{"id":129650,"date":"2016-02-05T18:05:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T01:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/05\/marco-rubio-the-establishment-candidate.html"},"modified":"2016-02-08T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T22:06:59","slug":"marco-rubio-the-establishment-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/05\/marco-rubio-the-establishment-candidate.html","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio, the Establishment Candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The GOP Establishment has two problems:<\/p>\n

– One of the two top polling candidates for president is a narcissistic populist money-bags who owes nothing to the GOP Establishment and is seen as a likely huge fail in the general election, even if through some miracle he gets the nomination. (Iowa, polls notwithstanding, is not an ideal test bed here.)<\/p>\n

– The other of the two top polling candidates is seen as religiously too extreme for much of the country and, worse, is pretty much hated by all his colleagues of his own party as a show-boater and spoiler.<\/p>\n

Which leaves Number 3, at least in Iowa: Marco Rubio. Some in the GOP Establishment have been ga-ga over him for some time, because he's neither a populist outsider like Trump (or Carson), nor is he an eminently unlikable glory hound like Cruz.<\/p>\n

The problem is that Rubio is profoundly undefined (or, rather, the definitions keep spinning around). Running against Charlie Crist, he veered hard to the Right. Since then, he's tried to be the relatively moderate "New JFK," leading the way on immigration reform. But under intense fire from the Right, and with Trump and Cruz stealing all the air in the primaries, he's lurched back to the Right again — doubtless assuming he can tack back again for the general election.<\/p>\n

The problem is, that creates a lot of problems for him from the the Left (as the article below outlines), even as he still draws fire from the Right (see http:\/\/goo.gl\/EVNZwP<\/a> at Townhall). Will that actually be enough to make him seem like a centrist, or just as someone nobody can trust?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nIf “Establishment” Is Code For “Moderate,” Media Need To Stop Calling Rubio The Establishment Candidate<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The GOP Establishment has two problems: – One of the two top polling candidates for president is a narcissistic populist money-bags who owes nothing to the GOP Establishment and is seen as a likely huge fail in the general election, even if through some miracle he gets the nomination. (Iowa, polls notwithstanding, is not an … Continue reading “Marco Rubio, the Establishment Candidate”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-elections-2016"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32509,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/12\/the-gop-senate-boys-club.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":0},"title":"The GOP Senate Boys Club","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Feb-13 3:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are the 22 GOP Senators, all men, who voted against this bill:Barrasso, Wyo.; Blunt, Mo.; Boozman, Ark.; Coburn, Okla.; Cornyn, Texas; Cruz, Texas; Enzi, Wyo.; Graham, S.C.; Grassley, Iowa; Hatch, Utah; Inhofe, Okla.; Johanns, Neb.; Johnson, Wis.; Lee, Utah; McConnell, Ky.; Paul, Ky.; Risch, Idaho; Roberts, Kan.; Rubio, Fla.;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38138,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/07\/03\/remember-when-the-gop-was-going-to-tone-things-down.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":1},"title":"Remember when the GOP was going to tone things down?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Jul-13 4:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, seems like only a few months ago when Republican leaders and strategists were all talking about how they had to stop being ideologically extreme and pursue the interests, and votes, of women, minorities, youth ...So is this massive flurry of GOP activity on abortion, etc., simply reverting to form?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31418,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/19\/marco-rubio-demonstrates-his-scientific-ignorance.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":2},"title":"Marco Rubio demonstrates his scientific ignorance","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 19-Nov-12 9:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"And this is the guy being touted as fresh new blood for the GOP. (Emphasis below mine.)\u00a0GQ: How old do you think the Earth is?RUBIO: I\u2019m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40309,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/01\/06\/the-tea-party-declares-war.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":3},"title":"The Tea Party Declares War!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Jan-14 6:52pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Or so says the email I got from them (the TeaParty.net folks), attacking \"the RINO elitist GOP establishment who are, unabashedly, at war with the party's own base, the energized, principled grassroots Tea Party movement.\"Paging\u00a0Manichaeus, paging Prophet\u00a0Manichaeus ... please pick up the white courtesy phone ...'Using the GOP Establishment as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130205,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/16\/marco-rubio-and-gods-plan.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":4},"title":"Marco Rubio and God's Plan","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-Mar-16 6:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"It wasn't him. It was God. Really. God's responsible for it all. If terrorists attack, it's God. If Rubio isn't meant to be president, that's God, too. It's unclear which Rubio feels is more tragic.- \"The purpose of our life is to cooperate with God\u2019s plan\" [http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/election\/marco-rubio\/article57646523.html]- 9\/11 and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32522,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/14\/rubios-patriotic-leadership-on-climate-change.html","url_meta":{"origin":129650,"position":5},"title":"Rubio's Patriotic Leadership on Climate Change","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Feb-13 9:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Summed up as:1. The government can't do anything about it.2. Even if it could, the US can't do anything about what the rest of the world is doing.I find it endlessly fascinating that the GOP (in particular) touts the US as the Leader of the Free World, the Greatest Super-Power,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129705,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129650\/revisions\/129705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}