Tuesday, March 01, 2016

RIGHT NOW, WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEN CARSON AND MARCO RUBIO?

I'm going to quote news stories about two Republican presidential candidates. One has been described for months as a shameless grifter who's in the race only to improve his future speaking fees and book advances. The other has been described as a Very Serious Person who may be the future of the Republican Party.

Here's one:
Ben Carson will not drop out of the GOP presidential race, even if he doesn’t take home any delegates on Super Tuesday, close friend and adviser Armstrong Williams told The Hill....

On Tuesday, Williams told The Hill that Carson has firmly declared to him that he will not get out of the race until a candidate reaches the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination....

Carson’s fundraising has fallen dramatically from the days when he was taking in more money than any other GOP candidate and challenging Trump atop the polls....

But the Carson campaign says that more than enough small-dollar donations are still rolling in to fund the leaner operation they’re now overseeing.

...Williams argued that this election cycle has been too unpredictable so far for anyone to claim they know how it’s going to end.

“Throw out all the pundit analyses. None of them have any idea what the outcome will be,” Williams said. “While you’re at it, throw out all the rule books, because Dr. Carson will be writing his own chapter. They don’t call him ‘long shot’ for nothing.”
And here's the other:
Marco Rubio's top campaign adviser huddled with roughly 40 bundlers and K Streeters Tuesday morning to prepare them for a difficult primary election night -- as well as to brief them on the campaign's plan for what to do next.

Terry Sullivan ... told attendees that it would be mathematically impossible for Donald Trump to get to 1,237 delegate votes by the end of April, according to multiple attendees....

Sullivan's comments that the Rubio campaign plans to take this all the way to the Republican National Convention echo a message he delivered in New York last week. And it dovetails with what Rubio himself has been saying on the stump since Saturday, vowing to "campaign as long as it takes" in order to prevent Donald Trump from winning the nomination....

Sullivan also got several inquiries about Florida and how Rubio would deal with a loss there. Sullivan said that he thought Jeb Bush would ultimately endorse Rubio and that he would win the state.
What's the difference between these two guy right now? As far as can see, the only difference is that Carson is staying in the race so that the flow of small to medium-size checks from churchgoing heartlanders won't stop altogether, and Rubio is staying in the race so the flow of somewhat larger checks from Republican one-percenters won't dry up. They both like the money. They both like the attention. Carson's hoping to sell a million copies of a godly campaign memoir and Rubio's hoping to position himself for 2020. But it's still all about that grift. Everyone acknowledges that about Carson, but most people think Rubio operates on a higher plane. Remember, though, Rubio's the guy who charged lots of personal expenses on a GOP credit card. He's the guy who was in debt until a billionaire named Norman Braman bailed him out.

They're two of a kind. Let's admit that, at least.

7 comments:

Feud Turgidson said...

Steve, I see yr point, and if it matters, I actually see Rubio as far worse than an obvious geek act in a backwoods touring flea-bitten rip-off carney like ol' Doc Jesus Is My Co-Bro Grifter Hands.

But Rubio's after working his way into position as the next cycle's My Turn Now guy, in competition with the other face of the Cruzbio.

Victor said...

Ben's still grifting, because he knows he can't win, but want't to keep family and friends in their high-paying phony-balogna campaign jobs for as long as possible.

And for some cash after his coming campaign book about his run for the presidency hits the 99 cent shelf - which shouldn't take long after the "Christian"/Wingnut Welfare bulk-buy's, and insomniacs on the verge of either sleep or insanity, finish getting their copies.

Marco is still in his grift, because he too will "write" a book. And, if he's not the candidate, and is no longer a US Senator, the longer young pretty-boy Marco stays in the race, the bigger his Fox salary and after-dinner speaker fees, will be.

Cruz can't run any grifts, because if he wrote a book, the only people who'll buy it will be uber-"Christian" zealots - those who can stand the smug author's photo on the back.
Fox won't hire him.
And, if he does get some Wingnut Welfare speaker's fees, word will soon get out that his voice grates on everyone's nerves to the point of not allowing firearms in the hall, lest his voice drives still more listeners to suicides as he speaks!

sdhays said...

I agree with Feud. Do you really think he's setting himself up for 2020 now? I think this is his year or nothing. He's leaving the Senate. And if he doesn't take down Trump now, he goes into 2020 being the loser who saddled the party with Trump (or Trump is President and there is no election in 2020). Huckabee tried to come back after spending a bunch of time on wing-nut welfare, and it didn't work out for him (as a candidate; as a grift, I'm sure it worked out fine). And Santorum...well, no one ever voted FOR Rick Santorum; they were voting AGAINST Mitt Romney. Rubio is struggling to get voters to vote AGAINST Trump, not FOR Rubio.

If all you have to recommend you is that people sorta kinda started to get a little bit somewhat behind you in order to take out the front runner, that's not enough to put you on top the next time. But it's certainly possible that he's that stupid. Rick Santorum was.

Ten Bears said...

It's Hillary Clinton's turn, as it was and still is Willard Romney's. And John's McCain and Kerry. Al Gore. H W Bush. Richard fucking Nixon. People who've been around for a while, who have - good, bad or indifferent - worked for it. Not some snot nosed junior senator from a state that may not exist in 2020, who only seems to be interested in actually showing up for work when his drug smuggling Cuban cousins need to be bailed out.

Not one whit of difference. It's all about the grift.

Ten Bears said...

It's Hillary Clinton's turn, as it was and still is Willard Romney's. And John's McCain and Kerry. Al Gore. H W Bush. Richard fucking Nixon. People who've been around for a while, who have - good, bad or indifferent - worked for it. Not some snot nosed junior senator from a state that may not exist in 2020, who only seems to be interested in actually showing up for work when his drug smuggling Cuban cousins need to be bailed out.

Not one whit of difference. It's all about the grift.

Gerald Parks said...

Hey ...we are talking about Republicans!

Modern day Republicans have turned the running for President in their Party into THE Grift. This is not a case of both sides do it.

Grifters grift and Republicans are master grifters of their own ...even tonight there will be fund raising letters and e-mails going out.

AND the Recipient of all that grifting ...errrah ...fund raising is 1st and foremost ....the Republican Candidate!

Professor Chaos said...

And they're both empty suits who give no indication of why anyone should vote for them. Only difference is Rubio can memorize and regurgitate GOP talking points while Carson just does stream of consciousness babbling.