By Deroy Murdock
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
‘I’m as conservative as anyone in this race, but I’m the
conservative that can unify the Republican party,” Senator Marco Rubio (R.,
Fla.) often says on the campaign trail. This is not just an empty slogan. Rubio
already is keeping this promise.
The first indication that Rubio is welding together the
disparate wings of the GOP came when he united two sons of the same state.
Within hours on February 3, Rubio won the endorsement of both Senator Pat
Toomey – the unassuming, easygoing free-marketer and former head of the
economics-focused Club for Growth — and former senator Rick Santorum, a
stalwart social conservative and sometimes strident opponent of gay marriage.
While Toomey and Santorum are both Pennsylvanians, they epitomize different
wings of the GOP. Toomey is an economic libertarian. Santorum is a cultural conservative.
Rubio also has gained supporters from the GOP’s third
wing: foreign-policy conservatives. (In this vividly mixed metaphor, the
Republican elephant is a three-winged bird. Also, the average Republican
combines these elements, although typically with one of these three wings being
first among equals.)
Rubio has scored an array of endorsements across the
party’s philosophical spectrum. From roughly the center-right to the
right-right, these include — among many others – liberal to moderate Republicans
such as former governor George Pataki of New York, Governor Bill Haslam of
Tennessee, and Representative Peter King of New York, a national-security hawk.
“Most important of all for me,” King said, “Marco has a thorough knowledge of
foreign policy and fully understands the true nature of the terrorist threat.”
Moderate Republicans for Rubio include senators Lamar
Alexander of Tennessee and Orrin Hatch of Utah; former senators Norm Coleman of
Minnesota and Bob Dole of Kansas; and former governor Tim Pawlenty of
Minnesota. Hatch said, “Marco has a unique ability to effectively communicate
detailed, conservative plans in a way that attracts people who do not normally
vote for Republicans.”
Prominent economic/libertarian Republicans in Rubio’s
corner include senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, Tim Scott of South Carolina,
Representative Matt Salmon of Arizona, former senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma,
and past president of the Club for Growth and former Indiana congressman Chris
Chocola. “I am proud to support Marco Rubio, a strong fiscal conservative and
living testament to the American Dream,” Chocola said.
Among social conservatives, Rubio counts Governor Sam
Brownback of Kansas, former governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and David
Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby, the company that sued to stop Obama from forcing it
to include free abortifacients in its employee health plan. “Marco Rubio has
impressed us with his preparation and the way he carries himself,” Green said.
“But most importantly, Marco regularly exhibits humility and gives the glory to
God.”
Some of Rubio’s most fervent detractors will point to
Rubio’s appeal across the Republican party as proof that he is the
reincarnation of Nelson Rockefeller. This charge is utterly preposterous, given
Rubio’s 100 percent legislative-vote ratings from the American Security
Council, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and the National Right to Life
Committee and his 0 percent approval from Peace Action West, Americans for
Democratic Action, and NARAL/Pro-Choice America. Nonetheless, this accusation
is virtually antibiotic resistant in some circles, largely due to lingering
suspicions over Rubio’s membership in the Senate’s informal Gang of Eight
comprehensive-immigration-reform task force.
Still, it’s important for Rubio’s fans and foes alike to
remember that fighting the general election with the Republican party in
splinters is a splendid way to lose to socialist senator Bernie Sanders of
Vermont or socialist crook Hillary Clinton of New York. Party unity will be key
to defeating the Democrats and their standing army of activists, street thugs,
union volunteers, and loyal cheerleaders in show business and the old-guard
news media.
And unifying the Republican party was one of Ronald
Reagan’s keys to victory. He welcomed fiscal, social, and foreign-policy
conservatives into his big tent, along with moderate Republicans and even the
GOP’s Rockefeller wing, which currently is on display in New York’s Museum of
Natural History. Under Reagan’s leadership, this seamless front defeated
incumbent Jimmy Carter, restored America’s flagging self-confidence, unleashed
rampant economic growth, and drop-kicked Communism onto the ash heap of
history.
Were there disappointments along the way? Yes, primarily
the selection of G. H. W. Bush as Reagan’s running mate and the resulting Bush
dynasty — now mercifully in flames. But the alternative — four more years of
Jimmy Carter’s stagflation, vacillation, and capitulation are ghastly to
consider, even now.
GOP unity must be part of prying the Democrats from the
White House and preventing Obama’s hard-Left failures from being replaced with,
most likely, Hillary Clinton’s hard-Left failures, plus grift and graft. Marco
Rubio is the only candidate who is inviting the Republican party’s raucous
factions into the same boat to row, in unison, toward the White House.
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