The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The 2016 Campaign Begins

Posted on | November 19, 2012 | 30 Comments

Marco Rubio goes to Iowa:

Seven hundred people turned out to see the Florida senator at the annual  birthday fundraiser bash for GOP Gov. Terry Branstad. Rubio had the spotlight  all to himself — he said he was merely here to help the governor mark his 66th  birthday, but no one believed it for a minute.

Having spent most of the past two years covering the 2012 campaign, I’d hoped for at least a brief respite. Nevertheless, when the nation’s most charismatic young Republican figure travels to the Hawkeye State, it’s an obvious signal: He’s interested. “Testing the waters,” as they say.

But I’m not going to start covering the 2016 campaign this early. I mean, let’s wait until after the 2014 mid-terms, at least.

Heck, we haven’t even finished the navel-gazing post-mortem “What Does It Mean?” aftermath phase of the 2012 campaign.

On that front, Gabriel Malor makes a point:”We lost an election, not an argument.”





Category: Marco Rubio

Comments

30 Responses to “The 2016 Campaign Begins”

  1. Alberto Pardo
    November 19th, 2012 @ 10:58 am

    Cue the cries of “He’s not a natural born citizen!!!”
    Sigh.

  2. BestSocialPrgrm
    November 19th, 2012 @ 10:58 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM The 2016 Campaign Begins http://t.co/njlbI5wb #TCOT

  3. BestSocialPrgrm
    November 19th, 2012 @ 10:59 am

    @smitty_one_each Is it too early to close off the exploratory committees and launch the campaigns? You don’t say..

  4. tahDeetz
    November 19th, 2012 @ 11:11 am

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM The 2016 Campaign Begins http://t.co/njlbI5wb #TCOT

  5. smitty
    November 19th, 2012 @ 11:13 am

    If the GOP offers a Reform case, in contrast to Holy Progress, there may be hope. More of 2008/20012 same is going to result in more of same.

  6. JeffS
    November 19th, 2012 @ 11:34 am

    Yeah, Birtherism reborn under the commie flag.

    Wonderful.

  7. James Knauer
    November 19th, 2012 @ 11:59 am

    ” I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.” – Sen. Marco Rubio, on the Age of the Earth, Absent Geology

  8. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 19th, 2012 @ 12:07 pm

    I wish politicians could just say what they mean. I am pretty sure Rubio does not proscribe to the earth being 6000 years old and created in seven 24 hour days.

  9. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    November 19th, 2012 @ 12:12 pm

    I know a lot of Democrats and Liberals who saw Marco Rubio for the first time when he spoke just before Mitt Romney at the RNC. They all said to me, “Who was that guy who spoke just before Mitt Romney…”

  10. ReaganiteRepublican
    November 19th, 2012 @ 12:17 pm

    I like him, Rubio will defnitely be in the mix. Reaganite dynamite, except on immigration

  11. Jenny
    November 19th, 2012 @ 12:17 pm

    Rubio. Meh. He’s the establishment’s caricature
    of a tea party politician. Just because he was positioned in a primary against Crist, he came across as this incredible tea party guy, but policy wise, what has he done? Co-sponsored PIPA, made a bunch of speeches about how the U.S. federal government should micromanage the entire world. More and more, Rubio strikes me as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We have many better options for 2016.

  12. Dandapani
    November 19th, 2012 @ 12:42 pm

    I’m done. Finished. No more.

  13. Blake
    November 19th, 2012 @ 1:10 pm

    13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
    14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
    15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

    Ecclesiastes 1, versus 13 through 15.

    Sorry, Rubio is not the answer. At this point, anyone looking to DC for answers is looking in the wrong direction.

    Everyone needs to look closer to home at the local/State level. Talking about DC as a solution is tacitly ceding the idea of federalism and accepting the idea of a strong central government.

  14. Bob Belvedere
    November 19th, 2012 @ 1:18 pm

    Whig the bastards!

  15. PhilipJames
    November 19th, 2012 @ 1:53 pm

    As soon as Rubio can articulate exactly what he has done to advance the country or his State with legislative acts… i.e. what has he done as a politician besides make speeches… then maybe I might think he is a viable candidate.

