Marco Rubio Writes Op-eds

Via Kenneth Quinnell: Marco Rubio wrote two negative op-ed pieces in the Miami Herald and (good God) the Florida Baptist aimed at Charlie Crist. Rubio put himself in the position of going against a popular Governor. He balked in front of the press and then managed to attacked Democrats.

"There's no vast right wing conspiracy ... I think people want the drama. But that is not what this is about. I support 99 percent of the things the governor wants," he told the Times today. "The Republican Party is a big enough party for people of different viewpoints to fit in nicely. That's what makes us different from Democrats. The Democrats, in my opinion, are pretty monolithic. No Democrat could write the op-ed piece I wrote (on energy) because they would get excommunicated from the party."

Since when do Democrats agree on anything? To quote Will Rogers, "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." Russ Feingold and Joe Lieberman were running to every microphone to say that Bill Clinton should be investigated for the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Republicans backed George W. Bush lockstep until they lost the midterms. It wasn't until the President's unpopular policies were visibly hurting the GOP that members such as Chuck Hagel became outspoken.

Followers of politics understand that Republicans are better at staying on-message than Democrats. The GOP prides itself on message discipline. The Democratic Party is organized from bottom to top. The Republican Party can never have a rightwing version of Daily Kos. The Party doesn't want small activists to affect change within the workings of the party.

What Rubio is trying to please the big business and Christian base of the Republican Party with his op-eds. He is young and term-limited in the House. He wants to run for public office and be a major player in Florida politics. The way to do that is work the base. The only problem is he can't seem to do anything right.