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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Repeat Rubio to Rerun

Repeat Rubio to Rerun

by Betty Cracker|  June 22, 201610:25 am| 95 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

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Let’s dispel once and for all with this notion that Lil’ Marco will follow through on his promise to detach his lips from the gubmint teat after flaming out of the GOP primary:

Despite repeatedly insisting he would return to life as a private citizen after his failed bid for the presidency, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will announce he’s running for re-election on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported.

Gosh, how surprising. Initial polling has Repeat up against both Dems who are running to replace him: Patrick Murphy and Alan Grayson. If the Democrats nominate Grayson, my guess is Rubio keeps his seat. I can’t see a purplish state like Florida electing someone like Grayson, even in a wave year.

However, I believe Murphy has the potential to overcome the name recognition deficit and beat Rubio. Trump absolutely crushed Rubio in Florida — Rubio won exactly one county in his home state during the primary, so he’s not exactly beloved of Floridians.

If Hillary Clinton wins Florida, and I believe she will, Rubio could get flushed along with Trump and other Republican turds. That would be a fitting end to a shitty career — and an important flip for the Dems.

ETA: You know what’s really going to be projectile vomit-inducing? Listening to Rubio frame this decision as anything other than a self-interested scramble to hang onto power. He’ll invoke Orlando for sure. He’s just that goddamn tacky, the smarmy little prick.

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Reader Interactions

95Comments

  1. 1.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    June 22, 2016 at 10:28 am

    Please no Alan Grayson. That buffoon facilitates the “both sides” do-it-ism of the media.

    Seriously, no Alan Grayson.

  2. 2.

    The Other Chuck

    June 22, 2016 at 10:32 am

    Doesn’t Grayson have his own set of ethics issues? Guy strikes me as phonier than a three dollar bill.

  3. 3.

    Chris

    June 22, 2016 at 10:33 am

    For a second, I thought you meant “run for the presidency after all.” That would’ve been interesting.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 10:34 am

    @The Other Chuck: Scads. The polling I’ve seen shows Murphy ahead, so hopefully we won’t have the spectacle of Grayson vs. Rubio.

  5. 5.

    Bobby Thomson

    June 22, 2016 at 10:34 am

    I’m with Reid.

  6. 6.

    Soylent Green

    June 22, 2016 at 10:34 am

    Can we knock off all this heightism toward Senator Thirsty? He may be vertically challenged, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a moron.

    “Flushed along with Trump and other Republican turds…” Gold, Betty, gold!

  7. 7.

    Keith P.

    June 22, 2016 at 10:36 am

    It’s been 15 minutes. Does Rubio’s re-election campaign have more money than Trump 2016 yet?

    @Soylent Green: He got caught heightening during the primaries, so all bets are off.

  8. 8.

    oldster

    June 22, 2016 at 10:36 am

    So what are the odds that Rubio doesn’t even get the R nomination?

    If I were a Florida Republican, I would not welcome him back. He wound up not only losing, but losing in an embarrassing way. He debased himself, repeatedly, whether when he was pretending to take the high road, or when he tried to get down into the gutter with Trump. He did the opposite of covering himself with glory.

    Maybe he just won’t even get the nod?

  9. 9.

    MikeBoyScout

    June 22, 2016 at 10:36 am

    Can we get a Murphy fund raiser up on BJ to coincide with Repeat ‘s announcement?

  10. 10.

    nonynony

    June 22, 2016 at 10:37 am

    Senate Primary is the end of August according to a quick Google search. Why do so many states pay for multiple primary elections? I like how Ohio does it – one primary election per year, whether it’s a presidential election or not. Granted that makes the election season interminably long, but it’s hard enough to get people to show up annually for an election – I can’t imagine what it’s like to to GOTV for three different elections in the same year.

  11. 11.

    H.K. Anders

    June 22, 2016 at 10:38 am

    He’s not trying to hold on to power. He’s trying to hold on to a six-figure paycheck. It beats working for a living, that’s for sure.

  12. 12.

    germy

    June 22, 2016 at 10:40 am

    Did anyone actually see the candidate bite the head off the rat?
    http://www.benway.com/mkbrown/singles/whistle.html

  13. 13.

    Shell

    June 22, 2016 at 10:41 am

    He’ll invoke Orlando for sure.

