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Marco Rubio Tag

Posted by Mike LaChance on August 14, 2015 20 Comments
The U.S. reopened its embassy in Cuba yesterday, which also happened to be Fidel Castro's 89th birthday. Castro used the occasion to insist that the United States owes Cuba millions of dollars over the trade embargo. Yahoo News reported:
Fidel Castro to US: You owe us millions Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday Thursday by insisting the United States owes Cuba "many millions of dollars" because of the half-century-old American trade embargo. Castro spoke out in an essay published in local media a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry makes a historic visit to Cuba to reopen the US embassy as part of the countries' restoration of diplomatic relations. The trade embargo that the United States slapped on communist Cuba in 1962, three years after Castro seized power by ousting a US-backed regime, remains in effect despite the thaw. President Barack Obama wants Congress to lift it, although US officials say this will take time and is not an automatic part of the restoration of ties, as it requires congressional action. Many Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature, oppose the idea, insisting Cuba has to improve its human rights record and make other democratic reforms.

Posted by Jay Caruso on August 12, 2015 21 Comments
Marco Rubio recently spoke about his views on abortion, and in particular, in cases where the pregnancy resulted as a result of rape or incest:
Marco Rubio has defended his record as an opponent of abortion, against criticism arising from his statement during the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday that he had never advocated for exceptions of any kind, even if a woman’s life was in danger or when she had been raped. “I personally and deeply believe that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws,” the Florida senator said, in an interview broadcast on NBC on Sunday. “I believe that irrespective of the conditions in which that life was conceived or anything else.”
Hillary Clinton saw an opening and attempted to release some kind of inner Ronald Reagan in a weird way when she decided to attack Marco Rubio (not by name) for his views on abortion. However, in doing so, she thought it might be a good idea to let the country know just how much older she is than Senator Rubio:

Posted by Jay Caruso on July 01, 2015 11 Comments
When a 2 or 3 year old is caught doing something wrong, they often react with complete shock they did something wrong. They genuinely believe whatever it is they were doing was perfectly fine and cannot comprehend why they're being scolded. The media is often like that of a small child. A toddler. At the start of June, the NY Times and Washington Post weighed in with articles about Marco Rubio's finances. The headline at the NY Times read, "Marco Rubio’s Career Bedeviled by Financial Struggles." Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post quipped, "Here’s the real issue with Marco Rubio’s finances" and wrote:
That's all totally fine. If Rubio wants a boat, he can buy a boat. The issue for Rubio is that he is investing so much of his appeal on his "I have lived the American Dream" story that he necessarily has to accept that that story will be inspected closely to see what it tells us about him and how he might run the government if he is entrusted with doing so.

