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Posts tagged ‘Senator Marco Rubio’

Exclusive — #NeverTrump Collapsing: Delegates Bound to Marco Rubio, John Kasich Begin Warming to The Donald


waving flagby Jen Lawrence, 20 Apr 2016, Washington DC

Republican National Convention delegates from the District of Columbia who are bound to or supportive of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) tell Breitbart News that they are open to supporting Donald Trump instead.

Some are making the pitch that they want Trump to pick Rubio as his vice presidential candidate, but nonetheless the warm comments many of these Rubio delegates are making about Trump—instead of about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) —is perhaps a sign of a turning tide in the delegate game after Trump captured at least 89 delegates in New York last night.

“I think him choosing Marco [as vice president] would make me more inclined to support him, in a more positive way, a more active role in campaigning because I really love Marco,” said Teri Galvez, a bound delegate from D.C. who the D.C. GOP says is bound to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in an interview with Breitbart News this week.

“I am going to support whoever the nominee is because I’m Republican first and foremost, and it would be very hard for me to ever support a Democrat,” she said. “When I was single I never even dated one. I don’t get excited about Trump. He is the one candidate that I get excited the least about. Again, if Marco was chosen as VP I would warm up to the idea more.”

Even though she’s bound to Kasich according to the D.C. primary results, Galvez is much more of a Rubio supporter. And she’s hardly the only D.C. delegate and Rubio supporter open to backing Trump at the convention.

When asked if she would support Trump at the convention, Maureen Blum, another D.C. delegate who is bound to Rubio, also made a pitch for Trump to select Rubio as his vice president:

Senator Rubio would definitely bring sanity to the table, and he would bring a cautionary temperament to foreign policy. I think one of the fears of Donald Trump is that he’s reactionary and emotional and doesn’t think things through. I’m not saying that’s what he does. But it comes off, appears that way, that he is very reactionary. I think Senator Rubio would be a cautionary temperament and a solid process in the decision making. He would build confidence in that.

One D.C. alternate delegate who supports Rubio told Breitbart News on condition of anonymity that:

If Rubio is not the nominee, and Trump becomes the nominee, asking Marco Rubio to be the V.P. candidate would unite the convention and the Party. Additionally, it will help to balance a New York, very moderate to liberal Republican with a Christian conservative V.P. If the convention and Party do not unify and come together, I do not see how we can win in November. If Trump is the nominee, I see Rubio as the best option to balance Trump’s northern, moderate to liberal version of Republican because of Rubio’s proven conservative record in the State House and the U.S. Senate. He can help Trump navigate the intricacies of policy-making in Washington.

That alternate delegate and Rubio supporter also suggested that Trump bring in Dr. Ben Carson—who’s already endorsed him—as the leading figure to undo Obamacare, and that Trump place Cruz on the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Whatever happens, it’s important we have a unity ticket at the convention and leave Cleveland united and energized,” the alternate delegate and Rubio backer said. “Whatever combination emerges, with Cruz or without, a unified Republican front is the goal.”

In recent interviews, Trump has suggested that he may pick Rubio, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio’s Kasich as his vice president. He walked that back somewhat shortly thereafter, and it certainly would end up being difficult for Trump to bring aboard Rubio after a brutal primary where the two attacked each other on the debate stage with allusions to the other’s manhood. But that doesn’t mean that an alliance couldn’t be formed, and although that alliance might not mean having Rubio as vice president—which is the opening ask of many of these Rubio supporters—it could mean having Rubio involved in the campaign in some significant way. It could also mean Rubio may get a senior spot in a Trump administration, like Secretary of State or some other cabinet slot.

Rubio dropped out of the presidential race after his devastating loss to Trump in his home state of Florida in mid-March. Since Rubio had to abandon prospects of re-election to the U.S. Senate in order to run for the White House, he’ll soon be a former U.S. Senator. So, when this process is finished, Rubio is most likely going to seek to use his share of delegates—and his base of support in the party’s conservative wing of the D.C. establishment—to negotiate a better future for himself.

Rubio likely wants to remain relevant in the national discussion and continue to grow the support structure he’s carefully built nationwide by working to get people like Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), and other high profile Republicans elected. Leaving the national stage for a few years could jeopardize Rubio’s ability to keep command of his team heading into a potential future White House bid, and as such—and for that reason alone—he may even work with Trump as the nominee and potential future president even if he isn’t selected as vice president.

It’s been largely assumed that Rubio’s 171 delegates were firmly in the #NeverTrump camp. That was the impression given when Rubio-bound delegate Rina Shah Bharara from D.C. told on Fox News that she would support Hillary Clinton over Trump if Trump wins the nomination. Shah Bharara is now under investigation by the general counsel of the D.C. GOP regarding her delegate eligibility status after Breitbart News exposed that she is actually a resident of Virginia and not the District of Columbia. She might be alone in her absolute opposition to Trump, and she very well could lose her spot as a delegate because of her decision to present herself as a resident of D.C. when she actually lives in a more-than-million-dollar-home in wealthy northern Virginia.

