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Why Marco Might Still Surprise Us
In the last couple of days, polls indicate that Marco Rubio has finally begun gaining ground in Iowa, climbing from single to double digits behind Ted Cruz and, of course, The Donald. Since Cruz has the better organization and Trump is dominating television and radio, what accounts for Rubio’s modest surge?
In part, at least, this video, which has gone viral in Iowa. Evangelicals find it compelling, apparently, but I’d make a larger claim on its behalf than that: In its sheer honesty and authenticity, any voter would find it compelling. Who knows what this video might accomplish in the next 72 hours?
UPDATE: I see now that Casey posted this clip a week ago — and that his post attracted a couple of hundred comments. Mea maxima culpa. I happened to be especially busy in the middle of last week, so I missed the discussion altogether. Ironic, no? I’m behind the news… because I failed to keep with my our very own Ricochet.
Published in General
Cool, go Marco.
I had heard about the video but hadn’t seen it until now. He knocked that out of the park! OK, Rubio won me. Now I am an enthusiastic supporter.
LOL, I’d donate to that. :)
I came out as very negative on Rubio’s video, and can’t believe it had such a good reception (see comments #11-13 on Casey’s link above)
I felt he so underperformed compared to these gentlemen. Boy have our standards fallen off:
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” – George Washington: Commander-in-Chief in the American Revolution; Signer of the Constitution; First President of the United States
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams
“Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.” – James Madison
http://www.gospelway.com/government/hobby_lobby.php
What I want is a link to the YouTube of Rubio explaining how nothing good is going to happen until we cut corporate welfare, and until then it’s just jaws flapping in the wind.
I missed Casey’s thread, so I don’t know if somebody agreed that, yes, those are better statements, but- they were probably not responding to an impromptu question about protecting the rights of atheists.
Ugh. Halfway through he loses it. He acts like he IS going to be Pastor-in-Chief. He should have just recited George Washington above and left it at that. Or, to embellish, he should then have just quoted Adams. And there is no question in my mind that he was pandering to the crowd. Amateurish and sad.
I took it as Rubio making it clear that he thinks religion is a good and positive thing in reaction to the questioner, who clearly does not. I don’t think it was pandering so much as expressing it more fully and confidently than he would have in front of a less receptive audience. “Pandering” implies saying things only because your audience likes them.
Maybe Rubio, like most of us, is not actually equipped with the right Washington or Adams quote for every occasion?
My discomfort was more on the lines others have expressed, that he said the compassion inherent in his religion would make him a good President. That could be innocuous or it could be a warning sign. I think probably a President should put duty above compassion.
[a] If he’s not pandering then he is way too absorbed in his faith for a man aspiring to be President.
[b] He’s not supposed to be “like most of us”. He is supposed to be grounded in the faith of our Founding Fathers – in their political faith. That means he should know their minds intimately, IMO. Because he didn’t have that grounding he comes across as some high school government council type.
[c] Agree with you here.
Well this is just a matter of perception, Manfred, so you are as correct as I am, but I don’t think being willing to talk about your faith when asked makes you “too absorbed” by it. Wouldn’t say not being able to actually quote Washington or Adams on a given subject means you are unfamiliar with their thinking, either.
He would have impressed you more and me too, if he had alluded, say, to Adams when he said the country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. But I don’t think it would have reassured the self-proclaimed atheist to tell him the Constitution’s not adequate for a country full of people like him.
First, and this is one of my main points because he wasn’t asked to talk about his faith” (“but I don’t think being willing to talk about your faith when asked makes you “too absorbed” by it.”), only how the atheist could be secure with MR as President. So that leads me to believe that he was “too absorbed by it”.
Second, I don’t see how the non-Christian would be mollified by his answer – given that he (MR) spent a good portion of it rambling on about how important his faith was to himself. This is supposed to be a brilliant response to the questioner’s separate concern for 1st Amendment protection? It revealed to me how clumsy MR can be in his thinking at times.
Again acknowledging that it’s only my perception, I took the question to be essentially, “Is your faith a problem?” and I think spending a little time explaining why it isn’t a problem, it’s a good thing, was reasonable.
He spent far more time expanding on what his faith meant to him then “explaining why it isn’t a problem.” And this is a brilliant answer?
I would not call it brilliant by any means. But not offputting, to me. A slight confidence-builder. I do like to see someone defend what he believes, and I like to see religion defended.
Peter, watch this :
Decent.
“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” – Thomas Jefferson