Posted on 05/20/2009 9:54:22 AM PDT by pissant
When Marco Rubio declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate earlier this month, he said his campaign wasn’t “against anyone or anything.” On the Spanish language Univision Network, however, his tone was as different as the idiom, saying he was interested in combating “the kind of American Socialism that they want to establish in the U.S.”
Last Friday night in Tampa, I asked the former House speaker, who will compete head to head against Gov. Charlie Crist for the nomination to succeed Mel Martinez in the Senate next year, what exactly did he mean by that?
“The tax plan that the President and the Democratic Congress want this country to adopt is one that will distribute wealth”, he began, energized to discuss a favorite topic. ”One in which more than 50 percent of the country won’t pay income taxes, and were a small bracket will pay more than 60 percent of all taxes. That is distribution of wealth. I don’t think that’s the purpose of the tax system … that’s a socialist concept.”
But Rubio was quick to acknowledge that in fact the U.S. in some ways does run such a system already (as in Social Security and Medicare). He just wants to contain it. “What you learn is that once these things are established, they’re almost impossible to reverse, even if we wanted to …. But what I’m saying is, let’s not repeat those mistakes by increasing to expand these programs. This is not an anti-Democratic (Party) thing. I assure you that many Republicans who have expanded government in pursuit of votes and constituencies, and they’ve both been wrong when they’ve done it.”
Rubio was in Tampa to begin what some are calling a quixotic campaign, but others think is (yes, all together now, say it) a battle for the Heart and Soul of the Republican Party.
Over the weekend, political analysts on shows like “Florida This Week” scoffed at Rubio’s chances against the popular Governor, but discontent with Crist runs strong and surprisingly deep throughout the state, for a variety of reasons.
Cynthia Handley is a former chair of the campaigns for all of the Bushes (Jeb’s three gubernatorial campaigns as well as Presidents 41 and 43 Florida primaries and general elections) over the years in Brevard County. She says she’ll be supporting Marco Rubio in the Senate race, and says everywhere she goes, all she hears is criticism of Charlie Crist.” I’m amazed” she said over the phone last week. “I’m getting a real negative reaction to Charlie Crist when I go to meetings.” After Crist’s embrace of Barack Obama and the economic stimulus package, one Republican in Palm Beach County even called for a censure against the g.
When asked about the ever-ambitious Crist, Rubio seemed pained to express his views, saying blandly that he likes him personally. He admits that in the 2 years they worked together when Rubio was House Speaker “we certainly didn’t agree on a lot.” One issue that Rubio opposes is the governor’s goal to have 20 percent of all the energy produced by the state’s utilities by the year 2020 to come from renewable sources (an idea that died in the Florida House this past session.)
”That proposal is largely full of big government mandates that basically require the government to force power generators today to generate electricity for our homes and business using existing technology … and if you do that, you’re going to do NOTHING, I mean absolutely nothing … there’s nothing Florida can do on its own to impact global climate change or carbon emissions on the planet. But what you WILL do is raise the cost of doing business in the state, and the cost of living here dramatically. This will be a less competitive place to be, a harder place to live at the worst possible time”.
So yes, you can mark him down against the president’s propose cap-and-trade legislation to curb greenhouse gases.
Another obstacle could be the fact that Florida House speakers of late have not lived long and prospered after their service in Tallahassee. Plant City’s Johnny Byrd flamed out famously in his bid for the GOP nomination for Senate in ’04. Orlando’s Tom Feeney enjoyed a few years in Congress but was rejected by the voters last November after stories of political corruption surfaced. And Ray Sansom? Well, let’s just say he’s had his troubles.
And what does Speaker Rubio think of what happened to Speaker Sansom? “It’s unfortunate. Ray Sansom is a friend. I wish none of this would have happened.”
When asked about the fact that several of Samson’s GOP colleagues in the legislature seemed to react more negatively towards the Grand Jury after he was indicted than to Sansom’s behavior, Rubio said he didn’t want to speak too specifically on the charges against Sansom, but acknowledged that he wasn’t ‘a fan’ of putting away money in a budget for specific items. To the extent that there was criticism of a last minute addition to a budget in a conference report, he admitted “there’s come credibility to that criticism, and there’s … some wisdom in changing that process.”