    Oh, he already has. Says he was ‘deeply impacted’ by Orlando. Not impacted enough to vote for any of the gun bills of course.

  14. 14.

    RaflW

    June 22, 2016 at 10:41 am

    Today in Vichy cock-sucking:

    Apple’s Cook Plans Ryan Fundraiser Amid Reported Doubts on Trump
    Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is hosting a June 28 fundraiser for U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and his political operation, according to two Republican aides.
    Some of the money will go to the National Republican Congressional Committee to benefit the party’s other House candidates, a sign that Cook is aiming to boost the fortunes of establishment Republicans. … (via Bloomberg)

    This makes me insane with rage. Ultra-rich gay man fundraising for the GOP House. The House – the cauldron of crazy that has market-tested the Trump phenomenon for a decade or two. And Ryan, of course, is a sham ‘establishment’ Republican. He is riding the bucking bronco of wingnuttery, but he has no control of them. His budgets are magic asterisk shams, he’s finally put up a ‘plan’ to replace ACA, but it’s just a long list of talking points, nothing real (though the supine, innumerate and barely literate press will probably mostly be dazzled).

    Argh! So angry. And Cook had the chutzpah to tweet his sympathy the other day re: Orlando. Yet he’ll raise big bucks for anti-gay, anti-gunsense Republican troglodytes. We need to forcibly cancel his gay card.

  15. 15.

    germy

    June 22, 2016 at 10:43 am

    @H.K. Anders:

    He’s not trying to hold on to power. He’s trying to hold on to a six-figure paycheck. It beats working for a living, that’s for sure.

    He is a smarmy little prick, that’s for sure. And the lust for wealth is actually his superhero origin story. He once gave a speech to some Florida rotary club and he told the heartwarming anecdote about his father driving him around the wealthy neighborhood of his town: “See? That’s where Liberace lives!” And then and there, Rubio decided to go into politics, because he wanted to live in the wealthy part of town.

    Inspiring!

    The rotarians sat and stared at him quietly when he delivered that particular applause line.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    June 22, 2016 at 10:46 am

    You know what’s really going to be projectile vomit-inducing? Listening to Rubio frame this decision as anything other than a self-interested scramble to hang onto power.

    Why would ANYONE think he’d have any kind of legitimate excuse for going back on his “word.” It’s not as if he and Truth are on speaking terms. I hope the Tea Bagger running against him puts a beating on him. Rubio will still win the primary, but there will be plenty of RWNJ insanity that Rubio spouts, giving Murphy good ammo.

    Of course, FL is the state that elected Voldemort TWICE, so I guess I should not get my hopes up.

  17. 17.

    Fair Economist

    June 22, 2016 at 10:47 am

    Marco probably found that he’d actually have to show up for work if he left the Senate.

  18. 18.

    Face

    June 22, 2016 at 10:47 am

    as anything other than a self-interested scramble to hang onto power the only paycheck he can possibly get at the moment

    As surely said by others, he’s openly admitted he hates the job, finds it boring, and doesn’t show up to work most of the time. Why Floridians would want him back into a job he’s admitted to not doing and has no interest in doing is inexplicable.

    ETA: looks like others beat me to the punchline on this

  19. 19.

    Mustang Bobby

    June 22, 2016 at 10:48 am

    I’m with the “No, thanks anyway Alan” camp. Murphy may not be perfect (yet another R to D convert), but he’s better than Charlie Crist. All the FLDEMS have to do is run ads quoting Marco and how he hates the Senate and is bored by it and that should do it. Of course that assumes that the FLDEMS will run a campaign at all.

  20. 20.

    nonynony

    June 22, 2016 at 10:50 am

    @Keith P.:

    It’s been 15 minutes. Does Rubio’s re-election campaign have more money than Trump 2016 yet?

    I think he had 2-3 million still in his campaign coffers when he suspended his campaign. If so, he had more money on hand than Trump when he declared he was running.

    And if he wins this one we’ll have to deal with Marco Rubio running for president again in the future. So please Florida, spare us that nonsense and un-elect this guy for good.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    June 22, 2016 at 10:50 am

    @Shell:

    Not impacted enough to vote for any of the gun bills of course.

    Well, of course not, silly. None of those bills said “No guns for Moooslim terrists, unless they’re going to shoot up gay bars to save us the trouble.”

