2016: An Apocalyptic Year For The GOP?

Now more than ever… We must question with boldness.

On Marco Rubio:

Over the weekend the Florida senator and rising GOP star expressed formal interest in running for the White House. In nearly the same breath he announced his belief that climate change is NOT man-made, telling ABC, “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.”

Rubio’s words say less about his actual beliefs and more about the obstacles facing his infant campaign for the oval office.

Most will remember that Rubio made great strides in recent years as the republican party’s Latino poster-child and last-best-hope and reclaiming Bush-era Hispanic voters. This success has come at the cost of a left-of-center track-record: Last year, Rubio and the so called “gang of eight” pushed the comprehensive immigration bill in the Senate. (For those of you in Rio Linda… “comprehensive immigration reform” is slang for illegal alien amnesty).

It’s not certain how much Rubio really understands about climate change, but you can be sure this won’t be his only overture to centrist republican voters.

On Rand Paul:

We can only hope. Sadly, he may reach the point of the conservative movement’s “great white buffalo.” This is thanks in part to his admission that, in order for the Republicans to win the White House, they are first going to have to “agree to disagree” on social issues. Senator Paul seems like a wonderful, viable candidate, but until but it will be decades before the more evangelical voter blocks in the GOP will support a socially libertarian candidate.

As for the Paul’s brush with being a “Republican in name only” – (RINO) – let’s just ignore, for now, the fact that the 2016 hopeful has come out to support Mitch McConnell over Matt Bevin in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate primaries.

Trust no one.

On JeB Bush:

It’s when you begin to get members of the same family gracing the same seat of power over and over again that our nation’s history reads more like a monarchy than a democracy. Even if it could ignore Jeb’s turncoat history with the conservative movement, the GOP would have to be daft to give the presidential nomination to another member of the Bush family.

Bonus – If a third Bush is made leader of the freeworld, I predict an amendment to the Constitution will follow – vis-a-vis FDR – banning successive generations of a family being elected to the presidency.

On Mitt Romney:

Before you scoff at this 2016 prospect, consider his oh-so-humble NetFlix hit, “Mitt.” That was the former Massachusetts governor’s way of testing the waters. Instantly he garnered even more fans; on BOTH sides of the political aisle. Romney faces a different challenge than Rubio – his religious affiliations and social platform make him quite popular with centrist republicans. So it’s no surprise he’s been playing to progressive republicans, telling MSNBC’s Morning Joe that the minimum wage should be hiked. If you don’t think those words have teeth – realize his healthcare plan became the inspiration for Obamacare; another Romney run is another bullet in the foot of the Grand Ol’ Party.

Obviously, the election season is young. But forgive my early disappointment with our 2016 lineup. I’m calling it…. #defundtheGOP