The Man Who Might Be the Answer to the GOP's Problems

http://www.youtube.com ^ | 6/19/2009 | MarcoRubio.com

[Maelstorm]

Fred-

Last night, Marco Rubio won the Pasco County GOP's straw poll, 73-9, illustrating the growing support for our movement at the grassroots level. The St. Petersburg Times described the result as "a sign of the governor's poor standing among some of his historically strongest supporters." They go on to note, Pasco is just one county removed from his home in Pinellas, for one, and the Pasco REC also endorsed Crist early in his 2006 GOP primary against Tom Gallagher."

We've got a long way to go until Primary Day, but victories like this help demonstrate the growing momentum behind Marco's campaign.

The national media is also starting to take notice. Appearing on "MSNBC Live with Carlos Watson" earlier today, Marco was introduced as "a man who might be the answer to the GOP's problems." He then made his case to a national audience about why conservative principles are needed now more than ever. I hope you will take a moment watch the video of Marco's segment at http://MarcoRubio.com and forward it on to your friends and family.

Proud to Stand,

Brian Seitchik, Campaign Manager
Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate

[David1]

See post #78.

[Brytani]

He’s not pro-illegal immigrant or pro-amnesty.

His biggest problem is that he is not forceful enough on these issues.

He’s not going to round up all illegals and deport them as we would like to have happen. He’s not going to give them citizenship.

I flat out asked him what to do with in-country illegals and his position was to basically cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities, secure the borders and enforce existing immigration laws. I flat out told him he didn’t go far enough for me which he countered with the huge costs involved with mass deportations.

[trisham]

There are so many important conservative issues that single-issue (litmus test) conservatives do as much harm to conservatives as the MSM.

********************

Illegal immigration is one of the most important issues facing this country. Rubio's position regarding this issue certainly should be a litmus test.

[David1]

See post #78.

[freekitty]

See post 30.

[freekitty]

See post 30 and tell me who is telling the truth.

[BillyBoy]

Do I trust Jim DeMint’s opinion most of the time? Yes. Do I agree with DeMint all the time? Certainly not. Okay, DeMint endorsed Rubio. DeMint also endorsed Lindsey Graham in last year's primary. What's your point?

[freekitty]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with questioning. Look where we are now because there was no questioning. If he is for illegal immigration; I imagine he is probably for other things not good for us as a country.

[freekitty]

Huge costs my rear end. Look at what they are doing now with the money they don’t have.

[BillyBoy]

>> Might be a good idea to thoroughly check this guy out before jumping on the bandwagon. Might be embarrassing for tons of people if it’s discovered he’s got some SERIOUS skeletons in his closet. <<

Bingo. The whole reason we ended with RINO Senator Martinez is that the freepers who claimed to have "done their homework" on him, hadn't done so. They formed their opinion of whether Martinez was a "solid conservative" based on his campaign website and literature (Martinez, of course, told conservatives what they wanted to hear), and didn't bother to check the guy's career history (which clearly showed the guy had liberal tendencies and was a suck up to the political establishment).

Of course the old saying is "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". You'd think Florida freepers would have learned their lesson from five years ago and scrutinized future Senate candidates more thoroughly, but sadly that does not appear to be the case. Of all the Florida freepers who backed Martinez in 2004, I've only seen one who is going to vet this year's crop of Senate candidates more carefully before endorsing anyone. The rest of them stampeded aboard the Marco Rubio express the moment he announced, simply because he's not Charlie Crist.

I'm not saying Rubio will turn out to be a clone of Martinez, but it's pretty clear alot of Florida freepers are like Charlie Brown when Lucy whips out of the football. Always verify first.

>> Why is race a deciding factor? Does this mean that Caucasians vote for Caucasians,Latinos vote for Latinos, etc... If that is the case then I guess the largest voting block, Caucasians, should vote for a candidate of their race. One should vote based on qualifications and principles rather than the color of ones skin. <<

Bingo. And again, I would add the whole reason we ended with Amnesty Mel Martinez was the whole "we need a Latino Republican to win in FL" mindset on FR (which is cute, since the caucasian George W. Bush won over far more voters in FL) I ruled out supporting Crist when he endorsed Obama's porkulus package, but with "rock solid conservative" (or so freepers claimed) Mel Martinez scoring a 60% conservative average with the American Conservative Union last year and being named one of the "top 10 RINOs" in the Senate, I don't see how Crist could be any worse.

You have RINOs like Mark Kirk in Illinois who are far more liberal (Kirk even supports partial birth abortion), so I don't why freepers aren't sounding the alarms about them instead. Bottom line is if Rubio has the best track record on the issues and the most impressive credentials for U.S. Senator, he will earn my support. Voting for him because simply because he's "not Crist" is a non-starter.

If FL freepers are so concerned about Crist's liberal tendencies, they shouldn't have cast their lot with the GOP establishment choice five years ago. Now the rest of the nation is paying for their mistake.

