Welcome to the downside of your vague, presumed, gossamer-like, establishment-frontrunner status, Sen. Rubio, which is a bit like the pitfall of a mob boss's status: notoriety draws attention of the unwanted kind. Much better to be the underboss, whose scams are no less depraved, but on whom the gaze of investigative eyes is less intense.
This is just the beginning — "this" being, for example, an internal Bush document leaked to US News' David Catanese. In it, "risky" Marco is ripped for Rumsfeldian knowns already known by those who have followed the upstart's fetid rise through the ranks of somewhat organized GOP crime: his "misuse of state party credit cards," his "ties to [a] scandal-tarred former Congressman," and his funding from a "billionaire auto dealer" that "raises major ethical questions."
Why Jeb chose to keep these knowns unknown to the general public in Wednesday night's debate is a question only that joyless candidate can answer. Perhaps such an operatic assault simply had too many notes for vulgar ears to appreciate. This, I can understand. K.I.S.S. Yet that's precisely what Jeb could have done with another passage from his internal document: "Those who have looked into Marco's background" — this being a reference to the 2012 Romney campaign's unsatisfying peek into the senator's vice-presidential worthiness — "have been concerned with what they have found." That keeps it simple indeed. Romney knew Rubio would be destroyed as the #2 nominee, so why in hell would the GOP base wish to elevate him to even more vulnerable #1 status?
Well, it could be that they're reading David Brooks, who is back from his holidaying in reality. "Of all the candidates, Rubio has done the most to harvest the work of Reform Conservatism," writes Brooks this morning, "which has been sweeping through the think tank world." Maybe you've noticed the sweep; far as I can tell, though, it's been under the carpet. Concludes Brooks in a flurry of re-inspiration: "If [Paul] Ryan and Rubio do emerge as the party’s two leaders, it will be the wonkiest leadership team in our lifetime."
This "reform conservatism" wonkiness is what WaPo's Catherine Rampell now calls "legerdemath." Ryan, of course, has his famous magic asterisks when it comes to budgeting the future, and, notes Rampell, "When Marco Rubio was asked [Wednesday night] why his tax plan gave the average rich person a bigger tax cut than the average middle-class person in percentage terms, Rubio decided he would just redefine how percentages work."
That may be. But the Washington Post's Rampell is part of the diabolical mainstream media, whereas Brooks, at the NY Times, is not. Paul Krugman, also at the NY Times, is, however, part of the mainstream media. So when he observes that "There was a time when Mr. Rubio’s insistence that $6 trillion in tax cuts would somehow pay for themselves would have marked him as deeply unserious," Krugman's observation can be dismissed by the elevaters — because "the Republican base doesn’t care what the mainstream media says."
Which brings us back to Rubio's fresh notoriety, investigative eyes, and "the beginning." The Republican base, Mr. Bush, doesn't read US News' David Catanese any more than it reads Paul Krugman or Catherine Rampell; hence leaking your document of Rubio-damnation to Catanese is equivalent to mum's the word. You must instead unleash your FBI-like budget of $100 million on Rubio directly — on the airwaves — while also exposing Ben Carson's scams and Donald Trump's morbidity. And you must do it now, as in, now. There will be no later, for your money will have run.
I offer this bit of advice in the almost laughably desperate hope of your survival and eventual nomination, Mr. Bush. Because you'll be a helluva lot easier to beat than the glib Sen. Rubio, even with his past depraved path and legerdemath.
Aww damn! But he was saving that for Hillary! You're right of course that his personal salvation as a candidate now rests on spending huge amounts of money assassinating other Republican candidates. The same logic applies essentially to all the other candidates too. To quote my favorite fictional anarcho-syndicalist, Dennis: Now we'll see the violence inherent in the system... Look everyone there's some lovely muck over here!
What hath man wrought? A system that allows every Ted, dick and Harriet to imagine themselves as president and to accrue almost unlimited amounts of cash that must first be used to annihilate each other in an orgasmic frenzy of musical electric chairs. I suspected this would happen but I'll be honest and admit that I did not suspect how useless these piles of cash would be in actually altering public perceptions. It's like an immunity has developed in the body politic, like insulin resistance, that requires ever larger doses of cash to achieve marginal gains. On top of this we have the undeniable truth that Nietzsche was wrong, what does not kill you only makes you weaker and easier to kill later.
Posted by: Peter G | October 30, 2015 at 09:24 AM
Marco Rubio is merely the fresh young face acting as the spokesmodel for the same old failed right wing policies.
Posted by: Anne J | October 30, 2015 at 09:30 AM
Pm's opening mob boss analogy is spot on. One has only to peruse a range of right wing web sites to deduce a common theme. To be labelled an establishment front runner is only slightly less toxic than an endorsement from Hillary Clinton.
