Marco Rubio vs Rand Paul (Washington Post)

[brandon]

The two hottest conservatives in the Senate came to CPAC on Thursday showing their respective strengths. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) appeared back to back, maybe a preview of a heavyweight fight in 2016.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/03/15/marco-rubio-vs-rand-paul/

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

Both senators are funny and natural speakers. Both are colorful in language and culturally attuned. Both want government to tax less and spend less. But these are very different men with very different worldviews. Paul harkens back to a pre-New Deal government; Rubio wants to modernize the government we have. Paul is there to protect us against the government; Rubio is there to make it constructive.

And there's one narrative described right there. However, while it doesn't seem she's a fan of either, Rubin at least mentioned what Paul specifically talked about, whereas Rubio, aside from the story about his son, talked about general things like health care and the economy, without offering specifics.

The mostly college-age, white crowd ate it up. He said he wants to sell his message everywhere in America, but is that a message that is going to capture the imagination of the modest-income family Rubio described?

That line, there. While nice that they mention Paul's message does appeal to the younger demographic (as evidenced by mostly youth standing during his entrance), the question remains whether Paul can break from this media driven narrative that he can't appeal to the average, middle-income family that Rubio seemingly does.

 

[supermario21]

I'm confused why Rubin thinks Rubio's speech was so policy-heavy. It was nothing but the same garbage and America-first stuff that lost us 2 presidential elections in a row. Rubio went to fire the crowd up, and Rand went to educate/send a different message, that's how I see it.

 

[Magsec]

Light on policy? Dismantling the DoE is a huge proposal, and the filibuster alone was an attempt to make the administration define loose policies they were tiptoeing around. Offering anecdotes and "America is grrrrrrreatness!" lines must count as heavy policy these days.

 

[Darguth]

If Marco Rubio is a "heavyweight" of the GOP as this article suggests then the Republican Party is truly up Shit Creek without a paddle.