Patterico's Pontifications

10/26/2015

Marco Rubio “Hates” the Senate

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:35 am



The Washington Post has an article today titled Rubio gives up on Senate: ‘He hates it’:

Marco Rubio is a U.S. senator. And he just can’t stand it anymore.

“I don’t know that ‘hate’ is the right word,” Rubio said in an interview. “I’m frustrated.”

. . . .

But Rubio had arrived at one of the least ambitious moments in Senate history and saw many of his ideas fizzle. Democrats killed his debt-cutting plans. Republicans killed his immigration reform. The two parties actually came together to kill his AGREE Act, a small-bore, hands-across-the-aisle bill that Rubio had designed just to get a win on something.

Now, he’s done. “He hates it,” a longtime friend from Florida said, speaking anonymously to say what Rubio would not.

The article leaves one a bit mystified as to what Rubio was trying to accomplish in the Senate, other than “something.” You get the impression that he is passionate about immigration reform but not much else. He came in and found that Washington was not willing to eagerly embrace his ideas, and apparently has just shrugged his shoulders and said “I’m outta here.”

Contrast that with Ted Cruz, who seems to have a clear vision for what he wants: repeal of ObamaCare, smaller government, and a return to Constitutional principles. And he seems to relish standing up for those beliefs. Rather than feeling dispirited by the fact that establishment Washington is not easily signing on to his agenda, Cruz seems energized by the fight.

The immense frustration of a Donald Trump candidacy is that his phony brand of celebrity-oriented “fighting the establishment” sucks oxygen away from the few who actually do, day in and day out. Cruz is one of those few. Marco Rubio is not.

62 Responses to “Marco Rubio “Hates” the Senate”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  2. Marco doesn’t realize the dems do what they want done

    narciso (ee1f88)

  3. Marco Sleazio is not down wit the struggle

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  4. He’s ‘frustrated’ but for the wrong reasons.

    narciso (ee1f88)

  5. Our group health insurance premiums are up 30% in two which includes going from the equivilant of a silver plan to a bronze plan with a $6,300 deductible.
    According Krugman, obumacare is a success.
    Yes there is a good reason obumacare should be repealed. Yes to Cruz

    Joe from Texas (debac0)

  6. I wouldn’t say that Ted Cruz is particularly fond of the Senate either, given his apparent desire to vacate the premises after such a short stay.

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  7. Marco needs to sit down with a piece of paper and make two columns

    in the first column he should write out all the things he likes about the Senate

    in the other column he should write an apology for being such a sleazy smarmy tool

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  8. And some would say Cruz is a carnival barker using the Senate to advance much the same as Rubio.

    …. And this coming from a guy who has only donated to Cruz so far.

    All career politicians are sleaze balls. ALL.

    At least the non-politicians have shown some penchant for living in the real world where “Other People’s Money” is not at their beck and call to fix whatever crazy they have in their head.

    Rodney King's Spirit (ab8c0d)

  9. It’s people! … Soylent Green Veggie Hot Dogs is people!

    https://www.yahoo.com/health/your-vegetarian-hot-dog-may-contain-meat-and-214203888.html

    Colonel Haiku (436b69)

  10. Another one gets taken down… Next!!!

    Colonel Haiku (436b69)

  11. His polling says this is the year of the outsider and this is his only way to position himself as an outsider.

    DRJ (15874d)

  12. here DRJ is a link for you it made me smile hopefully it will also make you smile

    that’s a lot of smiling for a monday

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  13. What Leviticus said.

    I could see the female white vote that went for Romney baling out on Cruz. He doesn’t have the looks or charisma of Palin even.

    Also just from an electorate perspective–might have trouble running someone from Texas. He has the cowboy boots, but it doesn’t seem authentic.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  14. Just to make this even handed, holy crap is Rubio young.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  15. Beyond hilarious. He went to Tech Law. Thank you, hf.