  22. 22.

    germy

    June 22, 2016 at 10:50 am

    @Face:

    Why Floridians would want him back into a job he’s admitted to not doing and has no interest in doing is inexplicable.

    Tribalism.

    “Checkmate, libtards!”

  23. 23.

    MattF

    June 22, 2016 at 10:52 am

    I suppose the alternative for Marco was to join the Trump Organization. But the job of ‘footstool’ was already taken by Christie.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    June 22, 2016 at 10:53 am

    @Mustang Bobby:

    but he’s better than Charlie Crist.

    A dead iguana is better than Charlie Crist. Fucking moron couldn’t win a campaign unless he were running against Martha Coakley. (Although, in fairness to Martha, she actually came pretty close to beating Chuckles Baker, in a year when we knew he was going to be tough to beat.)

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    June 22, 2016 at 10:54 am

    @nonynony:

    And if he wins this one we’ll have to deal with Marco Rubio running for president again in the future.

    I don’t think he’d try to primary President Trump in 2020.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 10:55 am

    @germy: Yep — I wonder if he hears himself sometimes. He also continuously broadcasts the message that his own career as a cheap GOP windsock is self-evidently more respectable and impressive than his parents’ work as a bartender and hotel maid. Only in America can two hardworking, honest people produce a son who goes on national TV to talk about Donald Trump’s dick!

  27. 27.

    dimmsdale

    June 22, 2016 at 10:56 am

    Somebody help me out here. I honestly don’t get the animus against Grayson here and on other lefty sites I read. “Ethical issues” I would get, if they rose to the level of major felonies. Bad taste I would get (you don’t necessarily trust a restaurant called “Mom’s” or a guy who literally wears an American Flag tie in his publicity pix, and acts proud of it to boot), but you stack Grayson up against an opportunistic bacterium like Murphy and you really think Murphy is better? How? Why? If Grayson votes consistently in line with things I believe in, which Murphy emphatically does NOT, why is he not the obvious choice here?

  28. 28.

    PsiFighter37

    June 22, 2016 at 10:58 am

    Trump is not as fun reading a teleprompter. That said, it is definitely more canned than usual.

  29. 29.

    ET

    June 22, 2016 at 10:59 am

    @H.K. Anders: Definitely wanting the paycheck but he may also be preparing for his next presidential run…… particularly with the nature of this one.

  30. 30.

    amk

    June 22, 2016 at 10:59 am

    goddamn tacky, the smarmy little prick.

    That’s it ??? Come on, tell us how you reeeeally feel about the scum.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 11:00 am

    @dimmsdale: I don’t think Grayson can win a statewide election in Florida.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:00 am

    it’s June. When is your frigging primary, Betty?

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:01 am

    Betty,

    just so I am all caught up…it will be just a Dem vs. Rep contest. no third parties this time, right?

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:02 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    @The Other Chuck: Scads. The polling I’ve seen shows Murphy ahead, so hopefully we won’t have the spectacle of Grayson vs. Rubio.

    I hope they do the right thing and pick Murphy.
    Phuck Grayson.

  35. 35.

    Quinerly

    June 22, 2016 at 11:03 am

    @PsiFighter37:
    And he’s doing that weird breathing/snorting thing that he only does when he reads from the teleprompter. What a contrast in delivery so close to HRC’s speech yesterday.

  36. 36.

    Mike in NC

    June 22, 2016 at 11:03 am

    Cuban heel to run again!

  37. 37.

    karen marie

    June 22, 2016 at 11:04 am

    @H.K. Anders: That’s my take. He figured out he’s unemployable outside elected office, and any office other than senator requires actual work with a smaller paycheck.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 22, 2016 at 11:05 am

    @Shell: Oh, he already has. Says he was ‘deeply impacted’ by Orlando. Not impacted enough to vote for any of the gun bills of course.

    He was talking about it the same day, wasn’t he? Saying or allowing it to be reported that the country needed him in the face of this existential threat from the Deatheaters?

    I don’t think it’s about money. I can’t imagine that Rubio couldn’t cobble together seven figures a year between “consulting”, speaking fees, a book contract and a regular media gig. I think the reflecting pool of his immediate acquaintance is keeping that presidential delusion alive.

