The Other McCain

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If Marco Rubio Is Stalin, Who Is Crist? And What Does That Make John Cornyn?

Posted on | April 21, 2010 | 29 Comments

Chris Matthews gets another thrill up his leg:

Republican purge. Arlen Specter is out. John McCain, Charlie Crist and Robert Bennett are all being threatened on the right. Is this anyway to run a party or run it into the ground? . . .
[W]hat happens to Republicans who don’t march to the right wing tune? Well they’re getting purged. This is Stalinesque, this stuff. . . .
Going around and saying, “Well we really don’t like Arlen Specter. You go find something else to do. Go be a Democrat.” We see this with Charlie Crist perhaps being given the boot. . . .
[I]t seems like one of the reasons that the Democrats got 90 percent of the Jewish vote, for example, last time around for Barack Obama is not so much love of him or knowledge of him. It was fear of this theocratic, gun-toting party that begins to look more and more right wing, more and more Sarah Palin than it did two years ago. If this party, the Republicans, keep going over to Palin-ism and gun-toters and 2nd Amendment types, I think a lot of people in the suburbs, sophisticated people of all backgrounds, are gonna say, “That’s not my party.”

Exactly what gun-toting theocrats, Sarah Palin and “90 percent of the Jewish vote” have to do with the GOP Senate primary in Florida, Mr. Tingles forgot to tell us, but why bother with details? (Allahpundit gives the “purge” meme a thorough fisking.)

As founder of the Not One Red Cent blog — created last May in response to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s unwarranted interference in the Florida primary — I can attest that the grassroots conservative uprising had nothing to do with any of the stuff Chris Matthews was babbling about so idiotically. (Does he ever babble any other way?)

The attempt of NRSC Chairman John Cornyn and Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer to fix the Senate primary for their buddy, Charlie Crist, was the last straw in a long series of similar moves by the Republican establishment, which had been meddling in the primary process for years, although never so blatantly as in this Florida Senate race. When GOP insiders think they can hand-pick the Republican candidate 15 months before the primary, something has gone seriously awry in the party machinery.

The fact that Crist had (literally) embraced Obama and the stimulus plan was part of the problem, but only part. Marco Rubio — the kind of young, dynamic candidate that the GOP needs to revitalize its image — was already in the Senate race, raising money, when all of a sudden here comes the Republic establishment big-footing into the primary on behalf of Crist. If Crist was such a hands-down favorite for the Senate, then he could have easily won re-election as governor, and yet Cornyn and Greer decided Crist should stomp all over Rubio’s dream.

Did conservatives know what Marco Rubio’s positions were on all the issues when this grassroots revolution started? Not only did we not know, we didn’t even care. The point was that Rubio was getting screwed over by the GOP establishment — “Those treacherous bastards!” — and we meant to put a stop to this political equivalent of insider trading.

As it happens, Rubio’s positions are conservative (including his stance on immigration, which had been questioned by some) but he’s sufficiently mainstream to earn the endorsements of non-wingnut Republicans as Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor. (And if Chris Matthews is worried about “90 percent of the Jewish vote,” let’s see Kendrick Meek try to outdo Rubio’s pro-Israel bona fides.)

As Doug Hagin points out, the handpicking of Crist was about “pragmatists like Mr. Cornyn who insist that uncompromising conservatives aren’t good bets to win swing states.” As everyone who follows Republican politics knows, Cornyn and the NRSC have tried to fix several other primaries in favor of “safe” vanilla-bland GOP establishment candidates like Sue Lowden in Nevada and Jane Norton in Colorado. This makes Sharron Angle the Marco Rubio of Nevada and Ken Buck the Marco Rubio of Colorado, you see.

Nothing against Lowden or Norton, really, but the principle is the same. And now, Cornyn’s unprecedented meddling is blowing up in his face:

Once the champion of Charlie Crist’s Senate campaign, Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, can no longer get a phone call returned by the embattled Florida governor. . . .
That is a sign of how the relationship between Cornyn and Crist has changed. Cornyn initially picked Crist for the Republican ticket in part because the governor was such a sure bet that he didn’t need extra financial support. That allowed Cornyn and the NRSC to focus time and money on other races.

Heh. That worked out really smooth, didn’t it, Senator?

NOT ONE RED CENT!

Category: Election, Florida, Marco Rubio, Republicans, Senate

Comments

29 Responses to “If Marco Rubio Is Stalin, Who Is Crist? And What Does That Make John Cornyn?”

  1. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 1:59 pm

    Crist = Trotsky? Rasputin?

  2. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 8:59 am

    Crist = Trotsky? Rasputin?

