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October 04, 2009
Rubio vs. the RINOs
Rubio vs. the RINOs
by Elisabeth Meinecke
Don’t tell Marco Rubio his primary race for the U.S. senate against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist depends on money or endorsements. Rubio, who finished his term as Florida’s Speaker of the House in 2008, is focused on a much bigger picture: limiting government and thus liberating American entrepreneurship.
The impetus behind his campaign is that same wave of conservative outrage which carried Tea Party protesters to Washington and put Rubio’s race in the national spotlight. His race is about message (adherence to conservative principles), and, as Rubio says, the only amount of money he needs is the money to get that message out.
“I think all politics are about the grassroots. And the question is, do you work with the grassroots or manipulate the grassroots?” Rubio told HUMAN EVENTS in an exclusive interview last week. “Most campaigns try to manipulate the grassroots by raising so much money that they can kind of create false excitement…My campaign’s not based on that.”
Rubio’s race is a textbook example of what’s happening nationally -- as the grassroots express their concern with a radical left-wing administration, Republican party leadership will have to back off its initial policy post-election of ‘soften your message.’ A diluted Republican message is the watermark of Rubio's Republican primary opponent Charlie Crist, the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s anointed candidate in the race. Crist campaigned around Florida supporting President Obama’s “stimulus” spending spree and, after an “environmental summit” last year, proposed his own version of a “cap-and-trade” plan which the state legislature rejected.
“The United States does not need two Democratic parties,” Rubio insists, and, despite the Democrats’ stranglehold in both the House and the Senate, the makeup of Republicans who did get elected proves Rubio’s point. The group of conservatives in the U.S. House -- known as the Republican Study Committee -- now has 113 members, which means it represents well over half the total GOP (177) members in the House. By contrast, the Democrats’ Congressional Progressive Caucus, which houses left wing favorites like Barney Frank and is the largest Democrat caucus in the House, has only 83 members out of 262 Democrats (including delegates and the resident commissioner) in the House.
“I think next year’s elections, especially in the Republican primaries, are going to be a lot like a political Halloween,” Rubio said. “A lot of people are going to come dressed to the party like conservatives, but in fact, in the real…world, they haven’t been that, not in a principled way.
It’s exactly the kind of race Republican ‘leaders’ like the NRSC (not to mention the chairman of the Republican party in Rubio’s own state) are saying Rubio can’t win, and exactly the reason why Rubio is running -- because he sees a disconnect between party leaders and constituents. For example, Rubio says the majority of Americans don’t want to see their government adapting a Western European style invasion into the economy.
“They deserve to have a voice in American politics,” Rubio said. “And that’s what the Republican Party should be. And the road to success for this party is to be that voice for those Americans.”
That’s not the road traveled by Crist, who supported Obama’s stimulus package on the basis that it would sustain jobs. Rubio pointed out that Florida’s unemployment rate is still the highest it’s been since 1975 (10.7% in August, 10.8% in July versus the 11% in 1975). Rubio said the stimulus is like giving sugar or candy bar to a kid -- you get that initial rush of energy that is ultimately unsustainable.
“The only enduring legacy of this stimulus will be the deficit it’s left us with,” Rubio said. “I don’t care how much money he raises -- he will never convince Florida Republicans that the stimulus package and his embrace of it, and his campaigning in favor of it -- hand in hand with the president -- was a good thing for Florida, a good thing for their children, or a good thing for our country”
Rubio is frank in his assessment of why Crist went along with the stimulus at the time: Obama was popular.
“I think he supported the stimulus package because Barack Obama was popular at the time, and I think he supported it because he didn’t want to have a budget session in Tallahassee where he had to make difficult decisions -- which, quite frankly, is reflective of everything that’s wrong in American politics today,” Rubio said. “We have too many people that just want to be popular.”
But for Rubio, fiscal responsibility and limited government are crucial to a strong America. And Rubio says people are beginning to realize the world is ultimately safer with America as the strongest country.
“[The United Nations is] not going to be the place that secures human freedom and liberty,” Rubio said. “If we think that, we’re out of our minds.”
If the Obama administration’s radical policies result in politicians like Rubio coming to D.C. in 2010, Michelle Obama can once again be proud of her country.
Wild Thing's comment.......