  39. 39.

    The Other Chuck

    June 22, 2016 at 11:06 am

    @RaflW:

    We need to forcibly cancel his gay card.

    I’ll settle for just never purchasing Apple products again as long as he’s CEO. And loudly letting everyone know why.

  40. 40.

    Ajabu

    June 22, 2016 at 11:07 am

    Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will announce he’s running for re-election on Wednesday,

    No problem then— Nobody is going to vote on Wednesday,

  41. 41.

    raven

    June 22, 2016 at 11:07 am

    “She left Ambassador Stevens and his staff to DIE while she slept”!!

  42. 42.

    dogwood

    June 22, 2016 at 11:08 am

    @dimmsdale:
    Nothing wrong with your logic, but don’t bitch about the low-life grifters that republicans send to Congress who vote right as well. Grayson is an attention seeking asshole. He appeals to the elements of the Democratic Party who want a liberal version of the tea party/freedom caucus.

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:10 am

    The Future is All About Fusion Politics
    As Republicans cement themselves as the “White People Party,” Democrats need to make room for everyone else.

    by Nancy LeTourneau
    June 20, 2016 10:08 AM

    While remembering our past grounds us, it is also important to have a clear-eyed vision for the future. Over the weekend, my friend Denise Oliver Velez addressed that with an important piece titled: People of color and the future of the Democratic Party, which highlights something Rev. William Barber (leader of the Moral Mondays Movement) calls “fusion politics.”

    The complexion of the United States has shifted over the last few decades, and the future will demonstrate an even more varied set of racial and ethnic demographics. Little wonder why there is a rabid response of racism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration rhetoric from the Republican Party—which we might as well call “The White People Party,” since, according to Gallup “non-Hispanic whites accounted for 89% of Republican self-identifiers nationwide in 2012.”…

    This shift presents a challenge, and not just to white Americans. It also highlights inter-ethnic positions and tensions. Let’s not fool ourselves: Developing fusion politics with whites and erasing friction between and among peoples of color is a challenge…

    No longer is it a given that straight white males will be always be the defining force in Democratic party national or local elections. For us, fusion is our future. Failure to accept, acknowledge, embrace, and work toward that future will set us back.

  44. 44.

    Mustang Bobby

    June 22, 2016 at 11:10 am

    @dimmsdale: Speaking only for myself and not the rest of the lefties in Florida, but I don’t think Grayson’s disposition and theatrical style will sell in a statewide election, especially in the counties north of I-4. He might even have a problem down here in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties with the Hispanic population. They like their senators bland: vide Bill Nelson and Bob Graham.

  45. 45.

    Calouste

    June 22, 2016 at 11:11 am

    @nonynony:

    And if he wins this one we’ll have to deal with Marco Rubio running for president again in the future. So please Florida, spare us that nonsense and un-elect this guy for good.

    Getting un-elected didn’t stop Rick Santorum from running for President.

    And it’s a open question whether Mitt Romney was so unpopular as Massachusetts governor because he was running for President while still in the job, or whether he decided to run for President (and not for reelection as governor) because he was so unpopular as governor.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:12 am

    Scoop: Ivanka convinced GOP mega-donor Bob Mercer to launch PAC for donors who won’t back Trump but loathe Hillary

    — Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) June 22, 2016

  47. 47.

    dogwood

    June 22, 2016 at 11:13 am

    @Betty Cracker:
    I’m not sure that Rubio’s humiliation in the Florida presidential primary means all that much. Plenty of republicans didn’t vote in that primary, or voted for Trump, but would happily vote fo return Rubio to the Senate. I imagine he’ll be favored pretty heavily to retain his seat.

  48. 48.

    MattF

    June 22, 2016 at 11:16 am

    @rikyrah: Don’t tell anyone that if Hillary loses, then Trump wins.

  49. 49.

    Quinerly

    June 22, 2016 at 11:18 am

    @raven:
    Gag me. I’m about to start screaming at the tv. But it will scare my delicate rescue street dog, Poco. Perhaps just start drinking everytime this cretin says “rigged.”

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 11:19 am

    @rikyrah: August 1 for non-presidential races.

  51. 51.

    D58826

    June 22, 2016 at 11:21 am

    @raven: Old little hands is quoting Sanders – Hillary is unqualified. Thanks Bernie.

