Marco Rubio’s charm offensive
As the debate over immigration reform unfolds, Rubio has become the lynchpin for its success. He is the only member of the Senate’s bipartisan working group on immigration who is beloved by most conservatives. He is the rare Republican who can participate in a Senate “gang” and still be cheered by a bevy of right-wing commentators.
But if these calls are any indication, the first-term Florida senator is aware that his popularity and power are fragile. Conservatives are open to his immigration plan, which would combine tougher border enforcement with new rules for undocumented workers, but they remain generally wary of comprehensive immigration reform.
Rubio’s response to the Right’s entrenched hesitation has been enthusiastic engagement. As he talks to Medved and blogger Ed Morrissey, he shares their skepticism about how such a plan would be implemented. He assures them that he’s simply sharing “principles,” and that the legislation has not been finalized. …
Rubio, however, doesn’t just want to be a conservative darling and quietly wait to be anointed the Republican nominee in a few years. He wants to pass legislation. He doesn’t mind a challenge. He didn’t run for the Senate to merely be a backbencher by day and a Fox News talking head by night.
Blowback
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Is that a line from Seinfeld? Seriously? I think the word we’re looking for here is loathed.
TxAnn56 on January 30, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Please just say you’re running already and spare us the interest in policy.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 9:07 AM
Well…. that was …fawning.
Dongemaharu on January 30, 2013 at 9:11 AM
Rubio’s far more popular with bloggers and poljunkies than he is with the base. And isn’t this like the 4th or 5th time this Ode to Marco has been liknked? LOL
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:17 AM
* linked
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:18 AM
I don’t see the “charm”. I also don’t see him changing the dynamic of 2012 much, if at all.
MT on January 30, 2013 at 9:19 AM
Trust in me, trust in me, shut your eyes, trust in me. You can sleep, safe and sound, knowing I, am around.
tommy71 on January 30, 2013 at 9:23 AM
NRO’s charm offensive for Rubio’s charm offensive.
BTW, Costa, I’m not entrenched, I’m steadfastly standing on open ground, not in hesitation, but in full opposition to this amnesty farce.
And it is an amnesty, no matter how those rushing to abandon principles wish to deviously and fraudulently describe it otherwise for sake of expedience.
Dusty on January 30, 2013 at 9:26 AM
I don’t want to get into a flame war, but there was a lot of discussion the day after the election at least in my “conservative” circles that Romney blew it and never recovered from “self-deportation”. And we live on your street, maybe in your town. Definitely in your state.
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 9:33 AM
John O’Sullivan is as well. He’s not buying into the TigerBeat Marco-is-Mahvlous stuff. O’Sullivan is a sad reminder of what National Review used to be. Read that piece, and you’ll get a taste of what NR was consistently like in the late-80s and into the 90s.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Riiiiiiiight. And I distinctly remember the ‘bots telling me that Romney won Florida in the primaries because of his hawkishness on immigration.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:35 AM
Why are people including HotAir trying to force Rubio down our throats? I’m sick and tired of this!!
journeymike on January 30, 2013 at 9:37 AM
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:35 AM
LOL. He won the primaries and not the general election because he got mean with his fellow Republicans and was a wuss (yeah, I said it) against the Manchurian President.
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 9:39 AM
The more I watch events unfold on the subject, and the many Republicans and Conservatives, who to one degree or another are fawning over this up-til-now, imaginary once-and-for-all solution, comprehensive immigration fix, my mind straggles back about four and a half years to fondly reminisce on the Mirror Into Which All Your Hopes Were Reflected.
It is rather funny. And no, that’s not about Rubio.
Dusty on January 30, 2013 at 9:40 AM
journeymike on January 30, 2013 at 9:37 AM
Probably, orders from the Mountaintop.
That’s why the 2,000 + comment Palin Thread from the weekend never made it to the left column.
All Rubio…all the time.
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 9:41 AM
Ed is totally on Team Rubio. National Review cannot decide if they’re Team Rubio or Team Ryan. It is very difficult for them, especially Robert Costa. (And I kid because I love.. I don’t know whether I just find Rubio’s unbridled Presidential ambitions annoying or amusing or both. But let’s face it, it is incredibly difficult to take your eyes off the guy.)
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 9:42 AM
Yeah, they have to get Marco anointed pretty quickly as the Next In Line ™ and the next Inevitable Super-electable before anyone comes along to upset the apple cart.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:43 AM
Yeah especially when you come to this site and find 10 simultaneous Rubio threads. Otherwise, yeah, I can avoid looking at the guy pretty easily.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:45 AM
Romney losing the election had little to do with “self-deportation”. He blew it by being a liberal when in office and then trying to convince everyone that what they saw was something different.
