Tim Alberta of the National Journal takes on the dismal task of reading American Dreams, Marco Rubio's pre-presidential candidacy book, and finds this, among other things:
The Florida senator takes several strongly worded shots at the Democratic front-runner. "Hillary Clinton has proven herself wedded to the policies and programs of the past," Rubio writes in the book's introduction. "The election of Hillary Clinton to the presidency, in short, would be nothing more than a third Obama term. Another Clinton presidency would be a death blow to the American Dream."
Oh for Pete's sake. Why is it so hard to just say that if the other party keeps the White House, a lot of things will happen that you think are bad? You might even be able to persuade your readers that you're right. But "a death blow to the American Dream"? A death blow? Seriously? Does Marco Rubio actually believe that if Hillary Clinton becomes president, the American Dream will literally die? That bootstraps will no longer be pulled upon, that hard work will cease to find its reward, that entrepreneurs and strivers and dreamers will find only disappointment and despair here in the land of the free?
Of course he doesn't. But I guess after six years of conservative politicians and media figures telling their followers that freedom is about to breathe its final breath because there's a health insurance mandate, or that Barack Obama might declare martial law and cancel the 2016 election so he can extend his despotic rule indefinitely, Republican candidates think this kind of insane fear-mongering is what's expected of them.
I realize that as a general matter, hyperbole is a bipartisan indulgence. For instance, liberals are just as likely as conservatives to say they'll leave the country if the other party's candidate becomes president, yet no one of either party ever follows through on the threat. But this particular type of rhetoric-claiming that the republic will literally perish if our side doesn't win-seems to be a particularly Republican fetish.
They may not have noticed, but after six years of Barack Obama's campaign to destroy America, the country remains intact. And here's a crazy prediction: if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, some policies may change, and the effects could be good or bad, or both. But at the end of her four or eight years, there will still be a place called America. The same will even be true in the unlikely event that Marco Rubio becomes president.