Thursday, November 12, 2015

Marco in the Middle

If the other candidates in a primary think the time is right to attack you, it might probably mean you are perceived as a threat. So, this is where Marco Rubio finds himself, having successfully deflected Jeb Bush's criticism of him at the previous debate, and having not done too badly at this past one. Outside of debates, we see that Jeb Bush made the typically Jeb Bush move and his campaign telegraphed what they would attack Rubio on, allowing his campaign to produce a kind of inoculation against it.

But here's a curious conundrum--Jeb Bush's campaign thinks they can ding Marco Rubio on being too conservative regarding abortion rights. (Seriously Jeb!?)  But no, really, Rubio is horrific regarding abortion rights. Alleging women would be pushed to abortion for monetary reasons is a pretty heinous world-view. But this is a Republican primary--how is "too conservative" even a thing except as a general election argument that Jeb! can't win either?

But what's really rich about Jeb! calling Marco Rubio "too conservative" is that Ted Cruz has decided to label Rubio an "establishment candidate".  If that means a candidate who doesn't show up at a "kill the gays " rally, well, I'd say that is an improvement.

I don't think the best arguments against Marco Rubio are to depict him as too conservative or too establishment--this issue between Bush and Cruz could leave Rubio appearing to be "just right". The best arguments against Rubio are probably right out there where anyone could get at them. And if he got the primary nod, we'd see'em come up in the general for sure.

2 comments:

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

I think Jeb is pissed that Rubio is swinging for the fences, I bet he thought Rubio would be a good little party man and content himself with a VP slot.

Vixen Strangely said...

Ah, but as a Sen. from Florida, Jeb as a contestant from Florida couldn't have Rubio on his ticket. And here's the thing--Jeb has no business in the current field. He's been out of office too long, he is "past" campaigning, and he's probably doing this for some idea of "family honor". Ditto Santorum and Huckabee--they are old news. In the current field, such as it is, there is no one Marco Rubio needs to see himself as a VP candidate to. Rand Paul is the same freshman senator class as him, and Cruz got into the senate a little later. He's been in government his life, basically. Jeb shouldn't be pissed (although he might be a little--because Rubio has a little room to move up in the polls Bush can't claim) because Rubio might come up. He should be relieved that someone who isn't him gets a job(GOP nominee) they aren't prepared for. And being younger, takes less crap for it.

It's like whatever the swordfight in the Narnia Chronicles was where younger brother Edmond fought instead of Peter because it was less of a sucks if he lost. I dunno. Running for president looks messy and I don't think I ever will.

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