Former Sen. Coburn Joins the Marco Rubio Endorsement Avalanche
Lamar Alexander and Hobby Lobby’s founder join the Marcomentum
Oklahoma’s former Senator Coburn pledged his support to Marco Rubio.
Oklahoma's Tom Coburn Endorses Rubio, Says Trump 'Perpetuating a Fraud' https://t.co/LdOE1wU7FM
— The Weekly Standard (@weeklystandard) February 29, 2016
Coburn didn’t have many positive things to say about fellow presidential contender, Donald Trump.
Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn on Monday endorsed U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio for the GOP presidential nomination and said Donald Trump was “perpetuating a fraud.”
Coburn, a Republican who was Oklahoma’s most popular political figure when he resigned in early 2015, said Rubio was the only Republican candidate in the mold of former President Ronald Reagan.
Senator Coburn served with both Sen. Rubio and Sen. Cruz. In his endorsement, Sen. Coburn wrote:
“Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ‘Cowardice asks the question – is it safe? Expediency asks the question – is it politic? Vanity asks the question – is it popular? But conscience asks the question – is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.’
“At a time when our republic, and the Republican Party, is at a crossroads I have no doubt that the right choice for America is Marco Rubio. America desperately needs a president who will appeal to people’s highest aspirations rather than their deepest fears; a president who will model servant leadership rather than self-promotion; and a president who will cast a vision and unite the country instead of denigrating dissenters as second-class citizens. Marco would be such a president. I urge voters in Oklahoma and across the country to take a stand for freedom and stand with Marcoon Tuesday and throughout this campaign.
“Marco is the only candidate in this race who is in the mold of President Reagan. While some are offering a message of victimization and helplessness against Washington, Marco understands that ‘We the People’ are the establishment and the elites in American society. We need a president who will reawaken our belief in the American idea and not merely complain about how things are but challenge us to dream of what could be.
“In Washington, Marco has been an extremely effective Tea Party senator. No candidate running for president has fought Obamacare more effectively than Marco and no one has a better grasp of foreign affairs and America’s place in the world.
“As a physician, business owner, member of the Class of 1994 and later as a U.S. Senator, I came to understand the depth of the American people’s frustration with the status quo. Voters are right to be upset with the direction of the country. And even though the ranks of conservatives in Washington have grown, the pace of change simply isn’t fast enough.
“The candidacy of Donald Trump, however, threatens to undo and reverse years of work that began with Goldwater and Reagan – work that future movements like the 1994 Republican Revolution and the Tea Party sought to preserve and perfect.
“Donald Trump’s campaign is a fabrication. He is perpetuating a fraud on the American people. His empty promises, bullying and bloviating rhetoric will only deepen the frustration and disillusionment that gave rise to his campaign. He simply lacks the character, skills and policy knowledge to turn his grandiose promises into reality.
“Put simply, Donald Trump has no plan to make America great again. He is a populist without portfolio.”
Rubio also received the endorsement of Senator Lamar Alexander. The founder of Hobby Lobby, too, endorsed Rubio:
Sen. Marco Rubio won the endorsement on Sunday of Hobby Lobby founder and CEO David Green, and planned more Oklahoma stops on the eve of Super Tuesday primaries.
Green, whose family is known for a nationwide chain of crafts stores and for a Supreme Court victory against the birth control mandate in Obamacare, issued a statement that was nearly equal parts endorsement of Rubio for the GOP presidential nomination and condemnation of billionaire Donald Trump.
Green said, “Our family business that we began with $600 has quite possibly been more successful than Mr. Trump’s, but that doesn’t make either of us qualified to be president.
“And unlike Mr. Trump, we give all the credit to God. Marco Rubio has impressed us with his preparation and the way he carries himself. But most importantly, Marco regularly exhibits humility and gives the glory to God. Humility is what brings success.
“I don’t see humility in Mr. Trump, and that scares me to death. I want a president that my kids, my grandkids and my great-grandkids can emulate.”
“In Marco Rubio, I see a man who has achieved great things from humble beginnings, but gives the glory to God, where it belongs.”
If endorsements matter, Rubio is lapping the competition. According to FiveThirtyEight, endorsements do matter and can be a good predictor of candidate success. So, they’re keeping score:
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Comments
So what is Coburn going to do if Trump is the nominee?