[Brytani]

Exactly the point he is making. We are spending trillions of dollars on plans that will not work, should we add to that billions more? At least spending billions on homeland security is constitutional.

I don’t agree with him 100% on this issue but we do have alternatives that will not only save the tax payer money and will work.

If we remove protections and monies from illegals they will leave. No welfare, no educational benefits, no medical care outside of extreme emergencies, no food stamps, stop giving automatic citizenship to anchor babies. Fine employers who hire illegals if the company continues put people into prison.

Simply put if we take away the benefits of coming to this country illegally it will stop people from coming and send back a good portion of those who are here now.

What we are told is that farmers need illegals to work in the fields, we need people to cut our grass, NY needs fry cooks blah blah blah....

Fine, if we need immigrants to fill positions that American’s will not do, give them work visa’s AFTER checking backgrounds. First thing I would like to see is for our senators and congresscritters to grow a set and refuse states that have sanctuary cities tax payer dollars.

[SatinDoll]

What you’ve said matters, as it can be difficult to get accurate information about Republicans from mass media, and a candidates own website often is lacking on details. So thank you very much for your insight and information. It helps with my opinion of Marcos Rubio; he’s beginning to sound like one of the good guys, but I used to think that of Mel Martinez at one time.

The one thing I want to see the RNC focus on is Law and Order as an issue of principle. Candidates must emphasize adherence to the law; too many Republicans feel the need to pander to demographic groups, something Democrats do well but which we are ill advised to follow. We must stick with guiding principles and express those principles clearly and unambiguously. It isn’t just the Mexican drug cartel that smuggles in contraband, people, and contributes to crime; south Asia is involved in drug running and human smuggling.

I think Republican support for the amnesty (illegal immigrants) issue, an obvious pander to Hispanics, is a misfire for the following reason. It ignores the fact that huge numbers of so-called ‘Hispanics’ have been in the U.S. for more than a century, in some places in this nation for centuries, and are as seriously concerned with issues of law and order and how it is affecting their communities as other citizens.

We must stick with principles that apply to all people and not fall into the pandering trap.

[David1]

A solid conservative endorsed a candidate he had no reason to endorse in Marco Rubio. I kind of get him having to endorse Graham since he Graham is a Junior Senator from his own state. But DeMint had absolutely no reason to endorse Rubio. Me thinks that DeMint sees a solid conservative in Rubio; that is why DeMint endorsed him. That is my point.

[David1]

Rubio responds to that type of criticism here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmLR2l4cR4

[Guenevere]

Good post Cicero.

And as a Florida voter, I want to know his position on illegal immigration.

Touting someone as THE answer this soon is silly.

We have a long way to go.

[David1]

See my post #94.

[BillyBoy]

Some freepers here think DeMint walks on water. He generally does the right thing about 90% of the time, but there are certainly times DeMint endorsed candidates I didn't support. I think most freepers here would disagree with his endorsement of Mitt Romney for President, and since South Carolina's primary was one of the earliest ones, that means there was still a big competitive field of 10 candidates at the time (in other words, his Romney endorsement wasn't simply an 11th hour "stop McCain" choice on his part... he clearly support Romney over more conservative choices like Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter)

As I noted, the opinion I'm most looking forward to seeing is freepers who have lived in Florida for years and did NOT support Martinez in 2004. Their opinion isn't infallible either, but they've certainly shown better judgment than the freepers here who beat down the door to endorse the first self-described "conservative" who announces and later on whine about how he "betrayed" them.

I supported Johnnie Byrd for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Who else can claim the same?

[NotSoModerate]

If FL freepers are so concerned about Crist's liberal tendencies, they shouldn't have cast their lot with the GOP establishment choice five years ago. Now the rest of the nation is paying for their mistake.

BINGO! And may I add:

Rubio is an open borders amnesty for all guy. FReepers don't know that... at a recent Republican Executive Committee meeting down here a member openly challenged him on amnesty and open borders and he said he supported "comprehensive immigration reform".

[David1]

That does not jive with what he said in the youtube video I posted on post #94.

[Brytani]

If someone has a video of Rubio saying he supports amnesty I’ll be the first to slam him. Secondly if he turns into a Mel Martinez he would lose my support and I’ll become a very vocal critic.

I admit to having a litmus test for politicians, mine is abortion. To me there is absolutely no way to reach an agreement on the issue, abortion is murder. How does a person justify murder being legal in certain cases? To me it can’t be done.

Illegal immigration is different. I’ve yet to hear of single solution that will solve the problem of illegals currently in country and prevent more people from entering. I acknowledge that only a multi-faceted position will do have any positive affect.

Both parties are pandering to illegals - both want their money and both parties want their votes meaning both parties are willing to sell our country our to retain their power structure.

Rubio isn’t as strong on this issue as I’d like - but I don’t see him as one who is weak on the issue.