Marco Rubio Tells Brody File He's Okay with Karl Rove's New Conservative Victory Project
In a one-on-one interview with The Brody File, Sen. Marco Rubio defended Karl Rove and the American Crossroads group’s new project in their attempt to find the most conservative electable candidates. Having said that, he also made clear that the Tea Party’s concerns about people in Washington deciding who should get elected is a legitimate fear.
Ultimately he says, “They both have a place in American politics.”
Rubio spoke with The Brody File very early Wednesday morning up on Capitol Hill. Watch the interview below with the key quote. Rubio will be the guest on this week’s national Brody File television show.
Other guests this week include Steven Law, president and CEO of American Crossroads, and Joshua DuBois, the outgoing White House Faith-Based Director.
Mandatory Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File
Key Quote:
David Brody: Do you think this Conservative Victory Project is a good idea?
Sen. Marco Rubio: Yes. I think they’re both fine. I want to say a couple things in fairness. Karl Rove was one of my earliest supporters. Even when I was 30 points down in the polls he wrote me a check, he told people he was supporting me, he helped me in my race and I was thirty or forty points down. That’s important for fairness to say that.
Ultimately, when I was the nominee American Crossroads came in to Florida and spent a lot of money on my candidacy and we’re grateful for that. But by the same token, I would not have been elected without Tea Party support. I would not have had a chance to even win the primary without all these folks out there who rallied to the cause of defending our Constitution, limiting government and supporting our traditional values and I’m forever grateful for that as well. They both have a place in American politics.
I think the concern that people have is that somehow people in Washington in the Beltway are going to decide that someone can’t get elected. That’s the argument they used against me and I don’t believe that’s Karl Rove’s intention. But I think the concern that people have is that people from Washington are going to come in and decided ‘so and so’ is unelectable, somebody else is more electable, we have to go with them. And I think that’s a valid concern.
There have been some candidates that have been nominated that have not done well in the General Election stage. Perhaps we need to do a better job working through that to ensure that doesn’t happen in the future. But I also think we have to be very careful that we’re not discouraging grassroots types candidates from running because often times they get elected and do a pretty good job.
I hope I’m doing a pretty good job. I know Mike Lee and Rand Paul and others who were not supposed to win their races are doing a good job as well. So for every story out there about some candidate that didn’t turn out well I can show you one that did - Ted Cruz in this election cycle, so I think it’s important.
We’re all on the same team. We’re all working for the same goal. I think we need to take a deep breath and understand that at the end what we all want is to elect the most conservative people possible to come up here, fight to defend the Constitution, protect our liberties and move our country forward.