Marco Rubio’s In

Today on NRO

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Tehran's growing hegemony is a mortal threat to our allies in the Middle East. The Emerging Iranian Empire.

JOHN FUND: Scott Walker has Iowa advantages, if he can keep his base. Wisconsin Stubborn.

JOEL GEHRKE: Many former advisers don't see how Romney can make a better case this time around. Romney Aides Are Far from United in Favor of a 2016 Bid.

JONAH GOLDBERG: Six years later, Obama's still reading from the same tired script. A Tedious, Recycled State of the Union.

SLIDESHOW: Deflate-Gate.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

January 23, 2015

Marco Rubio's In

Everybody into the pool!

Here comes Marco Rubio. I guess everybody's afraid of entering too late and starting the contest behind the ones who are more openly expressing interest in a bid -- Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee.

Sen. Marco Rubio has begun taking concrete steps toward launching a presidential bid, asking his top advisors to prepare for a campaign, signing on a leading Republican fundraiser, and planning extensive travel to early-voting states in the coming weeks, ABC News has learned.

"He has told us to proceed as if he is running for president," a senior Rubio advisor tells ABC News.

Leading the effort to raise the $50 million or more he'll need to run in the Republican primaries will be Anna Rogers, currently the finance director for American Crossroads, the conservative group started by Karl Rove that raised more than $200 million to help elect Republicans over the past two elections.

(Somewhere, a bunch of commenters are exclaiming, "Rove!" the way Jerry Seinfeld used to exclaim, "Newman!" on his show.)

Rogers will begin working at Rubio's political action committee on February 1 and would become the finance director of Rubio's presidential campaign.

Rubio, 43, will gather on Friday and Saturday at the Delano Hotel in Miami with 300 supporters and major donors to his Reclaim America PAC to discuss his political future.

So what's the new "too late" date for the 2016 cycle? February? March? Easter?

Elsewhere, Noah Rothman at Hot Air asks if a panel discussion at the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce featuring Texas senator Ted Cruz, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, and Florida senator Marco Rubio counts as the first debate of the 2016 cycle. It's not an actual debate, but it will feature the candidates and potential candidates on stage together interacting.

If that's how were defining debates, then I suppose the November 8 pre-cruise National Review gathering that featured Rubio, Ted Cruz, and John Bolton was the real first debate of the 2016 cycle!

The panel is about economic issues, but you have to wonder if Rubio and Paul will drift into foreign-policy discussions, and an actual debate, just out of habit . . .

Footballs. Footballs! Always Refer to Them as Footballs!

Okay, I admit it. I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to finding Tom Brady's press conference yesterday hilarious with unintended double entendres.

But amidst all the chuckling, there's a serious allegation here, some pretty compelling evidence, and a completely implausible explanation. As many asked, if New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady really had nothing to do with deflating the balls outside the range permitted by the league . . . are we really to believe some equipment manager or ball boy or other team staffer decided, on his own, to meddle with the footballs without checking with the team's star quarterback? What if Brady had had a terrible game? Wouldn't he be furious that somebody had messed with his footballs?

"I would never do anything outside of the rules of play," Brady said.

But his own words told a different tale, and as soon as he was done talking, a 17-year veteran of the quarterback position, Mark Brunell, said on ESPN that he was among those who didn't believe Brady. Earlier Thursday, even before Bill Belichick seemed to be throwing his franchise player under a triple-decker bus in his own news conference, Hall of Famer Troy Aikman said on a Dallas radio station the following:

"It's obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this." . . .

Focus on the loosest brick in Brady's version of events -- or non-version of events -- that took down the whole house. The quarterback said more than once that a ball at 12.5 psi felt like magic in his hands, and it made sense. Any elite craftsman or artist or athlete could tell you that the tools of his or her trade are not interchangeable parts. Right before a performance, Jimi Hendrix would've known if he'd been handed something other than his most reliable guitar.

But Brady claimed that the NFL game moves so fast, he doesn't have time to worry about the weight or feel of the ball once the bodies start flying. "I get the snap," he said, "I drop back, I throw the ball."