Posted by Jay Caruso on June 15, 2015 35 Comments
It seems every time you turn around, the Hillary Clinton campaign team is attempting to copy Marco Rubio. She scheduled her official campaign announcement the day after him. On Saturday during a campaign event (some of her supporters have laughably attempted to claim this was the "official official" announcement), she brought up a theme of 'yesterday', using the song of the same name by the Beatles to proclaim her GOP opponents were all about the past. Ironically, it was a similar theme that Marco Rubio used during his campaign launch. During his announcement he said:
"Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday."
Because of that, Rubio's team was ready to respond to Hillary and did so with this ad:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 11, 2015 7 Comments
The NYT published an article last week pretending Sen. Rubio's traffic tickets from the 90s were scandalicious. Mockery of the "troubling" allegations ensued and the NYT was rightly mocked. This week, the NYT again dropped a ridiculous "scoop." This time, they portrayed the Rubios as spendthrifts who had luxury speed boats and a house with extra-large windows... As these things go, the NYT report found its way into national and local news coverage, providing perfect mashup fodder. Yesterday, the NYT received the Jon Stewart treatment:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 09, 2015 45 Comments
Last week, the New York Times dropped the lamest "hit" piece in the history of hit pieces. Pretending a few traffic tickets from the 90s made Sen. Rubio and his wife unfit for public service, the NYT ended up the butt of the joke. On social media, #rubiocrimespree trending nationally for hours with submissions like, "drank milk after it expired," and "Didn't read Apple End User Licence [sic] Agreement but still clicked "I Agree"." Rubio's campaign got in on the fun, and celebrities publicly declared the NYT story dumb. Apparently that wasn't enough embarrassment for the NYT. Tuesday, the NYT released yet another 'scoop' on the good Senator from Florida. This time, the NYT suggested that Rubio had financial problems which have tainted his career. Those "financial problems"? "Student debt, mortgages and an extra loan against the value of his home totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 05, 2015 42 Comments
Friday morning, the New York Times deemed Senator Rubio's driving record news that fit to print. Though it reads like something from the annals of The Onion, the New York Times was completely serious about Sen. Rubio's troubling speeding tickets from the 90s.
Senator Marco Rubio has been in a hurry to get to the top, rising from state legislator to United States senator in the span of a decade and now running for president at age 44. But politics is not the only area where Mr. Rubio, a Republican from Florida, has an affinity for the fast track. He and his wife, Jeanette, have also shown a tendency to be in a rush on the road. ...A review of records dating back to 1997 shows that the couple had a combined 17 citations: Mr. Rubio with four and his wife with 13. On four separate occasions they agreed to attend remedial driving school after a violation.
Sen. Rubio took defensive driving?! IMPEACH.
Mr. Rubio’s troubles behind the wheel predate his days in politics... A dozen years later, in 2009, he was ticketed for speeding on a highway in Duval County and found himself back in driver improvement school. Things got more complicated in 2011 when Mr. Rubio was alerted to the fact that his license was facing suspension after a traffic camera caught him failing to stop at a red light in his beige Buick. His lawyer, Alex Hanna, paid a $16 fee to delay the suspension and eventually it was dismissed.
What kind of elitist is Rubio that he paid a whopping $16 fee to avoid suspension of his driver's license?

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 04, 2015 30 Comments
Jeb Bush may be a decent man, but when it comes to fundraising, conservative donors are putting their eggs in another candidate's basket. Matea Gold and Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post:
With some donors doubting Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio seizes an opening Marco Rubio is benefiting from pockets of discontent in Jeb Bush’s sprawling money network, winning over donors who believe the 44-year-old freshman senator from Florida offers a more compelling persona and sharper generational contrast against Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rubio is working to seize the moment by making an all-out push to lock down financial backers in the coming month, hopscotching the country in a nonstop series of fundraisers that are limiting his presence on the campaign trail. While he faces stiff competition in the money race from Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in particular, Rubio’s in-person courting sessions are starting to pay off. Longtime Bush loyalists and other big-money players on the right have emerged from the meetings raving about his abilities, according to people familiar with private gatherings he has had across the country.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 23, 2015 13 Comments
According to a new report from Jeremy W. Peters of the New York Times, there's one Republican candidate that Democrats fear in a 2016 match-up with Hillary Clinton:
A Hillary Clinton Match-Up With Marco Rubio Is a Scary Thought for Democrats WASHINGTON — They use words like “historic” and “charismatic,” phrases like “great potential” and “million-dollar smile.” They notice audience members moved to tears by an American-dream-come-true success story. When they look at the cold, hard political math, they get uneasy. An incipient sense of anxiety is tugging at some Democrats — a feeling tersely captured in four words from a blog post written recently by a seasoned party strategist in Florida: “Marco Rubio scares me.” What is so unnerving to them at this early phase of the 2016 presidential campaign still seems, at worst, a distant danger: the prospect of a head-to-head general-election contest between Mr. Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The KOS kids don't seem as concerned:
I think it has some merit. I personally am not "scared" of Hillary facing Rubio in the general, but I do think that he would far and away be the Republicans strongest candidate. That does not mean that I find him impressive in any way - I do not. But I do believe that he could put a dent in the Hispanic advantage that the Democratic part has, and I also think that he could win Florida. Yes, I know, I know - his immigration stance will probably hurt him with both the Hispanic voting block and the RWNJ voting block - but I do believe that Democrats - and the Clinton campaign - should take Rubio very seriously.
Rubio represents the younger, new crop of Republicans who came up in the mid term elections of 2010 and 2014. Whether he represents a danger to Clinton in 2016 or not, he's certainly a reminder of a big problem Democrats currently face.

