Election 2016: Conservative Review Dings Rubio, Paul In First Presidential Report Card (Not Cruz)

The Conservative Review hands out its first report card for 2016 Republicans Monday, and two candidates get schooled. According to the group, which was formed last year to score GOP lawmakers' adherence to conservative dogma, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky need improvement. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz earns top grades -- just as he used to at Princeton and Harvard Law.

International Business Times got an early look at the ratings of the three Republicans who have officially launched presidential campaigns. The Review graded them on criteria including immigration, foreign policy and "moral issues" like abortion, religious freedom and gay marriage opposition.

Ideology scoreboards give candidates ammunition to attack opponents for inconsistency or laxness -- the type of information that gets cut into television and radio ads, and highlighted on campaign mailers. The political arena is full of groups that offer voter scorecards, including the NRA, Heritage Action, the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. Conservative Review, by breaking down a politician's history and voting record in detail, is hoping to have impact with a “Liberty Score” that would tell voters which candidate hews most closely to conservative ideology.

Founded by a group of Washington conservative operatives (including Freedom Works' Deneen Borelli, Daniel Horowitz, formerly of the Madison Project, and former congressional staffers Gaston Mooney and Rachel Semmel) the Review has already built credibility with its intended audience: The ratings are integrated with the conservative website Brietbart.com, appearing automatically next to any elected official's name.

The researchers at the Review were tough on Senator Rubio. “From the onset, Rubio was considered a Tea Party darling, a conservative lion, and a gifted orator,” the report says. “The gaping hole in Rubio’s conservative record is his active support for amnesty and comprehensive immigration reform with his fierce defense of the Gang of Eight amnesty bill.”

Not surprisingly, given that analysis, Rubio got a "bad" on immigration. “The major flaw in Senator Rubio’s otherwise conservative record is his liberal position on immigration,” says the report. “Rubio has staked claim to many different positions on immigration over the years, but his leading support for amnesty is unambiguous.”

Rubio also lost points for his comments on the size of government. “He opposes the requisite downsizing of government in order to balance the budget, supports keeping the costly Obamacare mandates on pre-existing conditions, and supported government intervention in hiring employees and incentivizing wage increases with government funding,” the report states.

The researchers dive into the candidates’ pasts, including reviewing their time in state governments. On Rubio, there were concerns about his time in the state Legislature. “In the Florida House of Representatives Rubio had a penchant for earmarks, thankfully this is not present at the federal level,” the group writes.

And they reviewed individual votes in Congress, dinging Rubio for his vote in April on an amendment to a trafficking bill the group argued would allow the government to discriminate against faith-based groups.

The Florida senator got good marks in areas like moral issues and the Second Amendment.

Senator Paul, a Libertarian, drew criticism for a perceived lack of opposition to the Affordable Care Act. (And in fact Paul did not, in his announcement speech, even mention "Obamacare" or vow to repeal the law -- a standard line in essentially any public appearance by a Republican politician.) The Conservative Review downgraded Paul for failing to support the effort (led by Cruz) to defund the law as it was being implemented in 2013. That effort ultimately led to the government shutdown of October 2013.

“Some conservatives were taken back when he didn’t lend his full support to the effort to defund Obamacare although ultimately Paul did vote against funding Obamacare," the report said. "Paul has also expressed a willingness to keep portions of Obamacare.”

Conservative Review also noted another vulnerability for Senator Paul: foreign policy. Paul has tried to distance himself from the isolationist views of his father, who ran twice for president on a strong anti-engagement platform. Rand Paul has eschewed foreign engagement in several instances, opposing some measures to combat the Islamic State group and arguing Iran isn't a threat to America, but also has taken positions on foreign aid and treaties that are more in line with conservative Republican hawks.

“These shifting positions and vague pronouncements from candidate Paul justifiably make conservatives uneasy,” Conservative Review wrote. “Conservatives are concerned that Paul is attempting to appeal to mainstream Republicans without alienating his father’s libertarian base. The end result is that conservatives have no idea how Paul would govern as president.”

Cruz, by contrast, got high marks. The only area where the Review offered slightly lower assessments was in the category of “free market” -- citing him for supporting some tobacco subsidies plus two government-orchestrated insurance programs that cover flood damage and terrorist attacks.

But overall, the Conservative Review gave Cruz a rave. “Cruz has made it clear that he didn’t come to Washington to make friends, and he’s kept good on his promise to fight even when it isn’t popular,” the group wrote.

That's the kind of report card comment Cruz wants: He's not looking for friends, he's looking to win hardcore conservative supporters.

Rand Paul On Shutdown: "Even Though It Appeared I Was Participating In It, It Was A Dumb Idea"
I said throughout the whole battle that shutting down the government was a dumb idea. Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea. And the reason I voted for it, though, is that it's a conundrum. Here's the conundrum. We have a $17 trillion debt and people at home tell me you can't give the president a blank check. We just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without conditions. So unconditionally raising the debt ceiling, nobody at home wants me to vote for that and I can't vote for that. But the conundrum is if I don't we do approach these deadlines. So there is an impasse. In 2011, though, we had this impasse and the president did negotiate. We got the sequester. If we were to extend the sequester from discretionary spending to all the entitlements we would actually fix our problem within a few years.
[Posted on 11/19/2013 12:16:51 PM by Third Person]

Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften war stance
...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.
[Posted on 01/31/2013 5:08:50 PM PST by xzins]

Rand Paul's immigration speech
...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.

Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.

Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.

Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.

If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...

This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.

Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform
Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...
[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'
Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists]
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