BONFIRE OF THE VANITY FAIR: BETO DROPS OUT. At Ricochet, Jon Gabriel writes:
Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke began his presidential run with a Vanity Fair cover photo by Annie Leibovitz. It proved to be the high-water mark of his campaign.
Since then, Beto’s run has been a comedy of errors. A Kerouac-style vision quest driving aimlessly around the country that he journaled on his web diary. Instagramming a gross dental appointment. Leaping on tables, windmilling his arms, and shouting about the promise of hope to help change what is possible for the future of hopeful promises.
Gassing on about vagaries made him a media darling when he was up against Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. But on the big stage he seemed, and still seems, shocked that the parade marched on without him. From weak debates to stump flubs to utter policy cluelessness, some white male billionaires just can’t catch a break.
At Hot Air, Allahpundit adds:
Golly. Between the Harris news and this, today’s turned out to be an embarrassment of schadenfreudean riches!
I’m sure Beto’s political future will be fine. He can go back to Texas now and run on [checks notes] confiscating guns and taxing churches.
Oh, and tearing down the border fence near El Paso.
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His other legacy is that, unusually for a candidate who flamed out so early in the process, he may have done his party lasting damage. Chris Coons complained after O’Rourke’s call for confiscating guns at the September debate that the clip would be used against Democrats for years to come as evidence of their true intentions in regulating firearms. The same is true of O’Rourke’s interest in punishing churches by taxing them for their sin against wokeness in opposing same-sex unions. His role in the campaign ultimately was to confirm conservatives’ worst suspicions about the liberal id. Maybe uniquely among this year’s field, he did his tribe more harm than good by running.
At his rally last night, Trump was quoted as saying, “Beto wasn’t smart. Couldn’t handle it. I told my wife, See? It’s not so easy. I told my great first lady, who people love…When Beto quit like, he quit like a dog. When he quit I said see, people think this is easy. This isn’t easy.”
Quit like a dog? Well, a furry at least.
And Beto can’t even catch a break on the way out: “How fitting is it that Beto appropriates Latino culture one more time by killing his presidential campaign on The Day of the Dead?”