Oh, CPAC. Where would we be without you? When conservatives lost handily in 2012, most summed it up that the Republican party needs to adapt to keep up with the electorate. But those at CPAC seem to want to beat the notion into a bloody pulp. Take Marco Rubio. He is a generally charismatic politician – his danger being that he could potentially sway those on the left to his side. However, his speech at CPAC was not classic Rubio.
Rob Portman just came out on the side of same-sex marriage. Rubio, on the other hand, took some of his speech to speak out against it. In his words “traditional marriage” is what helps propel the middle class. While espousing the greatness of states’ rights, Rubio opined that being against same-sex marriage doesn’t make him a bigot. Even though Rubio must know as a minority the simple mention of “states’ rights” with regards to this issue takes back down the road to the southern states in the 1950s and 1960s using it to defend racial segregation.
He then shifted his attack into a discussion of women’s rights. Rubio claims that wanting to deny a woman the right to choose how and when she plans her family doesn’t make him a chauvinist. But it is, in fact, the scientists who prove climate change is man-made, and that life doesn’t begin at conception, are the ones who are really close minded.
Oh, Marco Rubio. It almost sounds legitimate that you believe the Republican party doesn’t need to adapt their priorities to modern American thinking. What Republicans believe in is the real America, and that has never changed. The party needs to keep on keeping on. His main points were “drill baby, drill”; charter schools are the answer, not fixing the current system; stop the breakdown of the “American Family”; and reforming healthcare back to the broken system that we had. Marco Rubio would take America back, if his rhetoric is to be believed to a time before his family emigrated from Cuba. Rubio’s model for America is the conservative 1950s before so much progress was made to ensure equal rights, environmental protection and reproductive freedom.
In Rubio’s eyes, the “vast” middle class we have in America is being threatened by global issues. China, for example, has horrible labor policies. Mind you these are the same policies that Mitt Romney wanted to see come to America – the candidate that Rubio was a potential running mate for and who he later campaigned for based on said issues.
Yes, in the world of CPAC the middle class is huge (despite the fact that millions fall below the poverty line) and scientists are anti-science. Up is down, left is right. And the Republican party doesn’t need to change, the rest of the country has to.
The Florida Squeeze 
Rubio has no substance. These people are a joke. The only thing that can whip them into shape is the Ds not defining themselves. Great article. Well done.
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Rubio has never had any real substance – his only attribute is that he’s charismatic. His speech at CPAC did not feel like the Rubio of days past. I agree that they only way the GOP can win anything is when Democrats don’t define themselves, but I also think that they have learned nothing from past elections and that they have given Democrats a huge advantage
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Rubio is best advised in staying away from foreign policy where his radicalized views are bad for the GOP.
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Awesome piece. Love the sarcastic tone!
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Thanks!
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Rubio is posturing and doing it well. The GOP so far right now. The question is whether or not the party moves to the middle starting with Portman and his gay marriage support leaving Rubio behind on the fringe.
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[…] Marco Rubio addressed the annual CPAC conference with tired classic GOP rhetoric. My colleague Lauren Schwartz gave an outstanding account of Rubio’s offensive and crass speech on Friday and her analysis opens up more questions […]
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