You know who's really hurt by this mess? Every player on the New England Patriots who doesn't handle the ball on most plays. The offensive linemen, the defense, the special teams -- all of those guys went out and played their hearts out and did their jobs, and now their victory appears tainted. They didn't have any advantage from a deflated, easier-to-grip-and-catch ball.

The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy:

The most important thing — the Patriot legacy — is lost. The Patriots and their fans will never win the "best ever" argument. Everything is tainted. Footballs (reportedly) have been doctored, headlines have been written, and opinions have been formed.

Locally, the Patriots are revered. Nationally, they are loathed and branded as cheaters, and once again they have handed the hammer to their legion of enemies.

At this hour, even if the Patriots are cleared of wrongdoing, they are the modern-day sports equivalent of Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Labor, Ray Donovan, who asked, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?'' after he was declared not guilty in a corruption case.

Granted, it didn't matter in Sunday's game. But what about all the other games? If the Patriots are cheating, are they not cheating systematically?

Like Spygate, it's not a one-game anecdote.

Did deflating footballs ever give the Patriots an illegal advantage in any of their close games? Did it help them win the division 11 times in 12 years? We know they don't like to play on the road. In the playoffs. Ever. This great Patriot dynasty has not won a road playoff game in seven years.

Why Must GOP Politicians Work with Companies Like These?

(Note: This is particularly ironic in light of Wednesday's "can't we all get along?" kumbaya remarks, which were, depending on your point of view, the best thing I've ever written or "a waste of bandwidth" . . .)

First, I was a ruthless anti-Ben Carson hack, uncovering his work with the supplement company Mannatech! Then I was a ruthless anti-Mitt Romney hack, posting long-forgotten video of his thankful shout-out to the infamous Jonathan Gruber! Now, I'm a ruthless anti-Jeb Bush hack, writing about his time the board of a company that defrauded the federal government, and uncovering the company's flat-out-dishonest promotional videos!

The legal documents paint a picture of Bush remaining out of the loop on all of the fraudulent activities of Osorio and the company, asking questions about the lack of audited financial documents, and then cutting ties when his questions weren't answered adequately and investors raised questions about Osorio's honesty.

But obliviousness to a business partner's crimes isn't a great look for an aspiring president. And it's painfully easy to picture a future Republican rival, the DNC, or American Bridge PAC running an attack ad against Bush with the entirely accurate statement that "Jeb Bush spent years on the corporate board of a company that took government money and promised to help Haitian earthquake victims . . . and then turned around and spent it on themselves."

In an April 2014 article looking at Bush's work on corporate boards after he finished his second term as governor, the New York Times reported that

"Bush left public office seven years ago with a net worth of $1.3 million and an unapologetic determination to expand his wealth, telling friends that his finances had suffered during his time in government."

That's a dangerous spot for a political figure to be in. The better a company's reputation is, the less it needs the perceived legitimacy and glamour a retired lawmaker can provide. The companies most eager to be affiliated with a prominent former elected official — and most willing to pay top dollar for the privilege — are the ones most likely to need that perception of authenticity and trust.

[Crazy alternative theory to explain my alleged villainous hack-itude: This is called "vetting", and looking into the past business dealings of presidential candidates is standard operating procedure, a traditional manifestation of political journalism, and the sort of thing Republicans ought to want to see more of during presidential campaigns, not less.]

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! No one can stop me!

ADDENDA: It's rare that two friends and allies end up in competition with each other, and a little awkward for those of us who know both. Over in Indianapolis, the morning radio waves feature Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom show, and Bob and Becky Kevoian are among the finest, most gracious, welcoming and fun friends National Review and I could possibly want. A bit down the radio dial is my friend, Tony Katz, the gregarious, energetic longtime activist in Tea Parties and other conservative gatherings. I understand newcomer Tony is starting to approach living legend Bob in the ratings. May both shows continue to enjoy such sterling success, and may the rest of us get as many good choices as the listeners in Indianapolis.

Today's edition of my pop-culture podcast with Mickey White -- posted a bit later this morning -- features her take on why American Sniper hits such a chord with audiences, the New England Patriots and deflate-gate, protecting yourself on social media, and "guilty pleasure" television shows.

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