  3. M. Simon
    April 21st, 2010 @ 2:26 pm

    I’m still waiting to see a Conservative stance on the drug war:

    “We should do the conservative thing and go back to the way things were before Progressives screwed it up with their ideas of prohibiting plants and plant extracts.”

    Conservatism these days is not a thought out ideology. It is just a series of conditioned reflexes.

  4. M. Simon
    April 21st, 2010 @ 9:26 am

    I’m still waiting to see a Conservative stance on the drug war:

    “We should do the conservative thing and go back to the way things were before Progressives screwed it up with their ideas of prohibiting plants and plant extracts.”

    Conservatism these days is not a thought out ideology. It is just a series of conditioned reflexes.

  5. Fight The Power « The Camp Of The Saints
    April 21st, 2010 @ 9:28 am

    […] The Power 21 April 2010 @ 10:24 by bobbelvedere Stacy McCain continues to be the ingrown hair on the butt of the GOP Establishment.  Like the discomfort such a malady causes hirsute men across the world, Stacy is relentless in […]

  6. molonlabe28
    April 21st, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

    It’s funny that Chrissy says “theocratic, gun-toting party” like it’s some kind of BAD thing.

    What he calls Stalinism, we call healthy primaries – unlike he bloodbath between Obama and Hillary 2 years ago.

    And don’t get me started about the Jewish vote going 85% Democrat for the last 100 years.

    They have voted for a barely-closeted Muslim President who hates Israel and coddles Iran.

    That fact has caused me to lose concern about Israel, and I have always been an ardent Zionist.

    And it’s certainly true that Cornyn has 3 eggs over medium on his face at this point.

    I have a friend who was one of the major (i.e. top 100) individual donors to the NRSC in years past and he has altogether quit giving as a result of the deplorable quality of RNC Senate and Presidential candidates.

    When the party has lost people like him (and like us), it is truly lost.

    I am energized by seeing candidates like Rick Perry and Marco Rubio.

  7. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

    Rays of hope from up North?

    If Christie can reform New Jersey, Rubio can reform Florida.

  8. McGehee
    April 21st, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

    If I were Rubio I’d make a campaign ad with that quote, and the cutline to the ad would be, “Make Chris Matthews cry — Vote Rubio.”

  9. molonlabe28
    April 21st, 2010 @ 9:52 am

    It’s funny that Chrissy says “theocratic, gun-toting party” like it’s some kind of BAD thing.

    What he calls Stalinism, we call healthy primaries – unlike he bloodbath between Obama and Hillary 2 years ago.

    And don’t get me started about the Jewish vote going 85% Democrat for the last 100 years.

    They have voted for a barely-closeted Muslim President who hates Israel and coddles Iran.

    That fact has caused me to lose concern about Israel, and I have always been an ardent Zionist.

    And it’s certainly true that Cornyn has 3 eggs over medium on his face at this point.

    I have a friend who was one of the major (i.e. top 100) individual donors to the NRSC in years past and he has altogether quit giving as a result of the deplorable quality of RNC Senate and Presidential candidates.

    When the party has lost people like him (and like us), it is truly lost.

    I am energized by seeing candidates like Rick Perry and Marco Rubio.

  10. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 9:52 am

    Rays of hope from up North?

    If Christie can reform New Jersey, Rubio can reform Florida.

  11. McGehee
    April 21st, 2010 @ 9:52 am

    If I were Rubio I’d make a campaign ad with that quote, and the cutline to the ad would be, “Make Chris Matthews cry — Vote Rubio.”

  12. Calvin Dodge
    April 21st, 2010 @ 3:08 pm

    This is standard for the Left – equate someone losing a job to someone being enslaved or murdered (like the Lefties who declared a moral equivalence between blacklisted Hollywood writers and victims of Soviet communism).

  13. Calvin Dodge
    April 21st, 2010 @ 10:08 am

    This is standard for the Left – equate someone losing a job to someone being enslaved or murdered (like the Lefties who declared a moral equivalence between blacklisted Hollywood writers and victims of Soviet communism).

  14. MKS
    April 21st, 2010 @ 3:20 pm

    It seems to me that any secularist who is critical of the Judeo-Christian ethic, but silent about Islam, is either acting in ignorance or cowardice.

    So many “progressives” write about their fear of a Judeo-Christian theocracy. In 1789, the U.S. was virtually a homogenous Judeo-Christian culture. Out of that came the Bill of Rights, including a Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

    A conservative “purge” means we vote you out of office. A leftist purge means death and imprisonment, e.g., Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro. Even fascists implemented government control of privately owned business, so they were actually more “left-wing” than “right-wing”.