  52. 52.

    gvg

    June 22, 2016 at 11:21 am

    @dimmsdale: My parents worked for his first election and never again will. He says too much and offends allies. At the same time he gets praised for being blunt and truthful about republicans by democrats. It’s just he goes too far. this isn’t the most important thing, but it does matter in his actual district to his actual voters and its why he may cycle between being elected then losing several times more.
    He recently got a divorce after 25 years and remarried and I think some of the details were pretty ugly but I can’t recall at the moment.
    He is an active Hedge Fund manager while a congressman and that is causing some comment, doing business on Congressional travel, Caiman Island accounts, one of the riches Congressmen etc
    In one of his campaigns he used footage of an opponent edited so he appeared to say something he didn’t. I don’t like it when the GOP does it and I hate it when a Democrat does.
    the ethics are serious enough that Reid and other officials are on the record that they want him to lose.

  53. 53.

    Mike J

    June 22, 2016 at 11:21 am

    “I have only said like 10000 times I will be a private citizen in January.”

    At least he got that right.

  54. 54.

    nonynony

    June 22, 2016 at 11:21 am

    @dimmsdale: He’s a sitting House member running his own hedge fund out of his Congressional office. If he were a Republican nobody on the left would be defending him at all. Hell if he were a left-of-center traditional Democrat he’d probably have already been run out of office. On top of that he was making use of the same Cayman Island loopholes that liberals excoriate and he was allegedly profiting off of the misery of countries that have been hit by natural disasters and the economic downturn and helping rich people make money off their bad fortunes.

    Now I turn it around to you – exactly what about him makes him a good liberal Democrat that deserves to be supported? Mostly I know him as a blustering fool who seems to shoot himself in the foot with his own rhetoric as often as he scores a point against his opposition. His best attribute that I’ve seen is that he’s a reliable Democratic vote in the House. But maybe he has a deep list of liberal accomplishments that I’m not aware of.

  55. 55.

    Shell

    June 22, 2016 at 11:22 am

    Perhaps just start drinking everytime this cretin says “rigged.”

    I beat you to it. *Urp*

    Trumps speeches d ont so much end as just run out of steam.

  56. 56.

    Quinerly

    June 22, 2016 at 11:22 am

    @raven:
    I’m taking this speech as a direct play for Bernie supporters. He said as much.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:23 am

     Are Black Voters Invisible to Democrats?
    High turnout among African Americans was crucial to Democratic victories in 2008 and 2012—so why are they being ignored this time around?
    By Steve Phillips
    JUNE 6, 2016

    …………………………………

     NO PLANS FOR MOBILIZING THE BLACK VOTE
    What you won’t see in the announced plans on the left is any money for making sure that black voters turn out in large numbers in the first national election of the post-Obama era. While Priorities USA has said it will spend some of its $5.3 million set aside for radio ads on black radio and an undetermined amount on digital ads targeting African Americans, there are no funds specifically targeted for the proven and effective grassroots, person-to-person work required to get people out to vote. While there is at least a modest, albeit also underfunded, program to mobilize Latino and immigrant voters, the left and its donors have failed to fund anything comparable among African Americans.

     How is this even possible? The single most frequent question I hear as I travel across the country on my Brown Is the New White book tour is, “Why don’t Democrats and progressives understand the importance of investing in voters of color?” I can think of three reasons for this sad state of affairs: progressives can’t count, don’t care, or can’t see.

    CAN PROGRESSIVES COUNT? THE MATH COULD NOT BE MORE CLEAR

    Simple arithmetic shows the centrality of voters of color to any hopes for keeping Trump out of the White House and reclaiming control of the Senate. Twenty-three percent of all Democratic voters in 2012 were African American. More of Obama’s votes in 2012 came from black folks than came from white men. Nearly half of all Democratic voters are people of color (46 percent in 2012), and even more of the potential voters in 2016 will be people of color (31 percent of all eligible voters, up from 29 percent in 2012—an increase of 7.5 million people). For the past 40 years, voters of color have on average cast 79 percent of their votes for Democrats. If 28 percent of the electorate consists of voters of color, and the Democratic nominee gets 81 percent of their votes and 37 percent of the white vote, Trump loses.
    …………………………..

