Marco Rubio | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 6
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Marco Rubio Tag

Florida Senator Marco Rubio would be a strong conservative choice for the Republican nomination for President. In this post I will present you with the facts about his strengths and his conservative record. And yes, I'll also address the two big criticisms, experience and immigration, and lay out why they are strengths for him. Rubio's a naturally gifted speaker with a quick mind, unlikely to make a fool of himself on the debate stage. A 44 year old Cuban-American with a beautiful young family and a compelling life story, he provides a strong and positive contrast to the cranky grandparents' club of Democratic candidates. Throughout the campaign, polls have shown that Rubio is the GOP's strongest competition against Hillary Clinton -- he's the "electable conservative." He's shown an ability to respond to negative attacks with wit and humor, a crucial skill in what will most certainly be a bare knuckles brawl of an election. The contrast between the Rubio campaign's lighthearted self-mocking in #RubioCrimeSpree and the ongoing drip-drip-drip of news stories about classified information on Clinton's email server could not be sharper.

The seemingly non-stop attack ads being run by Jeb's SuperPAC, Right to Rise USA, are causing deep concern among Jeb supporters, the NY Times reports:
When Jeb Bush and his allies began helping the “super PAC” supporting him raise more than $100 million last year, his bid for the Republican nomination seemed like a safe bet. But as Mr. Bush’s campaign continues to lag, his backers are increasingly turning their frustrations over his foundering candidacy on the group, Right to Rise, and its inability to influence the race. Some donors quietly worry about how the cash-rich group is spending its money, confounded by how few tangible results the tens of millions it has pumped into the race so far have yielded. Others have expressed dismay with negative ads Right to Rise has run ....

When asked, Marco Rubio is not shy about sharing his faith (see here and here). Sen. Rubio is Catholic. At a recent campaign event, self-described atheist, Justin Scott, confronted Sen. Rubio about his faith. Referencing one of Rubio's latest ads, Scott explained there was concern in the non-theist community that Rubio was running to be "Pastor in Chief."

Marco Rubio has taken a lot of heat for his work with Chuck Schumer and the Gang of Eight, so it's a bit surprising that only this morning he's arguing that illegal aliens can stay in the U.S. as long as they are not felons, specifically excluding the violation of our immigration laws. Politico reports:
Sen. Marco Rubio says people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally but haven’t committed any major crimes could be allowed to stay. In an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Florida contender for the Republican presidential nomination said felons shouldn’t be allowed to stay, but those who commit lesser crimes could still qualify. In this interview, he didn’t specify whether those allowed to stay would ever be able to become citizens. “If you’re a criminal alien, no, you can’t stay. If you’re someone that hasn’t been here for a very long time, you can’t stay,” he said. “I don’t think you’re gonna round up and deport 12 million people.”
The DC Caller has more:
Todd then asked Rubio, “Let me ask you on the 11 million [illegal immigrants already in America], are you still for finding a way for them to legally stay in the United States?”

Wednesday morning, an abbreviated interview from Marco Rubio's time as Speaker of Florida's House mysteriously surfaced and began bouncing its merry way through the political corners of the internet. Judging solely on the content of the 2008 clip (which cuts off Rubio mid-sentence) the viewer is led to believe that way back in the day, Rubio advocated for carbon taxes and cap and trade. Basically, Al Gore, Jr. First the clip:
It concludes with Rubio saying, "I am in favor of giving the Department of Environmental Protection a mandate that they go out and design a cap and trade or a carbon tax program, and bring it back to the legislature for ratification some time in the next..." and that's where we're left hanging. There's just one teency weency problem though -- that's not what Rubio said, at least not entirely.

Two recent discussions lay out a path to victory for Marcio Rubio in the 2016 Presidential election.  The New York Sun's Conrad Black even writes that the presidential election is Marco Rubio's to lose. According to Black, the Republicans have an advantage in the general election, whoever wins the nomination:
a party has won three consecutive presidential elections only when the incumbent was very popular at the end of the second term or when there were unusual encumbrances to a change.
It is fair to say that Barack Obama is not very popular.  According to Gallup, his approval rating is below average for President entering their eighth year in office.  "Unusual encumbrances to a change" is an awkward formulation, but there is nothing obvious at present.  So Black gives the nod to the Republicans.

