We won the debate; now, let’s move on to the next thing.

So, I had the opportunity to talk with Senator Marco Rubio last night, and ask him a question.  I’ll spare you the verbal tics and whatnot: what I asked Rubio, effectively, was “What advice did the Romney campaign take heed off, out of all of New Media’s unsolicited offerings along those lines?”  This is how Rubio responded:

Rubio 10/03/2012

The funny part was: at the time, I didn’t think that Senator Rubio had actually answered the question*.  But that’s because I had asked the question before the debate.  It was fairly clear last night that Romney had taken to heart the fundamental realization of most of us: Barack Obama ain’t so tough.  He is a little too ready to believe his own hype, doesn’t realize in his bones just how much he’s carried by others, and has an overrated sense of his personal skills and core competencies.  Mitt Romney exploited that from the start last night, and made the clear distinction between him and his opponent that the Senator talks about above and we all wanted Romney to make.

Which is great.  But it’s a start.  Have your warm, fuzzy feeling this morning, sure – then start thinking about how we can take away more from the Democrats.  And then start doing it, too.  We will not be able to coast to the election on the basis of this one primary, and winning elections is a team sport.  Fortunately, Mitt Romney gave us some good stuff to work with, last night.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS Erick is right: put your money where your mouth is.  I just did.

*This did not particularly bother me. Questions and answers in this business is often a cat-and-mouse game where neither side is ever really sure which one is the cat.

#rsrh QotD, Let’s Not Eat Our Seed Corn Edition.

Ed Morrissey, in the process of explaining why Marco Rubio should not be the VP nominee in 2012*:

Yes, I know Obama only had two years in the Senate before beginning his run for the top spot.  Look how well that’s working out.

Although I’m sure Barack Obama means well.  Or, to quote Robert Anton Wilson, I’m sure he means something.

Moe Lane

*Essentially, it’s the lack of executive experience in general and the only been in the Senate for a little over a year in particular.  I fully agree.  Two terms as Senator: a term as Florida Governor; then Rubio can be President.  Rubio’s a young guy, so we’ve got time to wring out a decent decade’s worth of work out of him.

Marco Rubio withdraws support for PIPA!

It has just been announced that the good Senator from Florida has listened to the concerns of the Online Right and has decided to stop being a cosponsor for PIPA, which is of course the Senate counterpart to the Hollywood-sponsored Internet-censoring SOPA bill.  This is frankly a relief: Senator Rubio has long been a friend to sites like, say, RedState, and it would have been absolutely painful to encourage a primary challenge to him in 2016 over this issue.

I encourage everyone reading this to, again, contact your Senators and Congressman to tell them to follow Sen. Rubio’s lead and reaffirm their stance against censorship.  Especially if your Senators and/or Congressman is a Democrat: the Online Right has to do the heavy lifting on this one, as the netroots find it institutionally, ah,  problematic to challenge its leadership*. Continue reading Marco Rubio withdraws support for PIPA!

The Washington Post has a macaca on its back.

I swear to God, it’s like the paper remembers that one, perfect high that it got from torpedoing then-Senator George Allen’s re-election run in 2006, and has been chasing the dragon ever since:

  • 2009: You all remember the McDonnell/Deeds gubernatorial contest, yes?  You also remember how the WaPo went so all-in on pushing an absurd story that Jim Geraghty started calling it the Washington Bob McDonnell’s Thesis.
  • 2011:  The Rick Perry nonsense with regard to the name of a ranch that his family rented hunting rights to.  Notice how that didn’t blow up after all?

Continue reading The Washington Post has a macaca on its back.

Rubio. Birthers.

Well alrighty, then.

The Daily Caller has the details*:

Here’s how the logic works (according to World Net Daily’s Joe Kovacs): “While the Constitution does not define ‘natural-born citizen,’ there is strong evidence that the Founding Fathers understood it to mean someone born of two American citizens.”

Kovacs (and he is not alone) goes on to reason that Rubio’s “eligibility is in doubt” because — though his parents were legal U.S. residents when he was born — they were not yet naturalized citizens.

Continue reading Rubio. Birthers.

#rsrh Can I speak truth to the Democrats, here?

All y’all seriously screwed up.

You let Marco Rubio have a Senate podium for at least five more years, almost certainly over a decade, maybe two. And if he ever stops having it, it’ll be because he’ll be talking in an executive capacity, not a legislative one.

(pause)

Bless your hearts.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

Moe Lane Continue reading #rsrh Can I speak truth to the Democrats, here?

Marco Rubio and my shameless gloating.

My buddy Aaron covered this Rubio speech over at RedState: but, dammit, I’m going to gloat now.

I gloat.  I gloat.  We at RedState were early supporters of Marco Rubio – he even spoke at the first Gathering –  and while Rubio clearly earned his Senate seat via his own merits it was still our pleasure to give him whatever humble assistance that we could.  And the best part is seeing him effortlessly drop-kick doddering relics like Kerry over the horizon.  I mean, really: Kerry’s supposed to be one of their elites?

Pathetic.

Moe Lane

Clinton tried to get Meek out of FL-SEN race.

So, let’s sum up the White House’s thinking on how to salvage the Florida Senate race, five days before the election. They had a choice between:

  • The guy who is a former state trooper, former state Democratic legislator, four-term Democratic Congressman, and the duly-chosen Democratic nominee for FL-SEN black; and
  • The guy who is a long-term Republican legislator and current governor of Florida who has shamelessly switched positions on every single ideological and/or political stance that might get him more votes white.

Which one do you think that they picked?

That’s right, they went with the white dude: they sent former President Clinton to try to get Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race, and apparently almost succeeded. Sure, the White House is claiming to not know anything about any of this – but then, they would. Alas, that argument doesn’t pass the smell test. The message was sent using Bill Clinton – and Clinton’s own people are confirming, on the record, that he was actively working to get Meek to drop – and that just doesn’t happen unless it’s cleared at the top. The very top*. Continue reading Clinton tried to get Meek out of FL-SEN race.

I believe that the FL-SEN race is now over.

When your second-place candidate (Crist) is reduced to heckling the first-place candidate (RUBIO) during an actual debate you can safely assume that the second-place candidate has given up on trying to win and is now merely trying to see just how spectacular a fireball that he can generate on impact.

So, how spectacular?

Answer? Quite spectacular, really. Then again, Crist was always a bit… gassy.

Moe Lane (crosspost) Continue reading I believe that the FL-SEN race is now over.