    BLACK VOTERS STILL TAKEN FOR GRANTED
    If progressives can count and yet are still not making smart investments, then it’s possible that they are taking black votes for granted because they see those voters as less important than white swing voters who may be receptive to Trump. Many in the media are equally afflicted with this political myopia. A recent 4,000-word New York Times article purported to analyze the electoral dynamics in eight swing states (Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Arizona) and failed to make any mention at all of black people. This despite the fact that Obama got 5 million fewer white votes in 2012 than in 2008 and was only reelected because of the support of African Americans and other voters of color. It’s as if black folks had nothing to do with electing the first black president and are irrelevant to selecting the next president. It’s as if black people are invisible

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 11:23 am

    @dogwood: Maybe. But people seemed pretty pissed off when he abandoned his seat to run for president full time and openly expressed contempt for the job. I think that was one factor in Trump’s utter humiliation of Rubio in the presidential primary here. Since ticket-splitting is rare, if Hillary wins FL, I think we’ll have a decent chance to unseat Rubes.

  59. 59.

    maya

    June 22, 2016 at 11:24 am

    How about giving Marco an all expense paid trip to Disney World, some snappy new designer trunks, and provide him with a photo op to recreate his family’s swim from Cuba to freedom across the lagoon?

  60. 60.

    H.K. Anders

    June 22, 2016 at 11:25 am

    @karen marie: $174,000 to “work” about 135 days a year, and that’s only if he bothers to show up when the Senate is in session. Why would Marco want to go out and get an actual job?

  61. 61.

    Quinerly

    June 22, 2016 at 11:25 am

    @Shell:
    I’ll say it again…this funny breathing/snorting thing only happens on his teleprompter speeches. It’s very distracting. Does anyone have a clue why?

  62. 62.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:26 am

    @nonynony:

    He’s a sitting House member running his own hedge fund out of his Congressional office. If he were a Republican nobody on the left would be defending him at all.

    tell it over and over.

  63. 63.

    Mike J

    June 22, 2016 at 11:27 am

    @dimmsdale:

    Somebody help me out here. I honestly don’t get the animus against Grayson here and on other lefty sites I read.

    Well, he did join DWS in coming out against the payday lending bill, but he was actually right to so. Florida already has stronger protections than the law in question, and would have made Floridians more vulnerable. But people love top flog DWS about it, so you can use it against him too.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2016 at 11:27 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    @rikyrah: August 1 for non-presidential races.

    I think having multiple primaries is crazy.

    All the primaries on one day.

  65. 65.

    D58826

    June 22, 2016 at 11:28 am

    Gee disappointed in ‘old little hands’ speech. He promised everything to every one but he forgot to promise that the Titanic would sail into New York harbor. Even Brian Williams picked up on the Bernie Sanders angle

  66. 66.

    D58826

    June 22, 2016 at 11:31 am

    MSNBC is fact checking ‘old little hands. That will take the rest of the day. Haven’t found one thing that he said which is true.

  67. 67.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    June 22, 2016 at 11:31 am

    I pray to my Unitarian Goddess that Rubio loses the primary to a Teabagger Trumpshirt.

    Just hope that in the general election that Trumpshirt loses to Murphy by 20 points.

    Also that the Democrats win control of the state legislature.

  68. 68.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    June 22, 2016 at 11:35 am

    @dimmsdale:

    Grayson’s a bit of whackjob. He’s entertaining but incredibly self-serving and a grandstander. Also, being a hedge funder in a party that routinely whips Hillary with an oak branch for being cozy with Wall Street isn’t going to be friendly about it with him.

  69. 69.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    June 22, 2016 at 11:35 am

    @maya:

    too soon. please don’t joke about that.

  70. 70.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    June 22, 2016 at 11:37 am

    Rubio’s return to the Senate race is not a given win for the Republicans. If any of the primary challengers are serious about it, they are going to hit Rubio’s poor performance on the campaign trail as well as his chronic absenteeism. The only advantage Rubio has is that much of the state-level establishment wants to secure a chance he can run again – to get one of their own – for the Presidency in 2020 or 2024.

  71. 71.

    Amaranthine RBG

    June 22, 2016 at 11:45 am

    Of course Rubio is going to larch onto Orlando, just like gun control advocates glommed onto it to argue in favor of various gun control laws that would not have prevented Orlando

    It’s what partisan, amoral hacks do.