Meanwhile, however, her fellow D.C. delegates like Galvez and Blum are warming up to backing Trump at the GOP convention in Cleveland in July. These D.C. delegates speaking out in potential support of Trump—with conditions attached, of course—cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that Rubio supporters are solely backing Cruz or Kasich at the convention in Cleveland. And although these statements are a long way from being an endorsement of Trump, they do show a willingness to unite the party at the end of this process.

It’s important to note, too, that these statements certainly don’t mean that these delegates are opposed to Cruz or Kasich either. In fact, Galvez explicitly said that she’d support Cruz over Trump—but she questions whether Cruz has the energy needed to win.

“I actually like Ted Cruz,” Galvez said. “I would be inclined to support him. I would be inclined to support him over Trump for sure. I think he would make a good candidate. One thing that I think he does lack what I call Chispa… He lacks the spark. It’s funny, you would think for a Cuban he would be more exciting. I would like to see a little bit of enthusiasm, a little bit more of a personality. But I think he is a very, very, very smart man.”

Blum said, too, that she’s been personal friends with Cruz for years.

“Ted has been a personal friend of mine for many years,” Blum said. “I have known him since he clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist, and I worked with Jeb Bush, so this election was very difficult for me to choose a candidate because of my personal relationship with all three. I believe Ted is brilliant. If he is the nominee, I will support him 100 percent.”

Commentary: GOP v. Trump: It’s like they’re stupid or something


Commentary March 3, 2016

URL of the original posting site: http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/03/03/gop-v-trump-its-like-theyre-stupid-or-something

GOP v. Trump: It’s like they’re stupid or something (Image via thegeekwhisperer.com)

Romney?  Really?

Sure enough, a tone-deaf GOP establishment (sorry to be banal and use that expression, but it’s accurate enough) deployed Mitt Romney to lob its big volley at Donald Trump after his strong performance on Super Tuesday.  The speech was predictable: a grave-sounding indictment of Trump, delivered with Romney’s characteristically earnest but cheerful demeanor.

Whom did the GOP establishment think it was appealing to with the Romney speech?  That’s a serious question.  Who was the target audience?

If it was aimed at the people who support Trump today, Romney is not the guy to deliver the message.  Those people think Romney and candidates like him have been the Republican Party’s chief problem for the last 30 years.  They think Romney’s the reason we got four more years of Obama in 2012.

If the speech was aimed at convincing the undecided, it was the dumbest speech ever made for that purpose.  It was all about attacking Trump – and on a pretty personal level.  That’s not how you persuade the undecided.

Attacking personalities palls on everyone rather quickly.  It’s a drive-by tactic.  It looks really disproportionate to stage a big, solemn oratorical event just to dump on Trump.

That point leads to the larger one: why have this speech at all?  What does the GOP brand buy itself by attacking Trump, in this stately, strained manner?

If the answer is “more cred with the mainstream punditry and the Washington-centric political class,” well, God help the GOP.  It’s too stupid to live.

Moving on.  Between 30% and 50% of GOP voters, depending on state, have gone for one of Ted  (TX – R) or Marco Rubio (FL – R), but it’s hard to see how the Romney speech could have been aimed at them.  Those voters have (a) decided, and (b) decided not to vote for Trump in the primaries.  Is there something else they’re supposed to do after this speech?

Maybe the speech was intended as the opening salvo in an asymmetrical campaign by the GOP establishment to “broker” the convention in Cleveland.  Like, a signal flare that they’re going to fight this Trump dude, or something along those lines.  If so, it’s a poorly crafted demonstration.  Not only doesn’t it scare anybody, it just makes the Trump divisions more determined.

Even more important, it exposes the GOP establishment further.  It shows the establishment’s hand, and generates opposition to its anti-consensual intentions unnecessarily.  It’s quite likely that every trial balloon about a brokered convention drives more voters to Trump, out of frustration with the GOP leadership’s highhandedness.

That’s the problem with the establishment’s approach: all it does by coming back again and again at Trump is make him stronger.  It’s like the GOP’s top echelon is sending one contender after another at the mythical Antaeus, and every time they throw him to earth, he gains strength.

Of course, if the GOP establishment wants everybody talking about Trump, listening to Trump, listening to other people talk about Trump, focusing on Trump, and waiting to see what Trump will do or say next, then it is doing everything right.

Sending forth Marco Rubio to turn his campaign into an anti-Trump stand-up routine sure worked out, didn’t it?  Maybe it got him a big second-place finish in Virginia.  (Maybe.  Virginia was going to have a high incidence of Rubio voters anyway, because it’s a purple state now.)

But the main thing average, lower-information voters remember about Rubio at this point is a male-appendage joke targeting Trump, and something snarky he said about Trump selling watches.  If you asked those voters what Rubio would do about the bad economy, gun rights, or national security, they couldn’t tell you.

