Tag: Marco Rubio

Chris Matthews: Rubio’s SOTU Rebuttal Was Like ‘Something You Would Hear on a High School Debating Team’

Jon Ponder

Chris Matthews’ take on Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio’s rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night was solid gold:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: I thought it was Tinkertoys. I thought it was primitive, something you would hear on a high school debating team … First of all, he went after government as some kind evil, then he admitted he had gone to school on student loans. Well, I went to school on student loans. My dad went to school on the GI Bill. Most of us have benefited from good government. Government’s worked for us. I got in the Peace Corps, changed my life. I mean, I’m very pro-government. And he admitted he was, too. He said, I love Medicare because of how it takes care of my mother, how it took care of my father with dignity. He said, I went the student loan route. I got my education. Where was the consistency here? I didn’t get it. He was saying he was a product of solid government and positive programs, and then he just trashed the whole thing.

And then he played the victim game that everybody seems to play. What’s the Republicans victims? They’re paying one in six dollars now, we have about 15 percent of GDP going to revenues. We’re spending 25 percent, who is being over-taxed? I mean, what are they talking about?

It was almost like a YAF-er convention speech, Young Americans for Freedom speech, from the 1950s. There was no originality to it. It was basic. Again, it was Tinkertoys. It was a kid’s presentation of a philosophy reduced to maybe the 9th grade level. I’m sorry, that’s what it was.

Rubio’s ‘Shaky And Sweaty’ Performance Was the Worst GOP Rebuttal Since Gov. Jindal Channeled Kenneth the Page

Jon Ponder

In his rebuttal to Pres. Obama’s State of the Union speech last night, Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio delivered the worst political performance on the national stage since, well, Oct. 3 — and the worst GOP rebuttal since Louisiana GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal unintentionally imitated Kenneth the Page on “30 Rock” when he delivered the rebuttal to the president’s first address to Congress in February 2009.

[…]

The Rubio Water Bottle Moment

Trish

No wonder this move by Sen. Marco Rubio (GOP/Tea – Fla.) blew up Twitter, and according to Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski has inspired 15 parody accounts, and counting. Seriously, what the heck was that all about?

From the Twitter:

  • @Mediaite – Historic Thirst: Marco Rubio Becomes His Own State Of The Union Drinking Game
  • @BeachPeanuts – #Rubio’s SOTU Rebuttal Tough To Swallow
  • @JimmyFavors – Fun fact: Lying makes you thirsty.
  • @politico – Marco Rubio’s drinking problem
  • @ryanaclarke – Stay thirsty, my friends.
  • @ProgressFlorida – Tonight’s biggest loser? Zephyrhills bottled water, dissed by their own senator for a Maine brand.
  • @rudepundit – ha I thought he was going to pull Ted Nugent up on stage
  • @LOLGOP – I’m been more impressed if Marco Rubio kept talking as Jeb Bush sipped water.

And finally, the tweet that really mattered:

@NickKristof – Marco Rubio could make a more credible response to Obama if he hadn’t voted today against Violence Against Women Act.

Marco Rubio Votes No on Senate Fiscal Cliff Bill

Trish
Looking presidential? Rubio with buddies Lindsey Graham and John McCain in Libya

It’s hard to explain why Florida’s junior senator would vote against the economic bill extending the Bush tax cuts on household income under $450,000. Or maybe it’s painfully easy to explain: Rubio is indeed planning to run for president in 2016.

Rubio stood with the handful of his peers who voted against the package, including Rand Paul (R/Tea-Ken.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), and Thomas Carper (D-Del.).

Those looking for a less cynical explanation of Rubio’s vote won’t find any help from the senator’s office, which issued this statement.

[…]

Romney Needs Rubio in Florida

Trish

46 – 42

Results of a Quinnipiac poll in Florida showing Obama moving ahead of Romney in the swing state. Among Latinos, Obama’s lead was even wider: 49 – 39. The telephone survey was taken June 12 through 18, both before and after Obama’s announcement that he will no longer enforce deportation of a narrowly defined group of Hispanic children and young adults. One would imagine Obama’s lead has only grown since, and that Mitt Romney will have even more reason to beg Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to be his running mate.

Anybody Got a Teleprompter? Rubio Can’t Finish Speech Without His Crib Notes

Trish

Like all loyal Republicans, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has noted that Pres. Obama uses a teleprompter when he delivers a speech. The racist implication is that Obama, a black man, could never be so ARTICULATE on his own, and only comes off looking smart because he’s reading his lines. In fact in 2010, Jr. Sen. Full-of-Himself was quoted in the New York Times ridiculing the president as, “the most articulate and talented teleprompter reader in America.”

Is it any wonder that PoliticalWire.com noted the contrast between Rubio then — all smart-ass know-it-all less-than-original-thinker — and now. Now he is staring straight down as reads his notes, which any Toastmaster participant would recognize as a huge no-no, even for amateurs, and then totally loses it when he can’t find the last page of his speech.

Next time, Wonder Boy, do us all a favor and do as modern speakers the world over — use a frickin’ teleprompter.

The (Tea) Party’s Over: Top Republicans Shunning Florida Tea Party

Trish
ScottTeaSign
So last year.

When you think of the Florida tea party, the names Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio come to mind but neither man came to their state’s tea party convention this weekend.* A new trend of ignoring the once ascendant Koch-funded effort seems to be under way.

It’s hard not to think there’s a connection between the decline in the popularity of the tea party and the generally more favorable ratings for the Occupy movement. Nowhere was the so-last-year quality of support for tea partiers more evident than at their own Florida convention.

Of the major presidential candidates, only Rick Santorum confirmed to the Tampa Tribune this week that he’s attending. Ron Paul’s campaign couldn’t be reached for comment; the event isn’t on his campaign web site schedule, although event organizers said he’ll be there. Spokesmen for Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney all said they won’t make it…

“It’s like they’re throwing a party and the guests of honor aren’t going to show up,” said retired University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson, a Republican.

[…]