  72. 72.

    burnspbesq

    June 22, 2016 at 11:46 am

    @RaflW:

    In case you’ve forgotten, Cook is the CEO of a public company that has tens of billions of dollars of cash trapped offshore. He has a fiduciary obligation to support politicians who might consider changes to the Infernal Revenue Code that would benefit Apple’s shareholders, and Democrats ain’t them.

    I don’t like this any more than you do, but it’s part of his job.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    June 22, 2016 at 11:55 am

    @MattF

    But the job of ‘footstool’ was already taken

    Believe that Groom of the Stool remains open, however, for the nonce.

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    June 22, 2016 at 11:55 am

    @dimmsdale:

    If Grayson votes consistently in line with things I believe in, which Murphy emphatically does NOT, why is he not the obvious choice here?

    It’s difficult to address that without more information about what you profess to believe in, but Grayson is a loudmouthed, ethically challenged, narcissistic white male fauxgressive with no known principles or policy chops and no demonstrated ability at anything other than getting elected. In short, Bernie with a tan.

  75. 75.

    Amaranthine RBG

    June 22, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    @burnspbesq: gosh, how did that poor money get trapped over there?

    Maybe a campaign showing the sad money in dirty cages while strains of “Arms of an Angel” rise in the sound track?

  76. 76.

    Bobby Thomson

    June 22, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @rikyrah: Dafuq?

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    June 22, 2016 at 12:03 pm

    @rikyrah

    In many states the deadline for filing to run isn’t until sometime in the summer (July something or other here in Hawaii, for example) so there isn’t a full list of candidate names to place on any ballot earlier. Exactly the sort of thing people clamor for when they talk about a shorter election season – a month or two from filing to primary, another month or two from primary to general.

  78. 78.

    les

    June 22, 2016 at 12:07 pm

    He has a fiduciary obligation to support politicians who might consider changes to the Infernal Revenue Code that would benefit Apple’s shareholders

    Citation needed. “Maximize shareholder value” is a relatively recent mantra fostered by 1%’ers and pushed by shifting management comp to share value/options. It’s part of the way to enrich himself. To say nothing of the contribution to short term management goals, of dubious value to shareholders. Fucking Apple in particular had to be sued by shareholders to pay a dividend.

  79. 79.

    Bobby Thomson

    June 22, 2016 at 12:11 pm

    With the caveat that Quinnipiac sucks ass, the latest Q poll has Rubio crushing both of them, as well as Toomey beating McGinty by 9 despite the SCOTUS and gun votes that were supposed to doom him. Sure is a good thing the party went out of its way to kneecap Sestak. Heckofajob, Barry.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    June 22, 2016 at 12:14 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    In case you’ve forgotten, Cook is the CEO of a public company that has tens of billions of dollars of cash trapped offshore. He has a fiduciary obligation to support politicians who might consider changes to the Infernal Revenue Code that would benefit Apple’s shareholders, and Democrats ain’t them.

    That’s all well and good, but I’m guessing there aren’t too many other Fortune 10 CEOs doing what Cook is doing, openly (as in “press release” openly).

    Or was Janesville annexed by CA-17 and I missed it?

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @Amaranthine RBG: Yeah, Rubio using the occasion of a mass murder to renege on his promise not to seek reelection is exactly the same as gun control advocates proposing commonsense controls supported by the vast majority of Americans in the wake of yet another high-profile massacre perpetrated by a lunatic with an assault weapon. Fucking tool.

  82. 82.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    June 22, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    @oldster:

    When he’s running against the Dem it won’t matter. Republicans would vote for Satan against a liberal challenger: “The Dark Lord’s not all bad….”

  83. 83.

    philpm

    June 22, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I figure he’s probably needing eight figures per year to just to make a dent in all his debt.

  84. 84.

    nonynony

    June 22, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    He has a fiduciary obligation to support politicians who might consider changes to the Infernal Revenue Code that would benefit Apple’s shareholders

    So wait – you’re telling me that as Apple’s CEO he has a fiduciary responsibility to personally host a fundraiser for a Republican politician?