"If the Obama administration’s radical policies result in politicians like Rubio coming to D.C. in 2010, Michelle Obama can once again be proud of her country."
LOL Love the dig at Michelle Obama.
Ths is a great article about Marco Rubio. It would be so awesome to see rino's like Crist put out to pasture. Not only in Florida but in all the States.
" I think next year’s elections, especially in the Republican primaries, are going to be a lot like a political Halloween,” Rubio said. “A lot of people are going to come dressed to the party like conservatives, but in fact, in the real…world, they haven’t been that, not in a principled way."
LOL good comparison to Halloween. Rubio hits the nail on the head, again and again and again.
Also the leader of conservatives in the Senate, Jim DeMint, endorsed Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist in the Florida Primary.
Sen. Jim DeMint: “There is no question Marco Rubio will be a big part of the Republican Party’s future, but I believe if we are to defeat the forces of Big Government now controlling Washington, Marco Rubio needs to be a big part of the Republican Party’s present. He has the skills and ideas we need to rebuild our party, reform our government, and renew our nation. I've endorsed Marco Rubio because Americans are outraged at the direction our country is being taken. Everywhere we look, the government is expanding and people are looking for an alternative and it's important that we don't offer the status quo, Democrat-lite, in 2010. I think Marco Rubio's message is inspiring. He gets you excited about being an American and a Republican. Marco has convinced me that he can win the race in Florida and set the pace for Republicans all over the country.”
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich: “… has pegged Rubio as a rising national political figure and calls 100 Ideas ‘a work of genius.’”
Former Gov. Jeb Bush: “He’s got all the tools. He’s charismatic and has the right principles.”
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey: “Marco Rubio is a champion of freedom and an inspiring leader for the next generation of the conservative movement. His track record and conservative convictions are a breath of fresh air in a party looking for new leaders to advance the principles of limited government, lower taxes and economic liberty.”
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist: Rubio is “the most pro-taxpayer legislative leader in the country.”
Syndicated Columnist George Will: “His preventive medicine includes limited government, tax reform, spending restraint and removal of all impediments to the entrepreneurship that makes America a place ‘where poor people can put billionaires out of business.’”
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.......Thank you Billy for sending this to me.
Billy M.
1st Infantry Division Band
Fort Riley, KS.
Posted by Wild Thing at October 4, 2009 05:40 AM
Comments
We need to help Rubio. Crist sucks.
Posted by: Eden at October 4, 2009 09:41 AM
It will be nice if we can get a lot of Marco Rubios elected to Congress next year. Getting rid of Democrats, Democrat "lites" and "compassionate" conservatives will perhaps turn the tide of socialism. Rubio appears to have all the traits of a true conservative and probably knows better than to "reach across the aisle".
Posted by: TomR at October 4, 2009 01:11 PM
Thank you Chrissie and Billy(Big Red One).
The GOP needs a solid conservative base, I hope Rubio outs Crist. The one thing that bothers me the most is how we were disenfranchised in preference of that loser McCain, he's like Obama, another post turtle who by all rights should have been amongst the first to drop out but neither was dropped nor backed out, he was 'floated' and it damned sure wasn't by conservatives.
Mike Huckabee is a likeable guy, a "compassionate conservative" who has kept his presence in the media since the election, you know he'll throw his hat in the arena, I don't want another 'likeable guy' as a progressive POTUS to tell me that raw Socialist programs are not Socialist, even if they are mandated by the Communist UN. It is long past time to get out of the UN.
Michael Steele's leadership hasn't inspired me nor do I feel like bending over and grabbing my ankles any more. Pay attention Rubio, Palin, or any real conservative out there, set up a way to let us fund you free from the clutches of the GOP, the NRCC and the RNC, a separate non co-mingled trust fund, not shared with any other candidate.
I can't in good conscience send in a single penny to the ratbastard union leaders that support RINO's, I'd just as soon spend it on a Democrat and know what I've bought and that just ain't gonna happen. So go ahead and let your $1 at tax time go the government so it can fund the Democrat of your choice, then send in those bigger bucks to the RNC to counter the Conservatives on the ballot.
Posted by: Jack at October 4, 2009 03:12 PM
Thank you everyone, fingers crossed he wins.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 4, 2009 11:22 PM
