By William McRight
Marco Rubio is a conservative. That is very clear. I like Marco Rubio. In fact, he is the only other candidate I would vociferously support if Ted Cruz does not get the nomination. The rest of them? Meh, with a capital meh.
What gives me pause about Marco Rubio is the judgment question. His seminal accomplishment, or lack there of, the ignominious Gang of 8 Bill was bad judgment writ large. After running a campaign steeped in Tea Party support and purist conservative dogma galore his first decision was to pair up with squishes and the most onerous of Democrat opponents. To his credit he has made every attempt to distance himself from it. One cannot tell if that distance has been or will ever be great enough. The pictures of the back slapping and glad handing with sops like McCain and Graham and villains like Schumer and Menendez cannot be unseen. The election cycle this year has been full of “Yeah I did, but I knew it wasn’t really going to work!” Well then why worry the water and do it? Bad judgment methinks. The tactic and response to the GO8 now has morphed into repeatedly calling his only conservative competitor in the race, Ted Cruz, a liar. If that is the case Phyllis Schlafly, Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee and many other conservative stalwarts are liars as well. That also may be bad judgment.
This brings us to last night. Rubio has garnered impressive support in the state by way of Governor Nikki Haley, Congressman Trey Gowdy and Senator Tim Scott. The inaugural Conservative Review Convention was held in Greenville and candidly it most likely was the reddest of red rightwing audience assembled in South Carolina this cycle. Five thousand attendees were looking forward to Carson, Cruz and Rubio speeches filling wheelbarrows full of red meat and getting all fired up about conservatism. Carson went about his usual somnambulistic routine. Cruz (this was admittedly a very pro Cruz crowd) blew the roof off the place.
Rubio decided last minute to not make the appearance. What the what, you say? Yes. Pulled the chute. Dropped Anchor. Took a Pasadena. No way, Jose.
Five thousand assembled hard core conservatives ready to hear you make your case and you opt out because you are running late? Listen, I get that delays happen. Schedules change. Campaigns are fluid. But if you are two hours out from an event of this type with a bunch of key voters, you organize, right the ship and get to the venue. You just punt? Take a pass? As they say prior to Monday Night Football, “C’mon man.” And it better never come out that he passed because it was a Cruz heavy room and he didn’t want to take the heat. That again would be bad judgment.
Marco Rubio may be so well firewalled and endorsed in South Carolina that this doesn’t matter. It likely won’t. Good judgment is seizing opportunity and relishing a spirited debate, not backing down or punting.
No comments:
Post a Comment