    DRJ (15874d)

  16. Apparently this is the latest thing at Tech Law. Good for them.

    DRJ (15874d)

  17. Along the same lines:

    http://hotair.com/archives/2015/10/26/jeb-bush-ive-got-a-lot-of-other-cool-things-i-could-be-doing-instead-of-negative-presidential-campaigning/

    Go home, Jeb. If this level of negative campaigning is a problem for you, you’re definitely not up to dealing with Her XXNess and her Merry Moonbat Minions after the nominations are clinched. . .assuming that you can overcome your general ineptitude at campaigning and the fact that the base despises you to actually take the nomination in the first place.

    M. Scott Eiland (1edade)

  18. “Cruz seems energized by the fight.”

    Not based on the way he keeps sucking up to Trump in order to placate his supporters.

    tops116 (d094f8)

  19. Trump/Cruz is how we put this baby to bed

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  20. I’d hire Mr. Wilson in a second I think

    my friend K in Texas got a dwi 🙁

    he was telling me he had that doohickey put on his car and he has to blow to make it start and sometimes while he’s driving it asks for a new sample he says – I had only known about the starting part

    then he says if you tell your probation officer that you work at home – they put a doohickey in your house and you have to blow periodically just to make sure that you’re doing the obeys – this strikes me as deranged fascist and creepy

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  21. Contrast that with Ted Cruz, who seems to have a clear vision for what he wants: repeal of ObamaCare, smaller government, and a return to Constitutional principles. And he seems to relish standing up for those beliefs. Rather than feeling dispirited by the fact that establishment Washington is not easily signing on to his agenda, Cruz seems energized by the fight.

    The immense frustration of a Donald Trump candidacy is that his phony brand of celebrity-oriented “fighting the establishment” sucks oxygen away from the few who actually do, day in and day out. Cruz is one of those few. Marco Rubio is not.

    Every time I see or hear or read talkhosts and pundits defend Trump from The Establishment when he says dumb stuff that any other candidate would (and should) retract, it makes me wanna give them the Cher Moonstruck slap (“Snap out of it!”)

    I wish I could be really happy that Trump is now running well behind Carson in Iowa, but I can’t, because Carson doesn’t have any business being President either. In fact, Carson may be a worse deal because he doesn’t even have experience on the fringes of government that Trump has had as a big-wheel donor. I have great respect for Carson as a surgeon and a role model. He’s obviously a brilliant man. But I thought he was smart enough not to be convince he could walk into the Oval Office as if it was an operating room and make things better. Sadly, he’s not.

    All career politicians are sleaze balls. ALL.

    At least the non-politicians have shown some penchant for living in the real world where “Other People’s Money” is not at their beck and call to fix whatever crazy they have in their head.

    Rodney King’s Spirit (ab8c0d) — 10/26/2015 @ 8:36 am

    I’ve said in this forum before that “It is my belief that every politician must enter into a de facto Faustian pact because of the very nature of politics.” Nobody is immune from that just because they don’t have corporate interests feeding them cash with the prospect of gaining influence. Once you become a politician, you’re a politician. Doesn’t matter if you’re a “professional” or not. And it’s just ridiculous to think that a person dropped from outside the political world into the most important political office in the nation is going to operate without the advice and counsel of the people who have made their living in the oh-so-hated system.

    L.N. Smithee (e750c1)

  22. Trump/Cruz is how we put this baby to bed

    happyfeet (a037ad) — 10/26/2015 @ 9:56 am

    I could not respect nor trust Cruz if he agreed to be Trump’s running mate. He would have to publicly accede to Trump’s positions without reservation, and probably would be tasked with mopping up after The Prima-Donald when he inevitably suffers a case of diarrhea of the mouth.

    L.N. Smithee (e750c1)

  23. Carson is a problem because he is not that well known to the general electorate.

    The media–once he wins and if he wins–will be the one’s introducing him to the public.