Romneycare- why is that so hard to understand?
CTSherman on January 30, 2013 at 9:45 AM
I don’t know about that. But Romney even ran on illegal aliens to the right of Sarah Palin, didn’t he? When speaking to O’Reilly in 2010 she said if they “registered” and stayed out of trouble, they should be allowed to assimilate and work here. She never used the “D” word, deport. Did she.
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Uhhhhh, what is this obsession of yours for bringing up Sarah Palin constantly? I don’t hang on her every word, although on immigration I’d trust her far more than I would either Rubio or Romney. Or Perry.
Anyway, O’Sullivan in the piece I referenced links to another article by Mickey Kaus:
Here.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:51 AM
^ Kaus articles are usually popular Headlines matter. Let me guess: this one was never linked.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:52 AM
[ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:34 AM]
Thanks for the link, ddrintn. I’ve always liked O’Sullivan pieces and can’t think of a time when I disagreed with him.
Oh, and the classic taste of NR has been in my mouth since my Mom gave gave me a subscription to NR for my birthday in ’73 or ’74. I still have almost all the the mags from then to 1993 stored in the attic.
Dusty on January 30, 2013 at 9:55 AM
I liked a comment from a guy on Red Eye the other night. Let’s start by turning up the heat on illegal immigrants by enforcing e-verify for a few years. At the same time, let’s clean up border enforcement as a matter of national security. Finally, is there a problem with getting a guest-worker program initiated or would that be impossible to administer? After that, then let’s figure out what to do with the illegal immigrants.
Just as with gun control, let’s have an HONEST debate rather than rushing into useless legislative solutions. Why isn’t anyone asking how we have 11+ million illegal immigrants in the country and what do we need to do to stop it?
BuckeyeSam on January 30, 2013 at 9:55 AM
Why so suddenly un-interested in Sarah Palin? After all, when it comes to amnesty, Perry is serving Coke, Rubio is serving Pepsi, and Sarah is serving Coke Light. But it’s pretty much all the same soft-drink. Romney tried to pretend he’d serve booze to the base.
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 9:57 AM
“Why aren’t you conforming to that straw man image I built up in my fevered imagination?”
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 9:59 AM
Palin was totes for McCain’s view on immigration when it helped her political future.
Rubio is ridiculously charismatic is what I mean… M’kay. I have problems with his careerism and lack of gravitas, but let’s acknowledge that the guy does have strengths when it comes to optics. Jindal might be smarter than Rubio but Jindal also makes me cringe every time he speaks.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:04 AM
Notice how it is always the moderate Republican that panders on immigration. Bold prediction.. Christie will adopt Romney’s views on this issue around 2015.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:06 AM
You mean the same way Ryan was totes for RomneyCare and an assault weapons ban when he decided to be VP nominee and help out his political future? Was it totes like that?
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 10:09 AM
Oh, you live in my state all right, but you don’t live on my street. Know why? Because you forced me to move. The neighborhood that I grew up in in Houston was turned into a Juarez flea market. Yards were unkept, crime rose and there were literlly small flea markets on the street. You had day laborers hanging around convenience stores and Home Depots who harrassed you. Ergo, property values plummeted. And I won’t mention how my 83 yr father and WWII vet had to wait in the ER for 5 hours while the illegals were taken care of. So get off your self righteous perch and stop flapping your gums on a subject that you know nothing about.
TxAnn56 on January 30, 2013 at 10:10 AM
TxAnn56 on January 30, 2013 at 10:10 AM
+1,000,000
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 10:13 AM
As I suspected you have a lot of hate in you. And racism. As a MD who spends a fair amount of time in the ER dealing with Hispanics and my poor Spanish, how did you differentiate the illegals who made your wait unbearable from the Hispanics who may have been Texan born? Or are they all just “Mexicuns!”
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 10:15 AM
No he isn’t. Rubio’s “charisma” started to fade shortly after January 2011. Let’s say there are going to be two speeches in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming somewhere. One by Palin, one by Rubio. Which one gets more attention? LOL You know the answer. THAT’S charisma.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 10:16 AM
how did you differentiate the illegals who made your wait unbearable from the Hispanics who may have been Texan born? Or are they all just “Mexicuns!”
Marcus on January 30, 2013 at 10:15 AM
That’s the issue. Why are illegals reaping the benefits that we have as Americans, without any of the responsibilities?
