Former U.S. Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) announced Monday, via YouTube, he intends to challenge Governor Charlie Crist and former Florida House of Representatives Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for Florida’s vacant Senate seat in 2010.
Echoing Rubio’s conservative sentiments, the Florida snowbird said his entry into the already-crowded primary was precipitated by the Republican Party establishment’s unacceptable lurch to the left. “I can’t stand by and watch what is happening to our country – and our Party,” Smith said in his online address.
Smith’s new-found moral compass and concern for the direction of his country and of the Republican Party is awfully amusing, of course, given his opportunistic and decidedly vindictive nature.
After mounting a comically unsuccessful independent bid for President in 2000, Smith lost a bitter primary battle to then-Congressman John Sununu two years and two parties later. But unfortunately Smith’s presence on the national scene didn’t end with his ousting.
Hoping he might reemerge as a key political player, ostensibly as a Democrat after having sampled all competing parties, Smith endorsed Senator John Kerry in his ill-fated campaign for President in 2004, citing Kerry’s “courage and character” forged on the battlefields of Vietnam.
To no one’s surprise, Smith fell short – as in, tripped at the starting line – in his 2004 bid for Senate after publicly advocating for Democrat John Kerry’s campaign. Suffice it to say, partisan-aligned Republican primary voters did not positively receive Smith’s defection. His campaign aides have seemingly forecasted a different outcome for 2010, however, hoping the sixty-eight-year-old has finally cast aside his scarlet letter.
But does this carpet-bagging, party-defecting sore loser stand a chance at besting Crist, the establishment favorite, or Rubio, the up-and-coming conservative sweetheart? Not a chance.
Smith will face three considerable obstacles in his path to victory – namely, his notorious disloyalty to the party he now seeks to represent, his opportunistic relocation to Florida, and his likely ineffectiveness in driving the discussion in a field of popular candidates.
Assuming the stars align and Smith can, by some means, overcome the first two hurdles, his campaign will undoubtedly be eclipsed by Crist’s increasing popularity and Rubio’s endearing dark-horse quality.
When Smith loses, and he will, can we expect him to endorse President Barack Obama for reelection in 2012 and permanently sever ties with the ‘leftward lurching’ Republican Party? If only we were that lucky…
UPDATE: Insinuating that Smith is an emissary of the Republican establishment, commenters worry if Smith has been dispatched by Crist allies to dilute Rubio’s base of conservative support.
Had Smith not immediately relocated to Florida subsequent to his entertaining flameout in 2002 this scenario would be more plausible. But after explicitly blaming party elite for his primary loss at the hands of Sununu, it’s incredibly unlikely Smith is taking his marching orders from the Republican establishment. His motives now – like in 2000, 2002, and 2004 – are principally driven by his enormous ego; nothing more, nothing less.
So OK, the putz vote is now no longer in question.
mbecker908 Wednesday, June 10th at 12:20AM EDT (link)With any luck at all Smith will finish a way distant fourth behind Crist, Rubio and MMouse and we’ll never have to listen to the SoB again.
Crist/Greer ploy #2: Split the opposition
cwilson Wednesday, June 10th at 7:32AM EDT (link)After 12 years in Washington and hailing from New Hampshire, Bob Smith is part of the D.C. Establishment, and the quintessential North-Eastern “Republican”. Therefore, he is doing the bidding of the cognoscenti that THINK they know best for the future of the Republican Party.
Ignore Bob’s rhetoric; he is trying to run as a “conservative” — thereby to split the conservative vote and hand the primary to Crist if Bob can fool enough people. First, they tried to Rule 11 Rubio so Crist wouldn’t have to face any primary opposition. Now this.
FGOP Chair Greer delenda est.
yes a typical establishment republican ploy
kyle8 Wednesday, June 10th at 8:04AM EDT (link)Split the vote so that the conservative candidate cannot win.
GUESS WHAT YOU COUNTRY CLUB BELTWAY REPUBLICANS, YOU ARE NOT GAINING ANY GOODWILL!!!
WE WILL REMEMBER THIS AND ALL THE OTHER SLIGHTS AND WILL NOT BE IN A FORGIVING MOOD!!!!