What will Mitch McConnell do?
Once Trump is the nominee and they start to see the steam roller potential he will create with massive turnout they will rush as fast as they can to endorse Trump and sing his praises saying they were with him all along.
Nonsense: See: Senator Ben Sasse.
Ben Sasse isn’t up for reelection. See Ben Sasse when he is up for reelection and Trump is highly popular President.
Isn’t McConnell already telling Repub Senators up for re-election that they are cleared to run against Trump? IOW, to denounce Trump as part of their reelection policy platform.
Clearly he fears, and buys into, the MSM belieft in its ability to demonize Trump in the general.
McConnell might as well put on a suicide vest. He would be far better off sitting down and compromising with Trump. We know he can compromise (or is it surrender). He does it all the time with Obama.
Yes, reports are that he has done this.
Here is a prediction. Any senate candidate that runs from nominee Trump loses. Any senate candidate that runs as fast as they can to Trump wins BIG.
McConnell and the established have been consistently so wrong for so many years, why would anyone listen to them ?
If Marco keeps up with his elementary school insults, he may be buried by this Avalanche.
Politics aside, Trump is playing a game of “Go”, and Rubio isn’t even playing checkers. Maybe in four years he will work himself up to “chess”.
Remind us all who started the race to the bottom?
From a strategic point of view — it does not matter. What matters is whether these attacks make Rubio stronger or weaker.
In terms of who started it, Ms. Megyn Kelly got it off to a roaring start. Probably on instructions form higher ups. They seriously underestimated their opponent. They thought they could take him out with a single blow.
They failed.
Does anyone see a reconciliation between Trump and (as O’Reilly says) Miss Megyn? Absent that, if Trump happens to win, she faces exile from A-List events. That won’t be easy for her.
Megyn started it by asking Mr. Trump a difficult question? Mr. Trump making a crude joke about Kelly’s menstrual cycle was only him ‘fighting back’ and ‘talking tough’? Seriously? President Reagan rolls. Would you let this man speak about your daughter this way?
The man has no class, is not a ‘fighter’ but a real life bully. Had the good fortune to be born into wealth, so I’m doubtful that he can honestly relate to the majority of us conservatives who work hard to achieve our goals. God bless him, but putting 100% of the blame on Ms. Kelly for starting it all is bordering on post-1918 German revisionist history. But I wouldn’t expect the “poorly educated” sheep to understand that reference – or worse, the consequences of ignoring them.
Sure, this is just the typical puff that Hillary gets.
“Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs’ and ‘disgusting animals.’ …
Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees.
Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women”
“and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton”
Oh, I don’t know. Maybe Trump will have an endless parade of woman on stage reporting the details of their rape by Bill Clinton, and then playing shrillary saying those woman must be believed…
The corrupt Clinton criminal enterprise presents plenty of opportunity for one that is neither afraid or unwilling to report the truth.
Two wrongs don’t make a right [other] Barry.
Why is anyone spending a moment on Megyn Kelly? Does anyone realize that the Kelly feud nonsense was nearly 7 months ago? Sheez, 7 days is old news in this election cycle.
Because as recently as last month, your petulant little thin-skinned hero was still angrily banging his spoon on his high-chair tray over it.
Aren’t you the lady with the “suicide vest”, who is going to sit out the election if Trump is the nominee. The Socialist enabler?
Am I? You’re welcome to present me with whatever comment of mine you’re referring to.
And what does your angry little eruption have to do with either Gulfbreeze’s comment or my reply to it? Or do you just have impulse control problems?
“Because as recently as last month, your petulant little thin-skinned hero was still angrily banging his spoon on his high-chair tray over it.”
I had no idea Trump was still talking about Kelly, I don’t watch TV news that much, and never watch Fox. Don’t do Twitter, either, so I’m immune to Twitter wars. If Trump is still talking about her, he’s an idiot.
And nice try selling your nonsense about “my” hero. You do realize you’re projecting, right? But keep selling it if it makes you feel better.
I don’t even own a TV, yet even I was aware of Trump’s massive dummy-spit in boycotting the Iowa debate because Fox refused to fire Megyn Kelly. It was covered on this blog, among other places.