Posted by Pat Austin on April 23, 2015 48 Comments
SHREVEPORT --About six years ago, in May 2009, I received an outraged email from Stacy McCain. He had just learned that the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) had endorsed Charlie Crist in the 2010 Florida Senate race fifteen months before the primary. As you may recall, Mel Martinez was retiring and so this was an open seat which as it happens had an up-and-coming, very promising conservative Marco Rubio vying for the seat against Crist.  Rubio was just out of his former position as Speaker of the House in Florida. A host of other conservatives, such as Michelle Malkin, Erick Erickson and John Hawkins, also were furious that the NRSC would attempt to trump the voters in a state race and endorse Crist who had by that time already shown some allegiance to Barack Obama by supporting the stimulus plan. The NRSC endorsement ignited a grassroots campaign for the charismatic and conservative Rubio, and the Not One Red Cent blog was born.  Within two weeks the blog had already hit thousands of readers. I was one of the writers on that blog in those early days. I’d like to believe that our writing helped propel Rubio’s campaign as he gained momentum and eventually dominated Crist in that election.  The blog was born on May 15, 2009 with Stacy McCain doing the first thirteen posts.  My first post was number 14 on May 16, 2009. Within the week, Carol’s Closet was on board, as was No Sheeples Here and Doug Hagin.  We picked up a few others along the way.  In May 2009, we put up fifty-seven posts on Not One Red Cent; by the end of 2009 we had posted 146 times, but by the end of the year Rubio had picked up significant steam and was crushing Crist in the polls.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 19, 2015 44 Comments
Breitbart News caused a stink when it reported on presidential candidate Marco Rubio's alleged comments on Obama's unilateral executive immigration programs. The headline inaccurately suggested that Rubio supported President Obama's executive immigration overreach. As we will discuss, this was only one of numerous mistranslations. Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 5.55.35 PM The latest offense involves Senator Rubio's recent interview about immigration policy with Univision. Senator Rubio reiterated his well documented position on the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programs. Rubio clearly says the programs will have to end. Interestingly enough, Sen. Cruz shares Sen. Rubio's opinions on DAPA and DACA.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 18, 2015 21 Comments
Now that he's officially running for President, Sen. Rubio's affinity for rap and hip-hop is back in the spotlight. Earlier this week, Sen. Rubio was asked if he would be willing to demonstrate his skill of 'spit rapping lyrics' on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Citing the inappropriateness of the lyrics, Rubio declined to share his talent in front of the video cameras. Sen. Rubio's love of hip-hop has surfaced occasionally over the past few years.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 16, 2015 7 Comments
Thus far, the GOP presidential field officially includes three of the Senate's best. We're still waiting on the Governors to join the party. It's still early, but how are the current candidates fairing on the fundraising front? Ted Cruz The first to hop in the race, Cruz raised $ 4.3 million in his first 9 days of campaigning. A respectable start. If Governor Perry jumps in the race as anticipated, Cruz might lose some of his early fundraising steam. Governor Perry has a well established donor base in the Lone Star State that could suck funds away from Cruz. According to the Dallas Morning News, although Cruz has the early lead, he's in for stiff competition as the field continues to expand. By all accounts Governor Bush will be the moneyed man to beat.
Still, Cruz is expected to trail other major candidates in the fund-raising battle. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reportedly had a $100 million fund-raising goal for the quarter that ended March 31, while Cruz would be happy to get $50 million for the entire campaign.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on April 12, 2015 8 Comments
So far, two first-term GOP senators have declared their presidential candidacy (Cruz and Paul), with Rubio set to do so Monday. On both sides of the aisle, there are a lot of questions and concern as people wonder what these first-termers have accomplished.  This is, of course, a fair question to ask, but to be equally fair, we should take note of Harry Reid's lockdown of the Senate for the past six years. Not only were Republican senators unable to accomplish much in Reid's Senate, but neither were Democrat senators (some of whom lost their seats as a result, at least in part).  The National Review reported in January of last year:
