R).
When a reporter asks a question a Republican HAS to point out what the reporter is doing :” Look this is a gotcha question that you a “reporter” are doing just to make me into a joke or to alienate my base or other voters” you are not being a political activists instead of doing your job” now every time you ask such a question that will allow your biased media to spin my answer to hurt me politically I will instead answer with one of my solutions to help America and Americans”
And the hand-wringers on our side will complain about how each and every one has "too much baggage" and "will never be taken seriously", which settling for another milquetoast loser pushed by the central committee.
Thank you for your input. I directed this reply to another person. But since you required my attention i’ll retort.
Unfortuately, now matter what you believe, faith is going to be used against any conservative candidate and will be discussed by the major media. The question usually involves creationism. If a candidate believes in creationim the smear campaign begins.
Additionally, what you believe in is not my concern.
Online and on the cable nets, Marco Rubio is currently taking a hellacious beating for his answer to "GQ's" question about the age of the Earth. And anyone who doesn't think we'll be revisiting Rubio's "Earth" question in about 40 months should the Florida Senator decide to run for president, should stop right now and write a book about the bliss of ignorance.
As I mentioned in an earlier piece, the media now believes they have a winning tactic for disqualifying Republicans through the use of left-field "gotcha" questions that pit our faith and principles against immigration, gay tolerance, the lifestyle of the single woman (which sounds like a Diane Keaton movie circa 1978) , and the needs of the poor.
The problem, of course, is not our faith or our core beliefs; the problem is that too many on our side are rhetorically unprepared and regularly caught off guard when these media moments arrive. The result is a gaffe that frequently damages more than just a single campaign. As we saw during the 2012 election, the media was able to take one dumb answer from a senate candidate about rape and abortion and use it to bloody the entire GOP brand.
[...]
As far as religion and Marco Rubio's struggle with being asked the age of Earth, I've been a devout Christian for almost thirty years and have never found my faith in conflict with science or history. If anything, the more I learn about science and history only deepens my faith. This is why it's so frustrating to hear a bright guy like Rubio blow such an easy one. The problem isn't talent or smarts, it's training.
Before every baseball game, a good shortstop is the first one out on the field warming up and practicing. This is why he's a good shortstop; he never falls for his own press or forgets that hard work, drills, training, and the basics are what got him to where he is. And that's our problem. Our side forgets to drill, doesn't train, and suddenly we're losing games because we drop pop ups.
The GOP has plenty of talent. History proves our ideas are right. Polls prove people like our ideas best.
But we're losing rhetorically.
You mean say "I agree with Al Gore" over and over again?
They did it to Quayle.
That’s what he said.
But he didn't offer his own answer.
I agree with the writer's comment above, and I agree essentially with what Rubio said. I don't see anything wrong with it.
They did it to Goldwater, they did it to Quayle, they did it to Cheney, they did it to Ken Starr, they did it to Palin, they did it to Bush, they tried to do it to Reagan but it didn’t work.
Why?
Answer that and you’ll have your candidate.
They do it to whomever they recognize might win... preemptive. All lies and twists. I guess that if we could figure out how Reagan overcame it, we could inoculate the good guys.
We need a wildcard in 2016. NO MORE REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS. We need a non-political figure to run on the Republican ticket...an Eisenhower, a Reagan, a general, an actor. We need Dennis Miller. (or someone like him)
No, evolution is the fairy tale. Yet I’d guess you’ve not heard nor read any of the pro-creation science web-sites. See my links page if you care to see what you are missing.
They only palinized Sarah to asshole democrats....no human being thinks less of Sarah Palin....she is the best....
the reason it didn’t work on Reagan is that he built himself up from scratch as a True Conservative. It took over 20 years of truly getting to the point where he had mentally and emotionally struggled with all the issues and finally fashioned a body of conservative armor and a functioning conservative mind far sharper and deeper the fat dunce Tip O’Neill could ever plumb.
On abortion:
The memo needs to get out to all candidates: Making abortion illegal is COMPLETELY beyond the power of the President. Period.
On abortion and rape, say “I support the Second Amendment. Women need to have in their possession items which are sufficient to STOP a rapist BEFORE he commits the act of rape”.
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