The expectations going into Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) response to the State of the Union address couldn't have been much higher, especially coming on the heels of the "Republican savior" label. And it's fair to say the far-right Floridian didn't exactly make the most of the opportunity.
In speeches like these, it's almost inevitable that in the contest between style and substance, the former trumps the latter. It's why so many still laugh at Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) four years later. And on this score, Rubio had a very tough night -- he looked like a nervous and sweaty personal-injury attorney before taking an instantly-famous drink of water during his live broadcast.
Watching this unfold over 15 minutes, it was hard not to think that if this guy is the GOP's "savior," the party is in deep trouble.
But while it was Rubio's dry mouth that will be remembered, I hope the political world won't completely overlook the speech itself, because the far-right senator's remarks helped prove that he's quite literally not ready for prime time, for reasons that have nothing to do with his hard-to-watch presentation.
By any sensible measure, Rubio's entire pitch was incoherent gibberish. He thinks President Obama is hostile to free enterprise and wants to increase the deficit, neither of which makes any sense. Rubio thinks the housing crisis was caused by big government, which is simply idiotic. Rubio celebrates his family's history of dependence on government social programs like student loans and Medicare, while articulating a policy agenda that guts government social programs like student loans and Medicare.
Forget ideology, subjectivity, and areas of opinion -- the fact is Marco Rubio's speech was filled with a series of claims with no meaningful connection to reality. The senator even thinks combating the climate crisis means asking government to "control the weather," which is just genuinely dumb.
I know many of the folks watching Rubio's right-wing infomercial kept asking, "What's wrong with the guy's mouth?" but I kept wondering, "What planet is this guy living on?"
What's more, as someone who spent quite a bit of time studying Mitt Romney's stump speech, I can say with great confidence that there were no real differences between Rubio's remarks and the failed Republican presidential candidate's pitch to voters last year. Indeed, in some cases, it seemed like a word-for-word copy-and-paste job, up to and including, whining about "wasting more taxpayer money on so-called 'clean energy' companies like Solyndra."
And therein lies the point. Republicans are absolutely convinced that there's nothing wrong with their policy agenda, and there are no substantive lessons to be learned from their 2012 defeats. It's why they're still pushing abortion legislation, still waging a war on voting, still pushing to defund Planned Parenthood, and still refusing to compromise on fiscal issues.
And of 11 hours ago, they're still pushing Mitt Romney's platform, subtly repackaged for Marco Rubio.
I suppose this shouldn't come as too big a surprise -- GOP leaders have spent three months saying they'll get back on track with better messengers, not different ideas. So why not just hand Romney's stump speech to Rubio and hope for the best?
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I guess Republicans really think the reason they lost the last election was Republican candidates weren't conservative enough. Although I really got burned out of politics after the last election, 2016 is going to be fun.
Dear GOP.
*snicker*
Savior?
What else you got?
Wow. I have never heard such a massive amount of absolute nonsense spew out of one politician in my life. It's like he had the playbook of anti-Obama BS. "Stagnant societies where a tiny minority always stayed on top, and no one else even had a chance," he begins, building a dreamlike fantasy made up of one well-worn yet still outrageous stump-speech lie after another.
I eventually had to turn off the sound because I just couldn't listen to it anymore, but that made it easier to get the full effect of his hilariously inexperienced, dry-mouthed, pulpit-like sermon about how the left is evil and the right is holy. He couldn't have taken a few minutes to have someone edit the video so at least he wouldn't look like a fool? Pathetic.
I think reaching for that glass of water was a smart move ... with him sweating like he was and his mouth getting dry as it did, I do believe he was about to burst into flames from all the lies he was spewing !!! What a sight "that" would have been !!!
If Rubio is the Republicans' savior, then they are truly lost. RIP, Republican Party.
Where's "shooter" now to defend this loser? This speech had NO new ideas, or any ideas at all for that matter. It's OK to identify how you disagree with certain positions, but then for you to be considered serious you need to present alternatives. We got more republican nonsense, which is basically government should do nothing and everything will be OK, trust us. I think this performance should relegate Rubio back to the back bench along with Jindahl, where they both belong.
Time for Bosley Hair solutions, of course being the GOTP track star, Mr. Boobio will be able to afford holographic hair..
As my favorite Latina posted today: He may look like a brown boy but his pores bleed "un Rubio". Sum it up for me.
I'm a liberal but I don't think blaming the government for the housing crisis is that far off. After years and years of subsidizing homeownership and urban sprawl, the foundation was laid for the free market to run amuk with the system. If the government got out of the business of promoting homeownership (which has been proven to be a city killer where renters reigh supreme - especially in the 50s through 80s - basically subsidizing white flight and poverty concentration), then it could atleast be argued a lot of the housing crisis mess wouldn't have happened. It's no coincidence that places with the highest foreclosure rates were in cities with unsustainable sprawly development patterns (ie. Phoenix) and on the fringe of major metro areas (ie. Chicago exurbia). That isn't smart government - it's policies that need to be rethought.
Depends on which "government" you are talking about. Federal, State, Local. But I agree, I think there is plenty of blame to go around. Better Government regulation on the banks would surely have been a good thing.
I've got a completely wack-tastic idea! Let's reinstate Glass-Steagal! Let's de-fund all the government-sponsored "wars on X" that haven't worked for the past 50 years! THEN we might could just have a budget surplus in February too, all without putting social programs through a meat-grinder.
