Name Recognition

Marco Rubio has a problem – supporters can’t remember his name.

My Mother had her TV on tonight and Pat Buchanan was discussing the Republican primary for the Senate race in Florida with the bubble-headed bleach blond [Chris Matthews]. He said that the young guy who was a Hispanic or Cuban or something was more conservative that Crist and Republicans should vote for the young guy in the primary. It might have been a meaningful endorsement for the primary if anyone had managed to remember the candidate’s name.

I have to wait for the transcript to appear for the exact quote which is why all I provided was a paraphrase. I guarantee, no one said “Marco Rubio” on the show. I had to tell my Mother who they were talking about, but she had never heard of him.

Update 5/18/09 : the transcript is finally available:

MATTHEWS: Let‘s talk about the Republican party going left. Your party, Pat, your erstwhile party—I guess you‘re back in it again if you‘ll run as independent. Let‘s take a look at this; Charlie Crist, it looks like he has the nod from John Cornyn, the head of the Republican Senate campaign committee. Charlie Crist could be the poster boy, if you will, of the Republican party in this next election.

Are you comfortable with that? A moderate, pro-stimulus Republican from Florida, who‘s not a conservative apparently. Are you happy with him for your poster boy for 2010?

BUCHANAN: There is a young fellow running against him who has a terrific conservative record. I believe he‘s an Hispanic or a Cuban fellow. He‘s nowhere in the polls right now.

But I‘ll be honest, Chris, because he more closely represents, I believe, the things I do; if I were in Florida, I would probably vote for this individual in the primary. And then if Crist won, I would vote for Crist in the general election, assuming they didn‘t have some good conservative Democrat running against him.

MATTHEWS: Do you think it would be good for your party to have the man with the tan in the fan as your poster boy? He has a fan. No, Charlie Crist, wherever he goes, has a tan, of course. He also has the guy who comes along with a fan and aims the fan on him while he‘s speaking. Does that offend your sensibility, Pat Buchanan?

BUCHANAN: No, it doesn‘t. I don‘t know where these Republicans get these tans in the middle of the winter.

MATTHEWS: John Boehner, the president was making fun of him for his complexion the other day.

BUCHANAN: There‘s nothing in nature like that. And I agree with him. Look, yes—I like Charlie Crist as a person. He‘s not from my side of the party. But if he‘s nominated and our guy gets beat and I‘m a Republican, I‘d vote for him.