Friday, April 23, 2010

What to Make of Cheney's Endorsement of Rubio

In what should be a kiss of death, former Vice-President Dick Cheney has officially endorsed Marco Rubio over Charlie Christ in the Florida senate race.

Politico reports:
Former Vice President Dick Cheney threw his support to Marco Rubio in the Florida GOP Senate primary Thursday, warning that "Charlie Crist cannot even be trusted to remain a Republican."

The Cheney endorsement represents the most significant national "get" to date for Rubio, and comes as Crist weighs bolting the Republican Party to run as an independent.

In a statement issued by Rubio's campaign, the former vice president urged Crist to stay in the primary or drop out of the race altogether. "The only winners from an independent bid by Crist would be Barack Obama and Harry Reid," Cheney said.

Crist's plunging poll numbers and open consideration of an independent run have prompted a stampede of previously neutral GOP figures to get behind Rubio. In less than a week, the former state House speaker has won support from 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and now Cheney.

2 comments:

  1. Cheney wouldn't have endorsed Rubio unless he saw something there that he liked.

    Or look at it this way. Both Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have support of the so-called tea parties. Yet Cheney endorses only one of them. What's the difference that makes Rubio appealing to a neocon like Cheney that also makes Rand Paul unacceptable? Rubio's CPAC speech showed us that he is an apologist for the foreign policy status quo.

    I wrote in my blog a while back that Rubio was just another face for big government Bush Republicanism. Rubio was, after all, an ally of Jeb Bush in Florida. The Cheney endorsement seals it.

    In case you're interested (or are having trouble sleeping), here are my Rubio pieces:

    http://uncouthruminations.blogspot.com/2010/02/dangerous-marco-rubio.html

    http://uncouthruminations.blogspot.com/2009/10/compassionate-conservatism-revisited.html

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  2. Thanks. I'll check them out.

    I have a buddy who is both a big libertarian and big Rubio guy. He is even placing people for the campaign. The funny thing is he was talking about how much of a "true conservative" Rubio was two months ago while my YAL buddies were, shaking their heads "no."

    I have heard that his foreign policy isn't the only thing suspect. I've heard he has a some questionable votes on his record as a state legislator.

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