    That’s nonsense and you know it. Or at least I hope for your clients’ sake you know it. He has a responsibility to send lobbyists to lobby Congress for changes that would benefit the company or set up their own PAC to lobby on issues, but he has zero responsibility to put his own personal politics aside to act outside the company for the benefit of the company. Nothing requires that he do that and you know it.

    This is him and his politics. He’s an opportunistic asshole and everyone in Silicon Valley kind of knows it, so it’s no surprise at all that he’d out himself as a Republican shilling for Republicans.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    June 22, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while)

    He can still pivot back to being an angel, after all.

    ;)

  86. 86.

    The Other Chuck

    June 22, 2016 at 12:26 pm

    @maya: Only if we stock the lagoon with gators first.

  87. 87.

    James E Powell

    June 22, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    This is a state that twice elected Rick Scott. It will be no surprise when they re-elect Rubio by six or seven points.

    I don’t know enough about Florida to understand why the Democrats in a state that large cannot come up with better state-wide candidates.

  88. 88.

    catclub

    June 22, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @nonynony: I was going to point out the line from Burnsy that got dropped ‘and democrats ain’t them’

    1) I bet that there are some. Finding them might be the key to getting it done.
    2) It is democrats he need so convince, not the GOP.
    3)If he thinks Trump might win he may not be as responsible as you had imagined.

  89. 89.

    patrick II

    June 22, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    @Shell:

    he also “felt a call to duty in a time of war”.

    Join the Marines Marco.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    June 22, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    no demonstrated ability at anything other than getting elected.

    I would have said that Grayson is less likely to win Florida, therefore don’t run him. But if he is talented enough to win Florida, I would take him over anybody who loses to Rubio.

  91. 91.

    catclub

    June 22, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    @D58826:

    Haven’t found one thing that he said which is true.

    Including “Hello”, “Ladies and Gentlemen”, and “Good Morning”

  92. 92.

    James E Powell

    June 22, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    Grayson is a loudmouthed, ethically challenged, narcissistic white male fauxgressive with no known principles or policy chops and no demonstrated ability at anything other than getting elected

    So you’re saying he has a chance?

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    June 22, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @James E Powell:

    This is a state that twice elected Rick Scott. It will be no surprise when they re-elect Rubio by six or seven points.

    Fun fact: Neither Scott nor Rubio ever received 50% of the vote in a general, statewide election. Rubio is definitely beatable, and so was Scott. The trick is to choose a good opponent. So far, they’ve been lucky in their opposition. This time, maybe not.

    I don’t know enough about Florida to understand why the Democrats in a state that large cannot come up with better state-wide candidates.

    Long story short: the Florida Democratic Party is incompetent and moribund.

  94. 94.

    Tom Q

    June 22, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Add on that both Voldemort elections and the Rubio one were in midterms, which give a multiple-point handicap in the GOP’s direction. (Consider WI, where Galtian Ron Johnson defeated Russ Feingold in a midterm year, but out-lesbian Tammy Baldwin defeated popular ex-governor Tommy Thompson in the presidential year. That’s a different universe of voters.) I think Rubio is risking his entire future by running in what could be a catastrophic year for Republicans.

  95. 95.

    dimmsdale

    June 22, 2016 at 4:42 pm

    Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about Grayson. @gvg, didn’t know about the (apparently ongoing?) hedge fund, Cayman Island loopholes, deceptively edited campaign commercials, etc. From the tenor of the responses to my question, it appears the more you know about him, the less appealing he is, personally as well as ethically. @nonynony: I’ve always known him, to the extent I’ve known him at all, as a reliable progressive voice in circumstances where being a progressive voice was the harder path (his outspokenness has marginalized him in his own damn party and thereby made his campaign fundraising orders of magnitude harder, for instance). @burnspesq: you may be right about the guy. But in what universe is Patrick Murphy preferable? He didn’t even know he was a Democrat until the DSCC told him he was, and gave him fat stacks of campaign cash to seal the deal! (You think Grayson’s ethically challenged? Ladies and gentlement, I give you my own Senator, the execrable Chuck Schumer, tireless warrior for the carried interest loophole for hedgies!)

    Really, in any political calculation where Schumer and Murphy are on one side, and Grayson’s on the other (UNLESS I’m missing something here, which has been known to happen), I know where my vote would go. And that’s not to slight anything anyone’s said about Grayson.

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