Posted by: Peter G | October 30, 2015 at 09:41 AM
In a way it's comforting to know that not only Democrats have a problem with wanting to keep their powder dry.
Posted by: RT | October 30, 2015 at 10:05 AM
Top rate piece with lots of good links that will keep me busy for a while. Evidently you've recovered from the debate downer. If a future Republican debate really is moderated only by wingnuts, like some of the candidates are proposing, I'm going to take back my vow not to watch. Just when you'd think the R's couldn't retreat any farther up their own backsides ...
Brooks' assertion Rubio has no natural enemies anywhere in the party is spectacularly delusional. He's disappeared the Senate "Gang of 8" Marco belonged to that worked on bipartisan immigration reform while also choosing to ignore Trump and Carson's popularity based on xenophobia.
In related news, the first page of a Google News search for "Republican debate gold standard" brings up feature pieces in The New Republic, TheStreet.com, Fortune, Reuters, Huffington Post, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Cruz got the attention he was looking for. In fairness the pieces say the idea is bonkers in so many words, but any knock is a boost. A story about Texas playing with the idea of establishing its own Fort Knox-like gold reserve also came up. Texas should make Glenn Beck State Treasurer.
Posted by: Bob | October 30, 2015 at 10:44 AM
As I said in the previous thread, David f'n Brooks never disappoints. Right on cue, he's up with a chin-stroking thought piece on Rubio's excellence as a candidate.
These people are so boring.
I'll now await the entry from Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier, obliviously saying Rubio's a breath of fresh air and totally not scandal-prone compared to Hillary, because EMAILS. And Rubio's affable demeanor (GAG - but someone's going to say it) and interesting background can totally unite the country unlike that bad leader Obama who, Ron will note as is his custom, is a poopy head.
So predictable. So boring.
I sure do hope Team Jeb goes supernova on the rest of the field on their way out of the race. With all that money and all that pent-up Bush brand entitlement, we could probably see the resulting explosion from Mars.
Posted by: Turgidson | October 30, 2015 at 12:17 PM
Maybe S E Cupp would entertain you. Her approach is a little more inventive if self-cancelling. I'd enjoy reading your review.
http://townhall.com/columnists/secupp/2015/10/29/rubio-shows-republicans-how-to-win-n2073048
Posted by: Bob | October 30, 2015 at 02:36 PM
Sippy Cupp is always good for a laugh, or at least a good eyeroll.
Her recipe for winning is winning! Brilliant!
I mean, she kinda makes a good point, indirectly. The GOP base wants their nominee, above anything and everything else, to be a huge, insufferable asshole. Preferably a bullying alpha-male type.
It's why Trump shot to the top of the polls and stayed there longer than any of the "serious people" ever expected. And while Carson is soft-spoken, what comes out of his mouth is pure, distilled, demented asshole.
It's why Gingrich briefly shot to the top of the polls after he spent entire debates insulting and bullying the moderators.
It's part of the reason they were so blindly loyal to the Bush Administration, even long after they'd proven themselves to be irredeemable fuckups. The braindead right finally bailed on them only when they lost that swinging-dick swaggering douchebag posture they'd had since 9/11. And boy, did they love it when they slandered decorated veteran John Kerry. They spent months reveling in that assholery.
It's what Romney had to do to win the respect of the GOP base - be blatantly contemptuous and disrespectful of Obama as loudly, falsely, and often as possible. He also scored points for being a dick to debate moderators.
It's why almost all of their most beloved media personalities are such awful, angry, ignorant (sometimes the ignorance is real, sometimes for show) people.
So it's not so much winning, as Sippy Cupp suggests, as being a fucking asshole, that the GOP base will get excited about. Winning is nice, of course, but best accomplished while being as much of an asshole as possible.
Posted by: Turgidson | October 30, 2015 at 03:04 PM
Just finished reading Jeb's Power Point presentation. I have to admit the argument isn't all that bad. It does have a laugh line, though:
"Race will remain fluid for some time because… voters have A.D.D."
Not short memories or changeable minds, but a clinical condition. The Bush campaign can't help being condescending even in a document they distributed to reporters. It's not exactly like saying 47% of voters are lazy bums, but it's close enough.
Posted by: Bob | October 30, 2015 at 03:07 PM
You do not disappoint, and I agree completely about the right's hunger for asshole. What struck me funny is that Cupp wants Rubio to bring more attention to his faults by denying them more loudly. As if the media wouldn't take that as a challenge. Evidently she misses the point that Trump and Carson are exploiting *others'* weaknesses.
Posted by: Bob | October 30, 2015 at 03:20 PM