    If you must be purged, get purged by conservatives – it only means a career change.

  15. MKS
    April 21st, 2010 @ 10:20 am

    It seems to me that any secularist who is critical of the Judeo-Christian ethic, but silent about Islam, is either acting in ignorance or cowardice.

    So many “progressives” write about their fear of a Judeo-Christian theocracy. In 1789, the U.S. was virtually a homogenous Judeo-Christian culture. Out of that came the Bill of Rights, including a Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

    A conservative “purge” means we vote you out of office. A leftist purge means death and imprisonment, e.g., Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro. Even fascists implemented government control of privately owned business, so they were actually more “left-wing” than “right-wing”.

    If you must be purged, get purged by conservatives – it only means a career change.

  16. Thomas L. Knapp
    April 21st, 2010 @ 4:05 pm

    “As it happens, Rubio’s positions are conservative”

    On the one hand, I’ve nearly given up trying to figure out what “conservative” means this week as opposed to last week.

    On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that adamant opposition to free trade and support for keeping Cuba’s Castro regime in power forever (the two main implications of his support for continuing the embargo) are “conservative” positions in any week.

  17. Thomas L. Knapp
    April 21st, 2010 @ 11:05 am

    “As it happens, Rubio’s positions are conservative”

    On the one hand, I’ve nearly given up trying to figure out what “conservative” means this week as opposed to last week.

    On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that adamant opposition to free trade and support for keeping Cuba’s Castro regime in power forever (the two main implications of his support for continuing the embargo) are “conservative” positions in any week.

  18. Roxeanne de Luca
    April 21st, 2010 @ 5:18 pm

    So when we support the Hispanic party outsider who also has a law degree, something about that does not appeal to Jews and sophisticated suburbanites?

    I need to hear why. My life will not be complete until someone tells me why Jews hate lawyers and sophisticated, liberal suburbanites hate Cubans.

    (On a side note, Matthews ought to take a look at the election results map from the Brown/Coakley race. He trounced her in the suburbs, by almost a 2:1 margin. Then again, liberals have never let actual facts ruin a good time.)

  19. Roxeanne de Luca
    April 21st, 2010 @ 12:18 pm

    So when we support the Hispanic party outsider who also has a law degree, something about that does not appeal to Jews and sophisticated suburbanites?

    I need to hear why. My life will not be complete until someone tells me why Jews hate lawyers and sophisticated, liberal suburbanites hate Cubans.

    (On a side note, Matthews ought to take a look at the election results map from the Brown/Coakley race. He trounced her in the suburbs, by almost a 2:1 margin. Then again, liberals have never let actual facts ruin a good time.)

  20. Roxeanne de Luca
    April 21st, 2010 @ 5:26 pm

    And Marco Rubio is married to a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader. Why has there not been Rule 5 love for her????

  21. Roxeanne de Luca
    April 21st, 2010 @ 12:26 pm

    And Marco Rubio is married to a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader. Why has there not been Rule 5 love for her????

  22. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

    Marco Rubio ad with wife and kids. It is actually a very well done ad.

  23. Joe
    April 21st, 2010 @ 12:41 pm

    Marco Rubio ad with wife and kids. It is actually a very well done ad.

  24. keyboard jockey
    April 21st, 2010 @ 8:44 pm

    I voted against Cornyn back in 2008, after he voted yea on the first TARP, it wasn’t a difficult ballot to cast. I recommend voting against Cornyn highly, and often 😉

  25. keyboard jockey
    April 21st, 2010 @ 3:44 pm

    I voted against Cornyn back in 2008, after he voted yea on the first TARP, it wasn’t a difficult ballot to cast. I recommend voting against Cornyn highly, and often 😉

  26. Bob Belvedere
    April 21st, 2010 @ 7:43 pm

    I looked Roxe and couldn’t find any.

  27. Bob Belvedere
    April 22nd, 2010 @ 12:43 am

    I looked Roxe and couldn’t find any.

  28. Cousin Sam
    April 22nd, 2010 @ 1:09 am

    I can only assume that Mr. Knapp believes that lifting the embargo and restoring free trade to Cuba will be as effective at removing the Castro regime from power as our awarding of MFN status to China has been at removing their Communist dictatorship from power.

  29. Cousin Sam
    April 21st, 2010 @ 8:09 pm

    I can only assume that Mr. Knapp believes that lifting the embargo and restoring free trade to Cuba will be as effective at removing the Castro regime from power as our awarding of MFN status to China has been at removing their Communist dictatorship from power.