Sen. Marco Rubio is racking up endorsements that may do little more than confirm to the GOP base that he is the kind of Establishment Republican they are attempting to overthrow.
Rubio’s embrace by hoary Republican elites may turn out to be a death hug he will wish he had avoided.
Former Sen. Bob Dole is perhaps the most prominent example of the problem. Dole — famous for losing to Bill Clinton and being the butt of “SNL” jokes — has an apparent desire to see conservatives purged from the GOP. In 2012, he authored a letter viciously attacking conservative candidate Newt Gingrich, and in an interview in early February called conservative stalwart Ted Cruz an “extremist.”
Dole also co-founded the Bipartisan Policy Center in 2007. Bipartisanship is a lovely idea in principle, but when the reality is that the political “center” is about twelve steps to the left — and even moderately conservative ideas are derided by liberals and the media as racist or sexist or bigoted — bipartisanship is a mere code word for capitulation.
Dole was a vocal Jeb supporter until the Bush dynasty’s heir apparent finally suspended his sad, unsuccessful campaign.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, another refugee from the Jeb Bush bandwagon, has some strong conservative stances on states’ rights and the federal budget, he is worryingly weak on immigration. Hatch is a vocal supporter of H-1B visas and was an architect of their expansion. He also co-authored the DREAM act.
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Another potentially toxic endorsement for Rubio came from Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty co-chaired Mitt Romney’s oh-so-successful campaign, and while governor of Minnesota supported wholly unconservative legislation such as cap and trade and a statewide smoking ban. After leaving the Romney campaign, Pawlenty became president and CEO of Financial Services Roundtable, a D.C. lobbying firm for the financial sector, which is committed to maintaining globalization.
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has also signed up for Rubio. Frist presided over the Senate during much of George W. Bush’s presidency, thus being instrumental in approving betrayal after betrayal of true conservative principles while allowing the federal debt to explode. He was also a supporter of Obamacare after leaving the Senate and said he would have voted for it in opposition to every other member of the GOP.
And who could forget the happy Establishment warrior Lindsey Graham, who has spent his time in Washington advocating for big government bipartisanship and foreign wars? Graham has worked with Democrats to impose further economic regulations under the guise of fighting climate change and has advocated immigration reform.
“I think a Kasich-Rubio ticket would be great,” Graham enthused on Monday, linking Rubio with Medicaid-expanding serial-hugger John Kasich. Graham hasn’t even fully endorsed Rubio yet, and he’s already doing the man few favors with the GOP base.
Rubio is clearly wary of bad endorsements. On Sunday, the Huffington Post reported that moderate Establishment Republican and failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney was preparing to endorse Rubio. The Rubio camp reacted immediately, his chief spokesman denying the story.
Rubio soon appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and denied the story personally. “That report is false,” Rubio told host Jake Tapper. Rubio followed up by saying he’d “love” to have Romney’s endorsement, but the speed with which his spokesman rushed to deny the rumor casts suspicion on such a claim.
An endorsement from Establishment standard-bearer Jeb Bush, who recently withdrew from the race after what will likely go down as one of the most poorly fought primary campaigns in history, could also be imminent. Rubio told reporters the two had spoken and will meet in the near future.
But if and when they do finally sit down together, Rubio may find himself asking Bush to keep his mouth shut.
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