Amy — to me, you are being nasty. Remarks such as “your god” in my mind serve as invectives. No matter what your intent, if I saw you in a social setting and you behaved that way, I’d steer far away.
Dystopia: You still haven’t presented me with whatever comment of mine you were referring to, nor explained what your angry little eruption had to do with either Gulfbreeze’s comment or my reply to it. You are coming off as more than a little unhinged, to be honest.
Um, sport? Trump is the schoolyard bully with his despicable suggestion that Ben Carson was a pedophile, and his remarks about Carly Fiorina’s face… Seems to me he has made taunts about Rubio’s ears and makeup. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I am enjoying seeing Trump whine and squirm when given a taste of his own medicine. Thank you, Marco Rubio.
Still waiting for Trump’s tax returns… you know, the ones he said were being audited because he was a ‘Christian,” then because he was a Tea Partier…. oh never mind. Trump can’t keep his own stories straight
“According to FiveThirtyEight, endorsements do matter and can be a good predictor of candidate success.”
They are wrong.
They have been consistently WRONG this entire election cycle.
They are their Octuble down against Trump.
FiveThirtyEight is rarely wrong
Would you like to go back in this election cycle and look at their predictions?
No, I don’t think you would.
Here is my observation.
I like Tom Coburn. But, given his great record on voting against government waste and advocating sound fiscal management, I find his choice to endorse Rubio suspect.
While I am not a backer of Trump, I do recognize that Trump’s skill set is a better match to Coburn’s.
So, I have to conclude that Coburn is supporting the establishment choice and not basing his choice on those things that made him an outstanding senator from Oklahoma.
Clearly, politics trumps sound reason. (pun intended — y’all know me by now)
“Marcomentum” — ROFL! Talk about wishful imagination and fantasy 🙂
Marcomentum, definition: Holding steady, making no discernible movement either up or down in terms of winning votes yet somehow convincing yourself that you are.
Agree with legacyRepub, this is a good counterweight for the Sessions endorsement. IMO, Sen Coburn is one of the good guys.
Still, I support Cruz.
I would vote for Trump against Hillary.
Very, very troubled by Rubio.
In 48 hours we’ll see if there is more to discuss….
Not a counterweight to Sessions where it counts. Coburn is not known as “the man” when it comes to immigration and trade. He is known for fraud, waste, and abuse in government. While that is important. Not nearly as important as immigration, wall, deport, enforce our laws in this election.
The “I will fight waste, fraud and abuse” line has been a false meme since my first vote in 1980. Great idea, gets lots of lip service as I’ve heard it every election cycle since, but way easier to say than actually do. Little to nothing ever gets done. Of course it should be fought, and I’ll eternally hope it happens. But it’s so baked into the system now it’s systemic, and I don’t believe any party is truly committed to it.
Trump pulled it out at the last debate, but I don’t believe it now from him or any candidate any more than I believed it by 1984.
No shortage of corrupt Republicans willing to shred the natural-born citizen clause.
After 8 years of a Kenyan/Indonesian Muslim president, why blame the citizens for considering a Canadian Christian? Why insist on the same-ol’-same-ol’?
I just saw the head of Hobby Lobby on Cavuto FBN. Clearly he is a man who has his own brand of evangelical fundamentalist bible based faith. He is no phony in that regard. He opposes Trump solely on Trump’s use of salty language and forgives Rubio’s sins of late in this regard because he said Trump is a leader and Rubio is a follower so he blames Trump as the leader.
I’m not sure he realized he was saying Rubio was a Beta male and not a leader, but that is what he said.
He actually stated he wanted to support a candidate that is more Christ like. This struck me as interesting because Cruz is supposed to be the new Jesus in the race and yet the Hobby Lobby guy goes for Rubio and NOT Cruz.
He is clearly saying Cruz is NOT “his” kind of christian. Not Christ like obviously. Maybe he googled up the dominionist cult branch of Christianity that Cruz follows.
Interesting observation on “beta male”. Perhaps these folks want followers — people they can lead?
Alpo dog Britt reads his own mind and his sweaty palms and then tells us about Cruz’ character, something completely foreign to a reprobate.
I have seen you, Britt, salivating for an alpha male to lead the cult’s flock to walled-in pastures.
And there you will be eaten alive by the aplha male Trumph. But first he’ll huff and he’ll puff and he’ll blow your ass down.