  16. Adjoran
    November 19th, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

    One thing history has proven: legislators without executive experience make lousy Presidents. Garfield began the civil service “reforms” which transformed patronage into a permanent unaccountable bureaucracy. Harding’s Administration was riddled with corruption and he gave us the first federal welfare law.

    Kennedy’s callow youth and inexperience emboldened Khrushchev to provoke crises around the world, including Berlin, Vietnam, and Cuba (the resolution of which was no success), and he brought LBJ to the Presidential succession just so he could steal Texas.

    And, Obama.

    I rest my case. Another fresh young face with no experience managing anything is not going to buck the trend for the same reason you cannot pull a man off the street and expect him to pitch in the major leagues. Talent is one thing, but it is useless without being tempered by experience. Let the talented make their mistakes at lower levels where the consequences are not so great for us all.

  17. richard mcenroe
    November 19th, 2012 @ 5:18 pm

    Any conservative who thinks the GOP should reach out to Latinos with amnesty and jobs hates black people.

  18. K-Bob
    November 19th, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

    When he starts to sound like a Tea Party guy, or a regular conservative, or even a little bit libertarian, wake me up. Until then, he’s just another Bob Dole in waiting.

  19. K-Bob
    November 19th, 2012 @ 5:28 pm

    Soggiest dynamite ever.

  20. BillFreeto
    November 19th, 2012 @ 6:57 pm

    It’s not unprecedented for the Republicans (especially of the RINO variety) to almost immediately start talking about the next candidate after losing. I’m pretty sure that Hannity started in on 2012 within 24-48 hours of Senator “Wormtongue” McCain’s defeat in 2008.
    But if we’re going to play the “wait till next year” game so soon, Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-04) is the only way to go.
    Still, why should anyone believe there will be a next election anyway? The history of budding tyrannies tells us otherwise.

  21. Coulter76
    November 19th, 2012 @ 11:07 pm

    The nomination is Rubio’s if he wants it, and the GOP would be stupid to nominate someone else.

    I really don’t see anyone else on the horizon that can offer Republicans a new coalition where they can actually start winning elections again.

  22. Adjoran
    November 20th, 2012 @ 12:28 am

    Hey, I like the guy and think he will be qualified – AFTER he returns to Florida as Governor for a term or two. Experience counts.

  23. Adjoran
    November 20th, 2012 @ 12:34 am

    In 1972, nobody saw Jimmy Carter on the horizon for ’76. In ’64, you could have got long odds against Nixon in ’68. And McGovern? Dukakis? W? (In ’96 the smart money was on Jeb for ’00). I’m sure there were those who saw Obama as President someday in 2004, but thought it would be ’08?

    So your vision now is probably no more prophetic than anyone else’s has ever been – not to mention there are thousands of pitfalls which could sink Rubio’s chances long before the next campaign begins. Chill out.

  24. Bob Belvedere
    November 20th, 2012 @ 8:44 am

    I’m suspicious of the guy, but willing to consider him if, and only if, he serves as Governor.

  25. Bob Belvedere
    November 20th, 2012 @ 8:46 am

    This is why for me to even consider him, he must serve as a Governor. Governors have to act, whereas legislators can get away with promenading.

  26. Bob Belvedere
    November 20th, 2012 @ 8:47 am

    However, I must admit that I really don’t care about the national government anymore. I’ve come to believe our hope lies in the Several States.

  27. Bob Belvedere
    November 20th, 2012 @ 8:48 am

    Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…

  28. Rick
    November 20th, 2012 @ 12:25 pm

    Well, the arguments I’ve seen against calling him a natural born citizen are stronger than those I’ve seen that say he is. But, some Republicans just give lip service to the Constitution and the law until doing so gets in their way. Kinda like Rubio and immigration law…

  29. Rick
    November 20th, 2012 @ 12:31 pm

    I’m not sure that he isn’t a 6-day creationist and I don’t care. Believing that God could create everything in 6 days is no more goofy than Mormonism, and we just spent an election season arguing that Romney’s Mormonism didn’t matter. The reporters question was designed to divide Rubio’s supporter (I am NOT one, btw) and to open him up to ridicule from the secular left.

  30. Thane_Eichenauer
    November 20th, 2012 @ 6:55 pm

    I would agree with you but I’d have to see a state with a Governor that is ready for battle. I don’t see any such state much less states as of today.