Conservative review convention rubio
Did Rubio Snub The Conservative Review Convention For Megyn Kelly?
Dan Spencer // Posted at 11:30 am on February 20, 2016
Sen. Marco Rubio did himself no favors on Thursday evening when he snubbed the Conservative Review Convention. The Daily Mail reports that the delay in Rubio’s schedule that caused him to miss the Convention appearance was an interview with Megyn Kelly:
If Rubio loses big time on Saturday, it won’t be for lack of trying, though he did himself no favors on Thursday evening when he cancelled an appearance at a conservative conference Cruz and Ben Carson were speaking at because of a ‘delay’ in his schedule.
His campaign gave just 30 minutes notice to event organizers that he wouldn’t attend the Greenville event.
The cause for the cancellation appeared to be an interview with Megyn Kelly for her FOX News program. Kelly posts big numbers. The ones that will count on Saturday are in South Carolina, however, and his snub to conservatives on Thursday could shift votes toward Cruz.
The interview was included in the Rubio’s Campaign daily campaign email on Friday morning. You can watch the interview in the following video:
Compare Rubio’s five minutes of Kelly’s big numbers to the 24 minutes during which Cruz wowed the audience at the Conservative Review Convention. As the Daily Mail suggested, it’s the numbers in South Carolina that count more today.
Conservative review convention rubio
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Conservative review convention rubio
Rubio bails on Conservative Review convention. Chaos ensues
Jazz Shaw Posted at 8:01 am on February 19, 2016
Well, as Meatloaf once said… two out of three ain’t bad. (McKay Coppins)
Forty-five minutes after Marco Rubio was scheduled to take the stage at a conservative confab here Thursday night, organizers got word from the candidate’s aides that he was canceling his appearance — a perceived snub that set off a late-night war of words between the candidate’s campaign and right-wing rivals accusing him of cowardice.
Rubio was one of three presidential candidates who had accepted invitations to speak at the inaugural Conservative Review Convention — an event hosted by talk radio star Mark Levin and commentator Michelle Malkin.
But the crowd that gathered Thursday at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena — just 36 hours before polls were set to open in South Carolina’s high-stakes GOP primary — was overwhelmingly composed of Cruz supporters, while a smaller portion of the audience cheered on Ben Carson.
The contingent of Rubio fans in attendance was virtually invisible.
First of all, props to Conservative Review for overcoming all the challenges inherent in putting together something of this size and giving conservatives another venue to gather, communicate, and put candidates and issues in the spotlight for critical examination. Whether it’s their event, CPAC, RedState Gathering or the many other such conclaves taking place around the nation, this is a net plus for conservatives and candidates alike.
Rubio’s surrogates, Senator Tim Scott and Congressman Trey Gowdy, were not allowed to speak on his behalf, but the organizers had previously refused to allow a surrogate for Jeb Bush to stand in for him and they had to keep the rules the same for everyone. The impression left by not showing up after previously committing to the appearance was, to say the least, less than desirable. But our colleague at RedState, Ben Howe, seems to be writing it off as no big deal.
CR did offer to extend the entire show to accommodate him, but he had other obligations that made that solution unworkable.
So there you have it. Despite the efforts of some to make this something it’s not, Marco Rubio couldn’t make an event because it’s mere days before the SC primary and his schedule ended up causing a delay that caused him to miss it. And this was known well before “five minutes” of his scheduled appearance time.
This is otherwise known as the most common thing to happen, ever.
With all due respect to Ben, I’m not sure that explanation passes the smell test. (At least not entirely.) The reason I say this can be found from Ben’s own coverage earlier in that same article. (Emphasis added)
So my first question was, obviously, did Rubio really tuck tail only 5 minutes before his appearance?
“No,” was the immediate response. “He was scheduled at 8 and [after an hour of trying to make it work] called at 8:45 saying it wouldn’t work. We had begun adjusting the schedule.”
Look, I get that nobody likes to face a potentially critical audience when they could be talking to supporters and cheerleaders instead, but running for President is hard. It’s supposed to be hard. And if you do manage to land the job, you’re going to be leading a lot of people who may frequently disagree with or even disparage you. Facing down an audience which may initially be favoring one of your opponents and winning some of them over with your message and presentation is is the hallmark of a winner. If Marco Rubio just walked away from a high profile commitment he’d made for an event of this size because he couldn’t take the heat, that’s probably not the sort of signal you wanted to send 48 hours before the polls close.