Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
BY WILL RAHN
Newly inaugurated Florida Senator Marco Rubio is questioning the need for a Senate Tea Party Caucus, and is unsure he will join.
”Why do we need something in addition to the steering committee? … My concern is that politicians all of a sudden start co-opting the mantle of ‘Tea Party,’” Rubio told the Florida political blog Shark Tank. “If all of a sudden being in the Tea Party is not something that is happening in Main Street, but rather something that’s happening in Washington, D.C., the ‘Tea Party’ all of a sudden becomes some sort of movement run by politicians … it’s gonna lose its effectiveness and I’m concerned about that. I think that the real power of the Tea Party comes from its ability to drive the debate and the issues from the grassroots up, as opposed to from the politicians down.”
Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos says the Florida Republican and Tea Party favorite has not yet made up his mind on whether to join the newly formed caucus. “He’s proud of his relationship with the Tea Party movement,” Burgos said to the Miami Herald. “”He shares with the movement a commitment to tackling debt, defending the free enterprise system and restoring our limited government tradition. It’s the same case with other causes that have been brought to our attention, he hasn’t made any decision one way or the other.”
It’s not the first time Rubio has declined to say whether or not he will join the group. “Well I don’t know what the need for that [Tea Party caucus] would be, obviously, maybe they feel there is a need for that, or others feel there is a need for that,” he told CNN last year.
Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Jim DeMint have all said that they will be joining the Senate Tea Party Caucus.
(This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller)
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
Rubio gets it. The crazy spontaneous order loving Tea Party coalition will let you know if you are Tea Party at each and every primary. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Keep your arms and legs inside the ride.
Edited on Jan 24, 2011 at 4:23pmAug '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
Maybe a Tea Party Marching and Chowder Society ? That way they can have drinks and dinner every so often. The last thing they need is an identifiable address. Or a PAC.
Jul '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
A caucus makes sense in the House, where it takes concerted effort by a substantial group of like-minded Representatives to effectively influence the direction of the body. And given the two-year election cycle, House members are obliged to be more responsive to the grassroots.
I can't see any real usefulness for a caucus in the Senate which would outweigh the tendency of individual Senators to try to co-opt the movement for their own political benefit, as Jim DeMint already is clearly attempting to do.
Dec '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
This was interesting. Not just what he said, but whom he said it to and where it got published. I know some of these people and I can guess about some of the rest.
Rubio is making, as best he can, a point that may be lost on some of the Tea Party crowd. It's being cast in the media as, "Thanks, ma'am, but I gotta run". But that's not what he is saying. He's saying keep your powder dry and stay away from all of us. I'm pretty sure I know who he gave these quotes to and that is a fine person, but I can't dally any further; I have to go haul a pork loin into the ravenous boy herd on a school night. It seems everything I try to read or write about during liesure, gets interrupted by boy-feeding. Tips to Guys: have girls.
Jul '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
The longest journey to RINO land begins with just a single step. Politicians usually wait a bit before separating themselves from the grassroots for the carnal embrace of Washington, but these days the surrender comes faster. It won't be long before Scott Brown will be as much of a mattress back as a Richard Lugar.
Oct '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
The Tea Party is done after November 2012 if they are successful in getting Sarah Palin the GOP nomination.
May '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
Yes, that and also to create another giant target (can I say that and still be civil?) ripe for lampooning from the left. Tea-sipping country club Republicans and all that.
A Senate Tea-Party caucus is a little oxymorinic, isn't it? I think it would fast become a ridiculed caricature of what once had been a genuine spontaneous citizen movement with all the spontaneity drained out of it. Rubio is right.
Jul '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
I don't think it's accurate to say that Palin's base is the Tea Party. Some of them, yes, but she doesn't own the movement, despite her efforts to use it to her advantage.
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
I share the Ricochet family's Rubio fandom, but can't help smell a hint of political posturing here. No politician has been as effective as Rubio at straddling the line between the GOP establishment and the Tea Party. What he has done here is to essentially give himself an out from the Tea Party Caucus in a fashion that seems like a compliment to the Tea Party constituency. Perhaps it's entirely in earnest. But if it's politicking, he did a bravura job.
Edited on Jan 25, 2011 at 12:10amNov '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
More from Florida's Shark Tank:
"It should be noted that Senators already have wide discretion and individual authority to stop legislation on their own, and there may not be any real need to form a caucus since they each have the ability to filibuster and stop movement on legislation."
Marco Rubio is a believer in the virtues of a free market, an advocate of the righteousness of individual liberty and a committed proponent of American exceptionalism. He will vote accordingly.
May '10
Re: Rubio Questions Need For Senate Tea Party Caucus
It is what he does that is important, not how he manuevers for position. How many verbal "fiscal hawks" have we seen vote and negotiate for expanded & expensive government. We'll soon know.