    That’s always ugly for a Republican.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  24. Hillary only needs something like 40% of the white vote.

    A Republican needs near 60% of the white vote.

    You also have to consider the electoral college vote–and the effect of the time zones—Texas is already in the bag so to speak and wouldn’t get much momentum from it. Everyone understands the importance of Florida and Ohio–but if you could flip PA or even keep the count dragged out so that it would not be called early–then that really would be something.

    It’s imperative that a Republican wins, someone from Texas which much of the rest of the country does not like, and who lacks basic charisma will not get you there.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  25. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Florida does have an LBJ Rule and even if it did he was not going to get re-elected anyway. Obama with a Spanish surname. He only got elected in the first place because Mel Martinez dropped out and Charlie Crist melted down TEA Party or no party. He was not Senate material and for sure as refried plantains he is not President material.

    nk (dbc370)

  26. Florida does *not” have an LBJ Rule

    nk (dbc370)

  27. Danube River,

    You are assuming the electorate stays the same as past elections. Obama changed the electorate in 2o008 and 2012. The outsider Republicans can change it, too.

    DRJ (15874d)

  28. Danube River,

    You are assuming the electorate stays the same as past elections. Obama changed the electorate in [2008] and 2012. The outsider Republicans can change it, too.

    DRJ (15874d) — 10/26/2015 @ 10:38 am

    I don’t know what you mean by “change the electorate.”

    L.N. Smithee (e750c1)

  29. An outsider Republican can change the voter turnout modeling?

    Possible, but there might be a dampening effect when you consider the electoral college.

    It’s a damn good question, but I don’t know how you could measure for that other than possibly by voter enthusiasm, and that would be problematic.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  30. Back in early July, just before Trump made his big splash, Bush, Walker and Rubio, in that order, were leading the pack. Rubio was polling at just under 10%. Three months later, Trump, Carson, and Fiorina, in that order, were leading the pack, with Rubio still polling at just under 10 %.

    The lesson to be learned from the Trump candidacy and these polling numbers – if you can just get over your Trump gag-reflex – is that Trump has brought legitimacy to anti-GOP establishment politics. Love him or hate him, Trump has cleared the field for anti-establishment candidates and brought ruin to the candidacies of the two leading establishment candidates. Early on, we heard that Trump was a “stalking horse” for Hillary, but a glance at the numbers would tell you that he’s an enabler of anti-establishment candidates. Cruz seems to have understood this from the outset As for Rubio, he’s the one establishment candidate who has weathered the Trump storm without serious damage.

    If there is one thing almost all of us commenters agree on, it is that much of the blame for the decline in our country and our party falls squarely on the shoulders of the GOP elite. We should all be thankful to Trump for the legitimization of anti-GOPe politics. So, please, enough of the “sucked the air out of the room” trope! It is both intellectually lazy and profoundly inaccurate.

    Please take a look at the wonderful interactive chart on Real Clear Politic’s polling page:

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html

    ThOR (a52560)

  31. Historically looking at past elections, outsider Republicans might be able to change turnout in off general cycle elections, and in areas of low density.

    Remember the general election–Presidential turn out model is very different from that of mid cycle elections.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  32. I just don’t think that there are enough people who like abortion and gay marriage and hate Mexicans.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. Well there were 4 million fewer voters last time.

    narciso (ee1f88)

  34. Your on a roll today, happy.

    ThOR (a52560)

  35. The GOP has done worse than Rubio with each of its last two nominees; I’ve got a more mixed appraisal of him than our host expresses in this post.

    But I agree with Patterico that Rubio’s at his very least credible when he claims to be “fighting the [GOP] establishment.” And I also agree, re Trump.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  36. The polling of late has been abysmal. Last election cycle the actual results were near 10% off from the last poll and/or the averaging of polls.