On the other hand, they can tell you Trump wants to build a wall at the southern border.  And now, thanks to the MSM, they can tell you that Trump has disavowed the KKK quite thoroughly – probably more times in the last week than 90% of career politicians in their political lives, and he’s on video doing it.  By the peculiar standard of “disavowing the KKK on national TV,” who out there looks better than Donald Trump?

No matter what they throw at him, it turns into grist for his mill.  It’s like watching the Coyote tilt fruitlessly at the Roadrunner, and end up over and over being punched through the edge of a cliff by a falling anvil.

It’s more melancholy than funny to watch, although it has its moments. Perhaps the most poignant moment in recent politics was Romney’s invocation today of the Reagan “Time for Choosing” speech. (Transcription from CNN; link above.)

“I believe with all my heart and soul that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party and more importantly, for the country,” Romney said in Utah at the Hinckley Institute of Politics Forum.

The Reagan speech resounds in conservative hearts as a watershed in their, and their country’s, political fortunes, and for good reason.  But the truth is, there’s no one who sees Romney and the GOP establishment as the trustees of that legacy.  And that would be because they merely deploy Reagan’s words and tone – in this case, for a cheap and ineffectual purpose.

What did Romney pull the Reagan big gun for?  Not to inspire his listeners.  To attack Trump.  Here’s the rest of his passage:

“His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”

So, by portentous analogy, Donald Trump is a threat to America on a par with Soviet international Communism.  We’re staring into the abyss of a thousand years of darkness, because of Donald Trump.  Or something.

The implication here is really over the top, as Jeff Dunetz correctly pointed out (on a related theme) yesterday.  And that’s an important exit point.  When it comes to being over the top, the GOP establishment is up against the master.  It’s out of its league.  It can’t win on this battlefield.

I doubt it’s going to learn much between now and Cleveland.  Sarah Palin, whatever her faults, understands much better what’s going on in the Republican electorate.  And there’s a reason for that.  It’s because she sees things from the perspective of the ordinary, middle-class people who are bearing the entire burden of the 20th century’s old consensus: bloated, intrusive government, a government that despises the people and sucks them dry.

Start with respecting that, GOP leaders.  No one who doesn’t have a heart, first, for the people and their liberty is going to prosper in trying to wrest the GOP nomination from Trump.  You can take that to the bank, with my signature on it.

J.E. DyerJ.E. Dyer

J.E. Dyer is a retired Naval Intelligence officer who lives in Southern California, blogging as The Optimistic Conservative for domestic tranquility and world peace. Her articles have appeared at Hot Air, Commentary’s Contentions, Patheos, The Daily Caller, The Jewish Press, and The Weekly Standard.

 

 

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Epic Marco Rubio Smack Down of Reporter’s Question On Cuba


Posted on December 19, 2014 by Conservative Byte

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://conservativebyte.com/2014/12/epic-marco-rubio-smack-reporters-question-cuba/

rubiocubaI really don’t know how Senator Rubio contained himself during a press conference in Miami, when a reporter asked him how he could support his current position on Cuba.

According to the reporter, who cited a recent Florida International University poll conducted on normalizing relations with Cuba, the “super majority of Cuban Americans” do not support the existing U.S.-Cuba foreign policy.

Rubio shot back at the reporter, answering his question with several mic-dropping questions of his own.

https://iframe.reembed.com?plid=1723_2797_c6aea5e80930d551776476c9addffcba&vid=VEV1cX4EUwI&provider=youtube&type=youtube&width=640&height=390&t='+document.title.toString()+'&d='+((document.getElementsByName(‘ );</script>”>v01

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Marco Rubio Blasts Communism in a Way No U.S. Politician Has Since Reagan


http://clashdaily.com/2014/02/can-o-whoop-ass-marco-rubio-blasts-communism-way-u-s-politician-since-reagan/#bWHqryeVL0ykp1Id.99

By / 26 February 2014

 A MUST SEE AND SHARE VIDEO. PLEASE WATCH BELOW;

rUBIO

After Democratic Senator Tom Harkin praised Cuba on several issues, Senator Marco Rubio gave what has been called by Miami Herald reporter Marc Caputo as the “best oration of his career.” Its passion and candor about the despicable socialist regimes of Cuba and Venezuela should put those politicians who can actually praise the oppressive nations to shame. The best lines from Rubio’s stemwinder, which is worth every minute:

  • Let me tell you what the Cubans are really good at, because they don’t know how to run their economy, they don’t know how to build, they don’t know how to govern a people. What they are really good at is repression.
  • He cited a poll, ‘More Americans want normal relations with Cuba.’ So do I — a democratic and free Cuba. But you want us to reach out and develop friendly relationships with a serial violator of human rights, who supports what’s going on in Venezuela and every other atrocity on the planet?

Read more: IJ Review

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