The New York Times reported last week on Reid’s “brutish style” and “uncompromising control” over the amendments process in the Senate. Why are more people finally catching on to Reid’s flagrant disregard for Senate customs? In part because conservatives aren’t the only ones complaining. Democrats such as Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota — who wants to repeal Obamacare’s medical-device tax — and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — who has waged a highly publicized campaign to reform the way the military handles sexual-assault cases — have been denied votes on their proposed amendments to various bills. Gillibrand had hoped to attach her sexual-assault amendment to the defense-appropriations bill that passed in December, but no amendments were allowed. Klobuchar has called for “a more open amendment process” because she’d like a vote on repealing the medical-device tax.
We all watched as frustrated politicians on both sides of the aisle complained that there were more than 300 bills "sitting on Harry Reid's desk," so it seems less than reasonable to focus on legislative accomplishments by first-term GOP senators who were apparently very busily working on legislation that then ended up mired down by Reid.  Even House Dems were urging Reid to pass their bills in the Senate.  To no avail.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 10, 2015 39 Comments
Marco Rubio is set to announce a run for President on Monday. We haven't talked a lot about Marco recently, ever since the immigration debacle, from which he has backed away.  (Like Scott Walker?) That event seemed to take him off the radar. But why? We remember Marco. The insurgent Tea Party candidate who defeated Charlie what's his name, the National Republican Senatorial Committee anointed candidate. Those were heady days, all the way back in 2010, as we recalled in Give Some Credit To “Not One Red Cent”:
There are many stories to tell about this election cycle, but one group of bloggers deserves special credit. In May 2009, a group of bloggers started a blog called Not One Red Cent in reaction to the attempt by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to anoint Charlie Crist as the Republican nominee in Florida, and to deprive Marco Rubio of a fair chance to compete for the nomination.... In those first few months they blogged like crazy, and they were voices in the wilderness. Over time Marco Rubio began to pick up recognition and support and went mainstream, and NORC posts dropped off as others picked up the cudgel elsewhere. The rest, as they say, is history. When that history is written, I hope people will recognize the impact a few bloggers had in the revolution of 2010.
Since those days, the liberal media, Democratic politicians and the Republican establishment sought to crush the Tea Party, with mixed results. The Tea Party changed the dialogue, the national focus, and both houses of Congress.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 29, 2015 23 Comments
It looks as though senator Marco Rubio is preparing to announce a 2016 run for president in two weeks and his choice of venue may hold some symbolism. Alex Isenstadt and Marc Caputo of Politico:
Marco Rubio looks to April 13 Miami launch Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is strongly considering launching his presidential campaign April 13 at the Freedom Tower, a historic Miami landmark known as the “Ellis Island of the South,” according to Republicans familiar with his thinking. From its name to its history – it once served as a U.S. clearinghouse for Cuban exiles fleeing Fidel Castro – Miami’s Mediterranean-style Freedom Tower underscores the themes of Rubio’s political career and his likely campaign. He’s a first-generation son of immigrants who has sought to make the American Dream synonymous with his biography. Rubio’s possible April 13 launch date was first reported by The Tampa Bay Times. However, the Miami Heat plays against the Orlando Magic that evening at the American Airlines Arena, which sits right across Biscayne Boulevard — raising the prospect of a traffic nightmare. And the Freedom Tower hasn’t yet been secured by Rubio’s Washington-based team, which will inspect it this week to see if it’s the right venue.
Rubio faces the same challenge as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Will America get behind another first term senator?

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 20, 2015 15 Comments
Senator Marco Rubio gave one of the best speeches of his career yesterday when he took to the floor in defense of Israel while calling out its critics, including President Obama. Alyssa Canobbio of the Washington Free Beacon reported:
Rubio Delivers Blistering Speech on Obama’s Assault on Israel It has taken two days for Obama to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulate him on his reelection. Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have taken part in very sensitive talks with Iran about its nuclear program. Rubio began speaking on how Obama has always been among the first to call controversial leaders and congratulate them on winning their elections but has remained silent when it came to congratulating on the United States’ biggest ally in the Middle East. Rubio continued, making multiple points that the Obama administration has not stood with Israel.
Rubio cites a litany of examples of the unfair treatment of Israel by the Obama administration and its regional enemies such as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. This video is 15 minutes long and well worth your time.
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