As Marco Rubio continues to present himself as the Jeb alternative, he's begun attacking the other "other Jeb," Chris Christie. Claiming that Christie is too close to Obama on Common Core, health care, and gun control (notably absent from the list is illegal immigration, of course), Rubio implies that he is more conservative than Christie in an attempt to appeal to Republican primary voters. The Washington Post reports:
As Chris Christie’s establishment rivals seize on his blue-state governing record, the New Jersey governor punched back here Tuesday with the kind of bluntness that had been his trademark but in this presidential campaign has been the domain of Donald Trump.

Ted Cruz's video ad, Invasion, is getting a lot of attention for the scenes of suits running across the border. But it's not the key moment in the video. That key moment comes when the screen splits to view Marco Rubio next to Cruz, with a cotton-mouth expression on his face as Cruz slams the economic impact of illegal immigration: Marco Rubio Ted Cruz Invasion Video

Two Republican presidential candidates have spoken out against the Oregon standoff: Senators Cruz and Rubio. Aleister blogged about the precarious Oregon situation yesterday:
Protesters have taken over a small federal building in Oregon and some of them are armed. One of them is Ammon Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy who was in the news last year for clashing with federal authorities over land use. The reason for the protest seems to be two-fold. The situation which set off the protest was the prosecution of a pair of father and son ranchers named Hammond. The Hammonds are not part of the protest however and are expected to surrender themselves to authorities Monday for separate charges. The second aspect of the protest is a grievance over the federal government taking over land that used to be owned by ranchers.
In an interview on Iowa radio station KBUR Monday, Sen. Rubio acknowledged the federal government has too much control over land in the western half of the country, but urged protestors to seek a lawful remedy:

I've been ill the past couple of day with a bad stomach flu, so I had a chance to vegitate in front of the TV. At least on Fox News in Scottsdale, where I am now, it's been nearly non-stop Jeb attack ads on Trump. Not technically Jeb, but the SuperPAC supporting Jeb:
This ad epitomizes the inability of Jeb or his supporters to deal with Trump. The overwhelming image in my mind from the ad is of Trump mocking Jeb. See the featured image.

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio picked up several meaty endorsements over the past few days. Saturday, Townhall's Guy Benson reported South Carolina firebrand, Rep. Trey Gowdy, has endorsed Sen. Rubio.

There's been quite a bit of drama surrounding the Marco Rubio - Ted Cruz exchange on immigration during the CNN debate and the Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight immigration bill. Bret Baier's interview with Cruz following the CNN debate skirmish allowed Cruz to explain his rationale for proposing an amendment (one of several) that, had it been approved—and Cruz knew it would not be, would have legalized millions of illegals. When Cruz explains his "poison pill" amendment, it becomes clear that he was being not only smart but also quite savvy (and ultimately, and all that matters to me, successful in quashing the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill). The amendment that Rubio is touting is an amendment that included the stipulation that no illegal immigrant would ever get citizenship.  Under any circumstances.  Cruz obviously knew that Rubio and the other Gang of Eight members would never agree to such a proposition when a path to citizenship was a key driver in their bill.

Marco Rubio missed Friday's vote on the Omnibus bill. It was a bill he stated he opposed and might even try to delay. But he didn't show up for the vote. 98 other Senators did. Including Ted Cruz, who returned from the campaign trail to be able to just say No. Omnibus Bill 12-18-2015 Senate vote In the run up to the vote, Rubio excoriated the process used to draft the bill as well as provisions funding Syrian refugees. He suggested an effort to slow things down:

Last week, Republican Presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio, opened up about his faith, what it means to doubt one's faith, and where he turns in times of tumult and challenge. His candid response caught the attention of many Republican Christians. That was until this video surfaced. At an event organized by American Renewal Project in Iowa, Sen. Rubio shared the gospel with a large audience of pastors. Like his previous answers on the matter, Rubio spoke at length of peace. Not "hippy peace" as he called it, but the "peace that we are ordered to." For five minutes forget about politics, forget about your personal candidate preferences and just... listen.