Posted on 11/01/2010 2:43:57 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Once you get past the fundamental qualifications of basic honesty and credibility, there are three ingredients, it seems to me, that make for a successful conservative leader.
The first (this should be obvious) is a solid conservative political philosophy. The second is charisma (like it or not, Americans prefer charismatic candidates, and it has become mandatory for the modern era).
Last (and perhaps most elusive) is the ability to effectively articulate a conservative message. This is not to say candidates must be pointy-headed intellectuals, but a leader must be able to persuasively present a serious argument for their ideas.
...Marco Rubio's election Tuesday is vital because he is one of the few conservative leaders on the horizon who combines all three qualities. He could be president some day. That's why Democrats were so desperate to get Kendrick Meek out of the race and try to help Gov. Charlie Crist's independent bid. Rubio's election is about far more than just electing a Republican senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at politicsdaily.com ...
Get in out of the cold, sit by the fire, your brain is as frozen as the country you live in.
You are so damn negative on most of our candidates that no one pleases you.
We, those of us that live in the United States of America, are about to vote in an historic election and hopefully have a great victory, and before it starts, you want to piss on our parade.
Get together with the pissant and moan and groan about everything.
Gee, I sure hope this wasn't a personal attack.
I wish that Snitker would have run for an office to which he could actually get elected, instead of running for an office in which every vote that he takes away from Marco Rubio makes it easier for a liberal such as Charlie Crist to win the election. Fortunately, Snitker’s 0.7% of the vote (or whatever he ends up getting) won’t make a difference, as Marco Rubio is kicking ass.
Christine O'Donnell, Joe Miller, and Rand Paul are trying to win their first elective office.
Raese in WV would also block the lame-duck session (he’ll get sworn in immediately), and he’s in a race that is basically tied, not down 11% or so.
But the point of the article is that Rubio’s win is the most important for the GOP in the long run, since he could well be our presidential nominee in 2016 or 2020 (I won’t say 2012, since we aren’t Democrats).
If Arthur Jones was still there, I'd say elect him
"I'm 64,000 miles to the right of Attila the Hun" -- and he mean't it
Course you could always elect his kid, he's a bit softer, still millions of miles better that some slickster from Mee-am-mee
Florida just ain't like it used, luv them old Crackers
Mark Levine said we are going to elect him president some day......ahhhhhh yes and I have a crush on him:-)
Believe it or not, there are people with hispanic last names who take pride in being Americans. Rubio is an advocate of American exceptionalism.
And speaking of Univision, they are running ads for Republican as well as Democrap candidates.
Some people find it hard to comprehend that ONE candidate must represent thousands, even millions of individual Americans instead of being an identical twin of just ONE voter’s EVERY VIEW, or one minority group’s grievances, etc.
LOL. That’s right. Nothing to see here, move along...
I didn’t know about Raese. That’s somewhat comforting news. Of course, I still want both — and Rubio.
As to Rubio’s viability as a Presidential candidate, I am not going to make any comments now because I don’t know enough about his positions and history.
No tingles, but it’s so rare that one sees a coherent, knowledgeable politician that it was a pretty close thing!
Actually, Bush was a pretty good speaker, too, when he was addressing an audience. But he was not very good at all in press conferences, interviews or even debates. Rubio has been very good at all these things because he really stays focused on the issue and doesn’t let their hostility rattle him (Bush did get rattled by it).
Oh, you aren’t Hispanic bashing, just Cuban-American bashing. I guess you think that when Marco Rubio’s father escaped Cuba’s Communist tyranny, emigrated to America, and worked his butt off as a bartender for decades so that his children could get an education and live the American Dream, he didn’t get the memo that if his Florida-born son graduated from college and law school and became an intelligent, articulate conservative who rose to the Speakership of the Florida House, single-handedly destroyed an orange-hued, metrosexual RINO governor after people tried and failed for 25 years, and was elected to the U.S. Senate, he might just as well have stayed in Cuba, since Frantzie wouldn’t like the fact that Marco Rubio’s family didn’t have the privilege of having emigrated to Tampa a few decades earlier, so he would be deemed unacceptable for public office.
Guess what? America is a meritocracy, and the smartest, hardest-working, most principled candidate is the guy I want representing me. If you think that Marco Rubio is stupid, lazy and unprincipled, feel free to bash him, but you appear to be linking Rubio to the disappointing Senator Mel Martinez merely because they are both Cuban-Americans, and you assume that Rubio will place his ethnicity ahead of the general public just because his parents weren’t born in America, and that is a bigoted statement on your part.
I can’t believe that, on the eve of the greatest victory for conservatism in many decades, you are bitching about how a 99%-conservative Senate candidate is from the same town as Rick Sanchez.
Kirk in IL (who will definitely win) would also be sworn in right away; he’s a RINO, but has pledged to oppose any major legislation during the lame-duck session and isn’t stupid enough to go back on his word.
As for Rubio, you should obviously read up on him and see how he does in the Senate before judging whether he is presidential material. But I can tell you that, from what I’ve seen, the sky’s the future for him.
He’s great at articulating conservative ideals.
He’s also going to lead Latino voters to the Republican party. Anyone FOR jobs = for Republicans (real conservatives; not RINOs).
Dems are trying to create ‘race consciousness’ and divisions to have another voting group similar to the misled African-American community, which voted 94% for Zero.
My favorite moment in this campaign was when Charlie “Man-Tan” Crist announced that he was the one who knew all about Latinos and Rubio wasn’t a “real” Latino.
I was surprised that Rubio didn’t punch him out for that idiocy. But Ol’ Man Tan has needed punching out so often that I guess perhaps Rubio figured it would be a waste of time.
Alas, our candidates have to be the ones with class. That’s how it works. And I imagine Marco had heard this kind of thing before and was prepared.
I have nothing left to say. You have said it all. I just wish I could use every word you wrote as my tagline. I have been covering Rubio since the begining of his campaign when I was sure he didn’t have a chance. He can wait 18 years before he runs for President (he’d still be younger than me. Anyone who wants to hear Marco in his own words can go to my website www.OurtownFLA.com/Politics
Rubio is one of the few Republican leaders who have the potential to succeed in explaining to the Hispanic voter that he should think of the GOP as the pro legal immigration party, instead of the anti-immigrant party, which is the way the Democrats are trying to paint the entire party. Wooing hispanic voters without losing the principle of enforcement of the law of the land is probably the most important and tricky goal of the GOP to be a successful national party.
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