Political reporters in Florida and even across the country are salivating for an intense Primary fight between Rubio and Crist. The State GOP is not. But their heavy-handed tactics of trying to get the party apparatus to support the governor don’t seem to be working.
And that’s a good thing. Rubio’s conservative brand of Republicanism is definitely a striking contrast to the more moderate tone of Governor Crist. You can put Rubio in the category with Dick Cheney that there’s no room for any more moderates, saying, “The more the GOP resembles the Democratic Party, the less need there is for a Republican Party.”
He truly believes that the citizenry will reject the Obama/Congressional Democratic plans for the country, and wants to be in Washington fighting against it.
“If the Republican Party wants to grow and succeed, it must become a voice for those folks. And I’m arguing that we do that. And I’m arguing that any deviation from that makes us less relevant. If enough of them agree with me, I’ll be elected.”
Being = behind.
I agree. Rubio and Toomey are two test cases for whether conservatives can find the wherewithal to get together, get organised, and get rollin’.
Remember, if we lose, it’s not the RINOs’ fault - it’s our own.
I think it will take a real grassroots effort. People in this country need to wake up to what is happening. The RNC has drifted to the left.
We conservatives need to take back control. One way is not to send any money to the RNC. Send any donations direct to the candidate.
Yep. This is a major battle and a huge test. If we want this party back, we have to take it back. This race is the key.
I will be contributing to Rubio. Also to Toomey..not to the GOP.
FL has 67 counties.
Control those 67 LOCAL GOP parties and Crist is over before he starts.
Remember what happened to “America’s Mayor” Guiliani.
Control the local, control the party.
I'm not sure about Toomey. It appears that he'll walk to the nomination, if not run. To my knowledge, there isn't another Republican that's announced. And, while it's not too late, with each month that passes, it would put any potential candidates in a fund-raising hole. Whether Toomey can get elected is another question all together. If Specter is healthy at election time, he probably wins in a landslide. But, if his health fails at all, Toomey will have a fighting chance - a puncher's chance.
Rubio, on the other hand is the real test for grass-roots conservatives. If Rubio gets the nod, I personally think he'd be very tough to beat in the general which is apparently contrary to what the Senate Pubies think. But, it's the getting past Crist that will be the challenge.
“The more the GOP resembles the Democratic Party, the less need there is for a Republican Party.”
Marco Rubio
That's been a drum I've been banging for a couple of months now. Don't give to the GOP or any of its organs like the RNC, RNSC, RNCC, etc. All they do is turn around and give it to RINOs. We need a specifically conservative PAC which will support only conservative candidates in the primaries and in the general elections. Also, we should give directly to the candidate, not through the Party.
And I say this as a (very) minor GOP party functionary.
He was dead set against the bailout. Charlie Loafers nearly removed Obama’s member with his sucking.
Viva Rubio!!
Is Marco against amnesty and illegal immigration? If so then I will be a big supporter.
Marco, Toomey and we need somebody t0o run against McCain and Lindsay Graham-nesty to name the key goons.
From what I've heard, the "powers that be" are trying to get Tom Ridge (RINO-PA) into the race. Don't know if he's done so yet.
If Rubio gets the nod, I personally think he'd be very tough to beat in the general which is apparently contrary to what the Senate Pubies think.
I agree. That's the problem with the Senate GOPers - they can't get outside the beltway to think outside the box.
Somewhere, in the past couple of days, I read an article dealing with Tanning Bed Charlie and his support of the Obama stimulus package. The article discussed some dismissing his support of the package as understandable given the budget hole that Florida was in. And then came the money quote - he was asked, apparently directly, if he had been in the US Senate when the package had come up for a vote whether or not he would have voted for it. They quoted him as saying “of course” or “yes” or some other direct affirmative answer. I wish I’d saved this damned article, and now I cannot find it.
Bottom line, if Tanning Bed Charlie gets the nomination for this seat, no way am I voting for him in the general election.
Ridge announced a week or two ago that he was absolutely not going to run. When interviewed by either Matthews or Scarborough (I can't remember which), he also refused to say that he wouldn't be voting for Specter.
http://thepage.time.com/ridge-statement-on-pennsylvania-senate-race/
FWIW...
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1055879.html
Hey, thanks for the link! Got it saved now. I didn’t see it in the Herald, but apparently it was AP sourced, so that explains it.
Good news then!
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