    The averaging of polls into one aggregate mixes the freguent polling of Public Policy Polling a democrat organization with questionable methodology with everything else and turns it into junk. PPP is so bad even Nate Silver took them to the chop block. It’s like putting chips of poop in brownies–you really shouldn’t swallow the whole thing, much less ask other people to eat it.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  37. Rubio is young and inexperienced. IF he wants to get things done, perhaps running for Florida Governor might be a plan. Doesn’t sound like a great VP pick.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  38. Also Gallup has decided to quit doing horse race election polling because they were sigificantly wrong.

    Then even the polling for the British election was grossly off.

    Trump’s fans are demanding everyone get inline based on media driven polling that is perhaps motivated by the huuuuge and fabulous campaign advertisement dollars that they receive. Hell campaign dollars might be the only thing that keeps MSNBC in business.

    Trump is the most famous person in the Information Age to run for leader of the free world, but we are still a democracy whose electorate has the right to vote–and so far Trump does not respect the electorate as his BOSS. The Electorate is entitled to a coherent and cohesive plan on national security and Trump does not have one.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  39. Beldar,

    I can’t argue about McCain who rivaled Dole for terrible, but why was Romney such a poor choice? Romney was probably the best potential President we’ve put up since Reagan. His only real fault was as a campaigner, unable to find the jugular and unable to close the deal. But he would have made a MUCH better president than either Bush or the two losers we nominated after each.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  40. Also Gallup has decided to quit doing horse race election polling because they were sigificantly wrong.

    Meanwhile Rasmussen is doing “Horse rate tout polling” where they ask people who they think will win the nominations.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  41. Not sure I want to see Cruz as the nominee — he has too many enemies. Better than Trump or Carson for different reasons, but he’ll get the Goldwater treatment from most of the party.

    Besides, he’d be far better replacing Ginsberg on the Court.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  42. If you want to just skip voting, and do everything according to media paid polls, then you live and die by the polls. You can’t pimp Trump based on one set of polls while ignoring the general polling.

    Also the polling thus far has MOEs well off even the acceptable 3% , and most of them do not even screen for–“likely voters” in even a perfunctory way.

    Then to add to this pile of junk science–the New Hampshire polling includes a significant amount of people–perhaps liberals–who inform the pollsters that they are “independent “.

    But let’s just take a page out of Hillary’s playbook and start limiting debate, while crowning Trump before even one vote is cast.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  43. Romney is unprincipled

    it’s very worrisome

    but not as worrisome as it would be were he to be elected to the presidency

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  44. Kevin M

    Missed that one.

    ****

    One more gripe about polling, in real science there is the idea of the “observer effect”.

    You don’t want the measurements of a process to effect the outcome. Ethical pollsters like the Field Poll seem to honor this.

    Public Policy Polling (Democrat) turns this idea on it’s head to unethically effect the democratic process.

    Should be no surprise that democrats do not honor this when they challenged the vote of every military voter serving overseas who voted in Florida during Bush v. Gore.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  45. Trump donated to Democrats in a huuuge and fabulous way. He donated to Gore during that, and he continued to donate to Democrats after they challenged military votes. Trump not only donated to Hillary, but he donated to Anthony Weiner, and to Rahm Emanuel. That’s a demonstrably gross lack of judgment and scruples for someone who is trying to sell himself as the Republican nominee for leader of the free world.

    Danube River Guide (76b104)

  46. Danube @ 45 – A-freakin-men

    JD (34f761)

  47. The fat lady sang 14 years ago when the republican house, senate and president when on a drunken spending spree that set us up to fail. Those morons could have set us up very well for a educated, American made, English speaking oil exporting GIANT.
    Prepare your families for democratic rule.

    mg (31009b)

  48. we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the donald

    it would be different if all the other Rs weren’t so poopy

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  49. Kevin M. – …why was Romney such a poor choice?

    Until it became useful to pose as a conservative, he favored single-payer, “comprehensive” immigration reform, and abortion rights. We were supposed to ignore that squish history and focus on his alleged executive competence. His fatally botched GOTV plan killed that myth.

