No less than the ultimate Tea Party candidate this cycle finds himself falling flat with the mob he's helped create:
"'Ask Marco Rubio why he refuses to be vetted by the Florida Tea Parties. I want to hear from Rubio or I will not vote for him,'" [Fox News' Chris] Wallace said. "We got [letters like] this from a bunch of Tea Parties all over the state."
Doesn't the far-right, paranoid thought process smell like victory in an election year?
--I've already been vetted. You know my policy positions and my work history.
--No, Congressman Rubio. Show us your real stances.
The preceding is from a TPM article titled, Marco Rubio's Tea Party Problem. At first glance, Florida Speaker Rubio seems to be successfully doublethinking his way through the schizophrenic political wasteland, en route to the Florida Senatorial primary. He embraces his new rightist critics while still trying to close himself off to vetting risk. And the predominantly male right-wing love themselves a cute, brown twink who'll say all the right things. Namely, denying other brown people any sort of perceived federal assistance. But is Rubio really in their fold?
At the debate, Rubio said to he values his tea party support. "[I]f there's a formal vetting process, I've not been made aware of it. But I can tell you that I'm proud of my association with the Tea Party folks and the fact that we have attended multiple events across the state throughout my candidacy."
But Tea partiers said it was clear from Rubio's answer that he doesn't really get how the movement works.
Ouch. Speaking of Republican boobs playing with forces they can't control, Rubio's Republican opponent, Governor Charlie Crist, was all but declared dead in the water. In 2008, Crist found that his nice, moderate schtick designed to play to retired Florida voters would no longer work in the party of Beck and Palin. Now that Rubio's tea is cooling Crist appears to at least have movement in the polls.
As much as I'd like to see Rubio be the Republican candidate for Senate, Rubio's quest to straddle two distant and contradictory positions may deny us the pleasure. In his debate with Crist this week, Rubio forgot that the first thing you can never do in American politics is set off the old Republican voter's fire alarm over his or her own, personal socialism:
The Charlie Crist campaign is sure to jump on Marco Rubio telling a national TV audience that he raising the retirement age for Social Security has "got to be part of the solution" for the the troubled social program.
"I think that has to be on the table. That's got to be part of the solution, the retirement age gradually increases for people of my generation. I think it's got to be part of..." Rubio said.
In Florida? One of the oldest states in the Union? So Rubio's not quite beloved by the Tea Party anymore, and definitely not going to score any points with the PBS crowd.
Popcorn time.
But elsewhere, scores of Republican officials who've long banked on the most reliable voters--seniors--over the GOP fringe are finding themselves in hot water with the base inherited. Even a hard-right Mormon from Utah like Senator Bob Bennett:
Seeking a 4th term in the senate, Bennett suddenly finds himself facing seven republican challengers.
Bennett's hope there is a fractured opposition, but this is an anti-establishment (not anti-Obama or anti-Democratic) year. How bad is the tide for Bennett? Bad enough that Utah's governor won't even endorse anyone in the primary.
Some measure of poetic justice, eh? You may remember Bennett waxed nostalgic about Ted Kennedy, oozing seductive words about their working relationship only to turn around and vote against his bff's cause célèbre. Some thanks he's getting from the Tea Party now. I'll shed a crocodile tear back at Bennett when he retires to St. George. Orange County, more likely.
The tea party's definitely going to hit snags in the senate races, because one of the GOP's clear pickups this fall will not be a vote for repealing HCR. At least, that's if Rep. Mike Castle makes it through the Delaware senate primary. All of a sudden Christine O'Donnell, the popular congressman's primary opponent, has some ammo. O'Donnell says Castle's "breaking faith with the people of Delaware and America in refusing to support the conservative-led effort to repeal ObamaCare, a totally disastrous and unconstitutional health bill." Butter-free popcorn, please.
The conservative Club for Growth keeps a list of over two hundred repeal candidates. It's definitely becoming a decisive issue in several other GOP primaries, like CT-Sen and CA-Gov. Pity the Republicans are a little slow to realize that you can't both survive as a politician and appease people who hold nonsense and fairy tales as a system of government.