As I’ve said before. You are insane.
Calling me insane is Trumph-speak for “I have no cards to play, so I’m outta here. Instead, I’ll go throw the widow out and take her house from her. Nya-ah-ãhh!”
Actually, it just means you are insane with respect to this election.
This sounds…so familiar:
“If Commodus merely had not lived up to the gruelingly high standards of his father, the world would have most likely forgiven him. But rather than just failing to be a brilliant emperor, Commodus was in fact a terrible one. Cruelty, vanity, power and fear formed into a terrifyingly dangerous mix of bloodlust, suspicion and megalomania. Commodus should be remembered as a monster, a tyrant who renamed months in his own honor, and who slaughtered his way through the circuses in ludicrous displays of ‘manliness’.
http://www.roman-empire.net/highpoint/commodus.html
Alpha male. Trump Tower. “ludicrous displays of ‘manliness’. “megalomania”.
Why did Coburn retire early? Caught at a foam party?
He has cancer.
And the mic hit the floor.
I am not sure what Marco Rubio is doing?
He will NEVER be President!
The man could not even do his job as a 1 term Senator.
How many votes has this joker missed?
What did he accomplish as a Senator?
Plus is is going to lose his home state!
can you spell LOSER!
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/marco_rubio/412491
“From Jan 2011 to Feb 2016, Rubio missed 220 of 1,508 roll call votes, which is 14.6%. This is much worse than the median of 1.7% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.”
And how does it compare to other senators who were also running for President at the time?
Er, he volunteered to give up his Senate job. Please do not spout Trump talking points which are almost never based on fact. Google is your friend
Well, that changes everything. I can hear the slogan Rubio advisors will come up with:
“VOTE RUBIO! – Just the 3rd worst job shirker in recent history! Yeah, he’s worse than Barack Obama, Lindsey Graham and 1/3 worse than Ted Cruz…but what difference, at this point, does it make?”
Awesome!
That makes it totally better, then.
I will now throw all of my support behind Rubio.
Rubio is not holding up well under recent published scrutiny.
This little upstart/robot/whore is not presidential material.
His endorsers and supporters have some curious blindspots.
Marco is just a puppet.
Yes he is a puppet .. a GOPe puppet
one they want and can control.
I am a Cruz voter.
I don’t dislike Rubio. But, does anything truly believe he has the experience to be President? I don’t even believe the GOP establishment believes that. They believe Rubio has the experience to headline a losing campaign.
Signs for the SSRs! 🙂
———————————————————————
That mean old Donald Trump wants to deport our Illegal Alien Friends!
Be a Special Snowflake Republican and Help Hillary Win by sitting 2016 out!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signs for T-rump mole trolls…
Constitution smonstitution…
STFU, proles, and fall in line behind Der Donald…!!!
In this election, I’m not sure endorsements matter all that much. How many big time endorsements did Rubio get in South Carolina? You could say that he got all of them, and he still comes away a big loser in that state.
In a time where the people are fed up with the establishment, endorsements are not going to carry that much weight.
Endorsements from people who have been seen to fight the establishment or the left might still carry some weight but those who are just from some big name politician not so much.
Rubio is very troublesome in his support of the TPP and gang of eight nonsense to me. I don’t trust him at all.
I also get the feeling he’s tired of not being as rich as hillary. My slime meter pegs out on Rubio.
Even with that I’d cross my fingers and hold my nose to vote against whichever democrat runs.
And I’d expect to rue the decision not to write in Rocky and Bullwinkle.
“My slime meter pegs out on Rubio.”
Yes, so does mine. Call it my slime-dar. It doesn’t help that he flip flopped so recently and so extravagantly on a topic that was a key to his Senate election, opposition to amnesty. It doesn’t help that he can’t seem to decide, from moment to moment, which religion he wants to follow. And it really doesn’t help that he’s spent his entire adult life receiving financial aid, both personal and political, from a billionaire Miami car dealer. Add to that, every establishment weasel is now telling us that this lightweight low accomplishment guy is a star. And you really know their up to their necks in it when they try and pass him off as an intellectual.
Avalanche.
Good word.
Marco Rubio et al. tumbling right over and off the cliff.
Like an avalanche.
B-bye.