    Ace of Spades
    The Atlantic

    scrutineer (b7d257)

  50. Romney and Dole are very much the same. Both are congenial, modest, and have well developed moral compasses when it comes to private life; neither has a a moral compass when it comes to public policy. Jeff Smith, they are not. How a person can have one with out the other is beyond me, but they are not alone.

    Rubio is a Boy Ranger.

    ThOR (a52560)

  51. Not sure whether Trump being a real Repub is even relevant at this point. McCain, his girlfriend Lyndset and Eric Cantor are all Repubs and where did that get us. His previous donations are typical for a business man. They give to everybody but more to the people in power, He admits as much.
    If he actually builds a wall and stems the flow of illegals of all kinds I’m all for it.
    I say this as one of Pat’s LIVs who is so dumb he often shops at Amazon via this site’s widget.

    Gazzer (3add11)

  52. Oops, “Lyndsey”.

    Gazzer (3add11)

  53. Hillary must go down. If she’s not indicted, convicted and incarcerated (which she surely would be if there were any justice for these political weasel criminals), she must be beaten like a rented mule.

    Colonel Haiku (436b69)

  54. His fatally botched GOTV plan killed that myth
    Which included robocalling me to vote for him in the GOP primary.
    If you recall, I am for voting registration purposes still a registered Democrat (that may change, if I decide to vote in the GOP primary this time around) in a state where primaries are closed.

    As for Rubio, I read this as being the plaint of a man who is now a small fish in a big pond, but used to be a very big fish in a small pond. He was Speaker of the House in Florida (term limits kicked in), one of the folks who, when it was time to wheel and deal, spun the wheels and dealt the deals. Now he is not.
    BTW
    Jeff Smith, they are not
    How did I get in there?

    kishnevi (31ba4e)

  55. (My real name is Jeffrey Smith)

    kishnevi (28fa9f)

  56. you would be shocked to know how many don’t understand the closed primary, well probably not,

    narciso (ee1f88)

  57. I was a big Rubio fan for a while, but he simply does not know how to run a Presidential campaign.

    Mark Helperin says there’s nothing the GOP can do to stop the Hillary! train.

    Unfortunately Helperin did not take into account Hillary! As people get to know her, they grow to dislike her.

    I would be extremely happy to watch a Cruz vs. Hillary! campaign. Or a Carson vs. Hillary! campaign. I still have some hope for Carly.

    Trump might work, but low information voters tend to dislike him as much as Hillary! I would vote for my dog before Hillary!

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  58. Rubio is a ego driven fraud. Him and Ryan need to go lobby for profit.
    Rubio, Ryan and Boehner – three awful stooges.

    mg (31009b)

  59. Barrack Rubio, no thank you.
    A quitter.

    mg (31009b)

  60. Quote:
    ” “Cruz seems energized by the fight.”

    Not based on the way he keeps sucking up to Trump in order to placate his supporters.
    tops116 (d094f8) — 10/26/2015 @ 9:51 am ”

    Obviously not a NASCAR fan, if you don’t know what “drafting” is.

    Luke Stywalker (5dbd3c)

  61. 60. “Sucks oxygen from those [of redeeming value]”

    Again the unexamined assumption is that, let’s say a Cruz or a Jindal, could win should the way be cleared of reality TV stars with hot wives so as to leave the low-information American no distractions to their civic duty to choose, regardless of their perceived need, for the good of our God-forsaken country and elected that hero will begin an inexorable restoration of same against the insurmountable opposition of that disunion’s puppetmasters and the latter’s hand-in-glove government.

    GLWT.

    DNF (45ef00)

  62. 47. I’d be willing to give Cruz a chance if the Chamber’s GOP were not about to back Hillary! over his miraculous nomination.

    I think God has set his face against this sh!thole and will not be dissuaded were Abraham himself to plead for us.

    DNF (45ef00)


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