So if they push that liberal Christ through , I hope conservatives in Florida have th fortitude to go out and vote for the DEMOCRAT, yes that’s right better to have one more democrat, which wont make much difference than another turncoat, liberal viper in the republican party, Plus it is worth it to send a message to the beltway crowd that you are not playing their game!
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
The second coming
steelstand Friday, June 12th at 3:15PM EDT (link)Please stop calling him Christ, Its bad enough Crist believes he’s the second coming !
Setup?
donnac1188 Wednesday, June 10th at 8:04AM EDT (link)Of course! They hope to dilute the conservative vote, so Crist can waltz into the general election. It’s kind of funny though–how’s Crist gonna run?–as a “moderate” or a conservative. It’ll be interesting to see.
Rubio needs to run against Smith as a carpetbagger. There may be some in Florida who still know what that means. I can see the billboards now, with Smith dragging his “carpetbag” behind him as he crosses the Florida state line headed south…
We all just need to get behind Rubio and support him, financially and otherwise.
Smith Won't Get Even 2% of the Vote
IJB Wednesday, June 10th at 9:03AM EDT (link)He’ll have no money.
And he has no credibility (esp. in FL, which he’s not even from!).
This is one guy not worth worrying about.
Rubio needs to focus his fire on Crist and the corrupt GOP Establishment (esp. in the Senate) in Washington DC.
This guy..
nickinvirginia Wednesday, June 10th at 11:23AM EDT (link)This guy is a moron. He has absolutely no chance on winning. He is all over the place politically (See Kerry), and if anything he will only suck away from Rubio, who is 31 points down in a recent Qunnipiac Poll.
This looks like an attempt to steal votes from Rubio.
Brian Hibbert Wednesday, June 10th at 11:30AM EDT (link)Anyone who supported John Kerry should NEVER be allowed to claim any conservative credentials.
I think Rubio needs to paint him as another moderate and maybe get Smith to steal a few votes from Crist. Split electorates never win.
P.S. I attended an open house with RNC co-chair Jan Larimer yesterday. When I raised the issue of national party interference in primaries, she stated flat out that the national party will not get involved in primaries. I didn’t get a follow up or I would have asked her to convey the message to Sen. Cornyn, though I assume she would claim that the NRSC is not controlled by the national party.
Socialism doesn’t work. It looks nice on paper, but it’s been tried and it’s failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
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I agree Brian...I think this is a ploy.....nt
Aaron Gardner Wednesday, June 10th at 11:34AM EDT (link)Aaron’s Archive
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
it's a ploy alright
JLenardDetroit Wednesday, June 10th at 5:14PM EDT (link)and we see the ploy by some comments suggesting it is one (conspiracy) to attempt to influence a vote for the other (implied outsider)….
We seem to all agree, Smith is ZERO CHOICE and no-one should vote for him. I would only add - Listen to NEITHER of the non-sense and decide between Crsit/Rubio.
Go look for yourself and decide:
Crist/Rubio 12pts - Crist/Rubio 12 points [with links] (since it has some links, I’m not going to try and recreate it all with cut/paste)
+Crist & taxes - Crist and taxes [includes press-links]
+Martinez endorsed - MARTINEZ ENDORSES CRIST for the seat he is retiring from.
+Cornyn/NRSC endorse - Cornyn/NRSC endorsed Crist
+sitting out elections banter - in depth Sit-It-Out discussion and the out-right vote for the other side (only one example of those comments)
+how AltParty is RINOism - can one catch RINOvirus?
or in Moe’s can one catch RINOvirus
+working together - The “Pretend you’re a Liberal Report (and spin the story)” Challenge plus standing up about working together
+Media feeding R infighting - MSM uses snippets out of context to feed Republican in-fighting narrative additional commentary on that here (speaking out against SoSo discussion) and here
+MSM challenge - The “Pretend you’re a Liberal MSM reporter (and Spin the story)” Challenge
+Deli-story - Deli-story
+ZERO-strategy - ZERO-strategy
+Red-Dogs - Red-Dogs, RINOs, CINOs, DINOs, PLINOs, and Blue-Dogs, oh my… The Political Zoo - what/who are they?