It'll never happen, but hey, figured I'd make the suggestion...
I believe the republicans, as they are today, are terrified. Terrified that the sum of all minorities in the country now outnumber them. They give off desparation pheromones, scrambling to do anything: shore up their dwindling base, attract targeted male minorities who possess the same misogynistic uber-macho, christ complex wiring. This could actually lead to the Democratic Party splitting down the road with Lefty Wing Nuts vs Moderates hugging opposite walls. Its like watching a typical middle-school dance in agonizing slow motion.
it was so painful to watch I don't feel sorry for the GOP they deserve him
I'm looking forward to the SNL reenactment.
Never underestimate the power of stupid.
The Reps may want their base, and the rest of us, to think they have a new vision and image, and they might! But, it's the same policies underneath. They have learned nothing. Go Obama!@
when a human strings together mouth sounds that are legitimate lies their mouth has a way of shutting down
LOL, love it! Thanks Jason.
Well played, Sir, well played, indeed!
Let's put aside the tired rhetoric that spewed from Mr. Rubio for a moment. He looked nervous, ill-prepared, and at times could not even read what was in front of Him. Oh, and just a personal opinion: This guy is just plain CREEPY..........His stock just went WAY down!
That fake smile at the end should be put on every milk carton.
Did anyone notice before he had to take that drink he kept wiping imaginary sweat from the side of his face? Nervous, indeed. I noted everytime he told a lie or stretched the truth about what all the President said in his address, Mister Rubio would touch himself and sigltly flinch. He had to have that drink of water because he dug himself into a dry hole he could not get out of. It is a heavy weight to have to vocal crap from a party that has nothing to offer. The GOP is arid and parch as Marco Rubio's retort about the State of the Union address. The man know everything he offered in his response are the very things that cause the Republican to lose the last election for we already tried all those ideals and they caused the mess we are in.
Rubio the raising star of the gop, fluent in English and Spanish .because he is Spanish every Spanish will vote for him,blacks people do not just voted for president Obama because he is black, no matter how people say, Obama is very smart. He did not win election twice just by being against the gop ideas,he used common sense approach which is something Rubio does not seem to have because he does not want to lose the far right base.when you are out of idea you do the same things over and over, and Rubio is doing just that,he and his family used some government assistance and he want to cut the same assistance to others to balance the budget which can make sense but at least do it in the balance way
You make no sense. The Spanish live in Spain. By your (wrong) reasoning, whites should only have voted for Romney, or are you just being racist? Over 70% of the Hispanic vote went to Obama, because Obama and Democrat policies and ideals better represent them than the GOP.
Spanish? hahahahahahahah Oh my Lord.
I think he will get the Cuban vote including those that are living in Cuba, if they only vote. However as a Hispanic we will never vote for him!! Get real Repubs Rubio is not one to represent us or the middle class.
While I agree with your assessment of Rubio's speech, attacking him with insults instead of facts diminishes your argument. The numbers would have been nice when talking about the deficit. He also attacked Obama's immigration policy by saying that the borders aren't secure. That's not true. Please use the facts and not insults. I love your show but when insulting with out facts makes you no better than Limbaugh or O'Reilly.
New account, just opened a few minutes ago + Only one post = major FAIL. What else 'ya got?
You want a true assessment? Re: raturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.Documents show Mr. Rubio was sponsored by his sister-in-law, who was already living in Miami and who signed an affidavit in 1956 stating the family was "desirous of entering the United States of America as permanent residents." "They were hopeful that this was a new beginning for Cuba, that things would get better and they were hoping maybe they can be part of that and made plans to do so," Rubio said, referring to several trips his parents took back to Cuba. Did you know Rubio was baptized a Mormon?
The names of people leaving Cuba immediately before and during the revolution read like the membership of the Havana Yacht Club. Naturally the rich fled when the poor took power. The one thing I have always resented about Cuban ex-pats in Florida is their refusal to admit how bloody awful that country was for the poor under Batista. Biographical fibs and half truths in common with America's infamous faulty memory equal..Marco Rubio.
In order to continue receiving his government benefits, I think Rubio should be drug-tested.
He looked like he was on cocaine during last night's "speech".
"Rubio thinks the housing crisis was caused by big government, which is simply idiotic."
Yes, we can't hold the banking industry in any way responsible. Whatever they do in order to increase profits would and should never be questioned by any true patriot. As long as you don't literally hold a gun to someone's head to get your money, you can scheme and scam as much as you'd like.
From the fact that they chose Rubio to give the rebuttal, to the absence of fact in his rebuttal, I gather that the GOP is placing all their eggs in the basket of the low information Latino vote -- Latinos who are provided with poor schools and inferior education, low wage jobs that keep them working two or three at a time -- will be counted on by the GOP to not pay attention, just vote for the Hispanic. If you are non Latino, then your best bet is to join the Latino fight for ethnic studies, better educational opportunities as well as raising the minimum wage. That's the antidote folks, for the high fructose Rubio cola.
This was the line that shocked me most, "blame the voters":
Didn’t he make a climate denying comment like ‘The weather is always changing”?
Did Time lighten his face in the magazine cover photo of him? Or is it just the lighting at the photo shoot?