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 10:20 AM
Another left wing loon that likes to substitute the word “hate” for “reality”. Shut up and go back to your pretty little gated community DOCTOR. (cough cough)
TxAnn56 on January 30, 2013 at 10:20 AM
This just isn’t accurate. Romney was having problems with the Republican base very early on in the primaries. This little factoid has gone down the memory hole, but the Republican 2012 general election collapse was preceded by a turnout collapse in the primaries. Ultimately, Romney’s problem was with the conservative base. They didn’t vote in the primaries and they stayed home in November.
Ultimately, Hispanics are basically a “bought and paid for” constituency like most of the Democrats’ victim groups, and no matter how hard they try, the Republicans aren’t going to be able to buy them because the Democrats will always offer more. The establishment’s fantasy about replacing the loathed conservative base with their own bought and paid for, “locked in” minority vote is just that, a fantasy.
Doomberg on January 30, 2013 at 10:27 AM
Umm.. Romney most definitely wasn’t for an assault weapons ban and Ryan found it politicially beneficial to talk about hunting constantly on the campaign trail. Please try again on that one.
I was just pointed out that Palin was such a stickler for tough enforcement that she was totally okay with running for VP with John McCain. Really not that different from Rubio’s pandering on the issue.
Oh.. I’d definitely attend Rubio’s speech. Palin is so 2008.
Don’t even know that it was Latinos without insurance. The ER could have just been busy that day.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:28 AM
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:28 AM
The lady was there. I think she knows who was there in the ER better than you.
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 10:32 AM
Oh so only PALIN can be blamed for the policy stances of the guy who picked her as VP and was at the top of ticket. Mr P90X is still rock-ribbed and all.
Oh, I know YOU would. But you’d be part of that much-smaller Rubio crowd, not the big fired-up Palin one. Rubio’s so 2010. Palin’s 2008? CPAC last year didn’t think so.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 10:34 AM
^ Oh, and Romney most definitely was TOTES for an assault weapons ban, seeing as how he signed one into law as governor.
ddrintn on January 30, 2013 at 10:34 AM
Or she applied her existing prejudices to a situation that was likely much more complicated than that.
Look.. I said this yesterday, but I feel that the Sandra Flukes and Lena Durham types are a greater threat to the U.S. than guys willing to pick fruit for minimum wage.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Romney’s misjudged “conservative America”. He believed defeating Obama in and of itself would motivate the base and lead to a better path for the country, he was sadly wrong. As witnessed on this post and many others, there are those amongst “conservative America” that spitefully distain anyone that represents reality, moderation, compromise. If anyone as a conservative did not vote AGAINST Obama, you have blood on your hands, enjoy the carnage!
dmann on January 30, 2013 at 10:38 AM
Considering Mitt Romney had four or five positions on every issue, I’m thinking that he “evolved” on this issue.
Illinidiva on January 30, 2013 at 10:41 AM
dmann on January 30, 2013 at 10:38 AM
I am a Conservative and I voted for Romney, the same way I voted for Dole and McCain…with the same results.
kingsjester on January 30, 2013 at 10:43 AM
I wouldn’t buy a Sham-Wow from Rubio. He has “Cash for Clunker” written all over his face.
He’s just an errand boy for the Bush Crime Family anyway. Lipstick on a pig. They’re using him to do what they know they couldn’t get away with. Tea Party Cred! Too bad for Marco, they’ll throw him to the side when they’re done with him. He’ll be selling coconuts by the freeway on-ramp pretty soon.
He’s quickly become more un-sexy than Charlie Crist.
sartana on January 30, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Ouch – Ed’s name next to Michael Medved.
That’s like saying, “As [x] talks to Louis Farrakhan and blogger Allahpundit”
CorporatePiggy on January 30, 2013 at 10:51 AM
Was cocaine present in this little circle jerk of yours, and maybe even a reach around or two?
xblade on January 30, 2013 at 11:58 AM
And when in doubt, whip the race card out, lol. Standard procedure for libs who are on the wrong side of the issue.
xblade on January 30, 2013 at 12:11 PM
Which basically isn’t saying anything. Murderers are a greater threat than someone who just wants to rape you. That doesn’t make the latter acceptable, or a good thing. And like I said yesterday, this is one reason out of many proving you’re an idiot. These “minimum wage fruit pickers” as you put it agree with Flukes and Duhnam. And Obama, lol.
xblade on January 30, 2013 at 12:19 PM
Pardon me. Barf. Sorry, the Rubio came up. I couldn’t swallow it
In your dreams
The RINOs
Wrong/ They revolted. He lost
He did
entagor on January 30, 2013 at 12:29 PM