The Republican National Committee recently conducted an?online straw poll?identifying 32 candidates who could get its nomination in the 2016 presidential race. Each of the 32 has quite a questionable history, though, that contrasts with the GOP’s consistent claim of it being the ?moral? option for voters.
Philander, racism, thievery, bribery, and combinations of these and other?sins?are?found across the slate, in fact.?In this series on the 32 potential candidates (updated every other day), Liberal America will offer a quick rundown on the hypocrisy clouding each one’s ?holier than thou? claims.
Rob Portman
U.S. Senator from Ohio
Sen. Rob Portman has some rather in-depth experience in Washington, D.C. He started his six-term tour as House representative from Ohio in 1993, then got appointed by Bush to be the U.S. trade representative in 2005. In the next year he was named director of the Office of Management and Budget, holding that spot for 13 months. And today he’s Ohio’s junior U.S. Senator.
But when you ask the GOP’s inner circle what Portman’s role is, they’re likely to tell you ?method actor.?
Since 1996, Portman has been regularly used by major campaigns as a debate stand-in ? imitating Democratic candidates (including Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama) to help Republican opponents prepare for debates. And he’s pretty darn good at it, too; a McCain team advisor told media that ?he became Obama? in their 2008 mock debates.
And given that Ohio voters have elected him to Congress seven times now, and despite his record, he’s apparently been putting on a good show for them, too. Instead of representing constituents, Portman focuses on the interests of businesses.
In the U.S. House, for instance, he was a staunch supporter of NAFTA, the program responsible for millions of job losses with corporations moving production overseas. Portman was later a sponsor of the similar CAFTA, along with free trade agreements with over two dozen other countries. He personally lists passage of the Welfare Reform Act as one of his proudest moments; this 1996 bill is credited for creation of a low-wage system in the U.S., though, triggering business layoffs with replacement by minimum wage workers, and initiating the trend of declining household income.
As U.S. trade representative, he supported Chinese imports of metal piping; when the U.S. industry complained about a loss of $150 million in profit in only three years due to this cheap and unregulated competition, Portman claimed these American companies were guilty of ?discrimination.? As OMB director, Portman produced a deficit of $459 billion for the fiscal year, leading to his resignation.
He remained true to his corporate backers even while on his following hiatus from public office. For instance, Portman publicly argued against the Recovery Act, standing strongly against its provisions to the public, and claiming the government should have offered corporate tax cuts instead.
Those stances in the interests of businesses alone helped him greatly in his next run for office. In a 2012 bid for U.S. Senate, Portman set records in corporate donations received, getting more than any other candidate from the insurance, security and investment, and banking fields.
And his representation since then remains exclusive to the interests of those same corporate donors.
For example, he defended Apple Computers? tax evasion tactics, which were revealed at a 2013 Senate hearing, and falsely claimed the company pays more taxes than almost any other entity in the U.S. But Apple keeps over $100 billion in assets outside the country to skip out on taxes.
And instead of addressing actual needs of his constituency, Portman only attempts to misdirect their attention to right-wing ?scandal? theories. In a 2013 USA Today editorial, for example, he claimed the Obama administration provided false information on Benghazi (which multiple bipartisan congressional panels have found untrue). He claimed the IRS targeted conservative political groups (disproven multiple times). Because Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke at an event sponsored by an Obama-supporting organization, he falsely claimed that the Dept. of Health and Human Services was ?inappropriately raising money from companies they regulate to support ObamaCare.? And because the Dept. of Justice investigated illegal release of information that posed a national security risk, Portman claimed it was only for ?short-term political gain.?
He does hold one progressive ideal, though. Although Portman had been openly against LGBT rights for many years, he switched his stance last year after learning his son is gay; he now supports gay marriage.
That new stance caught flak from a conservative pro-life group, but it hasn’t interfered with Portman’s goals for the Oval Office, which he recently said he’s considering. He’ll have a lot of method acting to do, though; Portman’s only been included in one poll to date, in which he finished in a three-way tie for last place amongst 16 potential candidates.
Visit Liberal America for information?on?the other?GOP 2016 hopefuls.
What’s your take on these?hypocritical Republicans? State your case on?Liberal America’s Facebook?page.
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See previous posts on GOP 2016 hopefuls:
Kelly Ayotte??|?Haley Barbour?|??John Bolton?| ?Jeb Bush?|?Hermain Cain? |?Ben Carson?|??Chris Christie??| ?Ted Cruz??|?Mitch Daniels??| ?Newt Gingrich??| ?Nikki Haley?|?Mike Huckabee?|??Bobby Jindal?|?John Kasich?|?Peter King?|?Susana Martinez?|?Sarah Palin?|?Rand Paul?| ?Ron Paul??|?Tim Pawlenty?|?Mike Pence?|?Rick Perry |