+ overcoming BLUE-ism - BLUE-ism
(RS:Help) (JLD) (Hollyweird) (Brain-deads) (SPIN-cycle) (Obamaocare) (Party of kNOw) (Conservatism) (TEApeats) (respectful) (Reco) (Quotes) (removeRINOs.com)
+ 0bama Lies & your Bank acct will Die! (4/15 Truthers)
+ Heil “O” Hell No Obamao is NOT MY PRESIDENT! “No U won’t”
+ I want “O” to FAIL (here, here, & whole Diary (Ofail) here, is why)
“The first Liberal was Satan” - a Rush caller (other Quotes)
I call BS James Richardson
Brian Darling Thursday, June 11th at 4:10PM EDT (link)As a former staffer for Senator Bob Smith, I can attest that this post is way over the line to claim that Bob Smith was “ostensibly as a Democrat” because he didn’t vote for President Bush in 2004. Many conservatives also did not support President Bush and they were proven correct when Bush tossed aside his free market values to set the table for Obama’s nationalization of banks and the auto industry. Not all conservatives will reflexively vote for a Republican when they believe that the Republican in question is not good for conservative values.
Who is to blame for Republicans losing 15 seats in the Senate over the past 3 years? Not Smith. Why are Republicans rebranding the party if Bob Smith was so wrong about the party lurching to the left?
The bottom line is that Smith was proven correct when he stated on the Senate floor on July 13, 1999 -
“Mr. President, I have come to the cold realization that the Republican Party is more interested in winning elections than supporting the principles of the platform. There is nothing wrong with winning elections. I am all for it. I have helped a few and I have won some myself, and there is nothing wrong with it. But what is wrong with it is when you put winning ahead of principle.
The Republican platform is a meaningless document that has been put out there so suckers like me and maybe suckers like you out there can read it. I did not come here for that reason. I did not come here to compromise my values to promote the interests of a political party.
I came here to promote the interests of my country. And after a lot of soul-searching, and no anger–no anger–I have decided to change my registration from Republican to Independent. There is no contempt; there is no anger. It is a decision of conscience.”
James, do you disagree with that statement after the last 4 years of Republican “leadership?” Why did Bob Smith support Kerry in 2004? Because President Bush actively worked to get Bob Smith out of the Senate. Do you blame him? Would you do anything different if a Republican President opposed your election as a Republican, when a sitting Senator?
I proudly joined Senator Bob Smith’s staff when we was an independent who caucused with the Republicans. He never caucused with the Democrats. Smith came back to the party, but never left his conservative stances. Conservatism is about limited government, a strong national defense and family values. Smith always supported those core values. The same can not be said of other elected officials.
Smith scored many victories in the face of Republican opposition. Smith was the primary Senator opposing Clinton’s judicial noms, when Rs were selling out on nominees like Sotomayor to be judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith was instrumental in setting up the Armed Pilots Program, now known as the Federal Flight Deck Officers’ Program, and, in the face of Bush Administration opposition, fought hard to get that law passed in the Senate. Please don’t overlook the fact that the Bush Administration opposed the creation of the Armed Pilots Program. Smith made a career out of fighting to find information about POWs from the Vietnam War. Smith lead the fight against partial birth abortion. Smith was the strongest advocate in the Senate for the 2nd Amendment. Please cite votes where Smith voted contrary to my assertions.
I would expect Bob Smith to have a 0 percent voting record in supporting Obama initiatives if elected, so to allege that Smith is a closeted Obama supporter is a joke. The same cannot be said of Stimulus supporting Crist, nor many of the other RINOs who currently call themselves Rs in the Senate.
I like Rubio and think he would make a great Senator, but to viciously attack a solid voice of conservatism like Bob Smith, because he was not a rubber stamp for many of the Bush policies that hurt the Republican brand is rhetorical malpractice.
Please tell me James where you disagree with Bob Smith’s statement in his Youtube video, including but not limited to his assertion that the R Party is “moving to the left” and the”private sector (is) being taken over by the government”? He is right and many Republicans went along with TARP, because President Bush requested their support.
I would expect Senator Rubio or Senator Bob Smith to both be solid conservative voices if elected to the Senate, but to attack Smith for being liberal does not pass this Red Stater’s laugh test.