Under attack for the highly charged issue of his use of a Florida state credit card over a period of years, he is now doing a 180 on a few things.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/11/maybe-harry-reid-can-convince-rubio-to.html
UPDATE: For the background on Rubio's credit card issues see here.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/05/3719535/rubio-credit-card/
For one thing he now says he doesn't hate the Senate.
"At a packed town hall Wednesday evening in Nashua, New Hampshire, a man confronted Rubio on missing votes and asked, "Why not resign from the Senate?" The questioner said that would allow Rubio to focus on his presidential campaign. Rubio, citing constituent services as the "most important" part of his job, rejected the man's call. "I don't actually hate being in the Senate," Rubio added. "I'm frustrated with the Senate."
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/11/maybe-harry-reid-can-convince-rubio-to.html
UPDATE: For the background on Rubio's credit card issues see here.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/05/3719535/rubio-credit-card/
For one thing he now says he doesn't hate the Senate.
"At a packed town hall Wednesday evening in Nashua, New Hampshire, a man confronted Rubio on missing votes and asked, "Why not resign from the Senate?" The questioner said that would allow Rubio to focus on his presidential campaign. Rubio, citing constituent services as the "most important" part of his job, rejected the man's call. "I don't actually hate being in the Senate," Rubio added. "I'm frustrated with the Senate."
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-11-05/how-jeb-bush-and-donald-trump-have-put-a-surging-marco-rubio-on-defense
So he's burned out after just four of a six year term. It's not clear why constituents wouldn't be better served by someone fresh who wants the job. How can he be so sure he won't get frustrated with the Presidency?
But the biggest about face is his new position that he will end the Dream Act.
"Rubio's comments Wednesday about ending the executive-level protections so-called "Dreamers" led to a torrent of criticism from Democrat-aligned groups and immigration advocates, including a rebuke from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. "We should not put 650,000+ promising young people at risk for deportation," she tweeted, referring to the number that have gained temporary deportation reprieve and work permits. "Sen. Rubio is wrong on this." The issue is important because the next president can continue or end DACA, set up by Obama in 2012, with the stroke of a pen. Rubio is boxed in by growing criticism from conservatives who suspect him of being soft on immigration because of his 2013 effort to pass a bill that included a path for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status."
"The gang of eight bill—that's bullcrap," said Michelle McManus of Bow, New Hampshire, referring to the legislation that Rubio co-wrote. She said she'll vote for Trump and cannot trust Rubio again. "You blow it once and that's it."
Indeed, Rubio is now going so far as trying to attack Trump from the Right on immigration-which scarcely seems possible to do.
"Wednesday on Fox News, the senator hit back at Trump's ongoing attacks on his immigration record, arguing that "Donald was a supporter of amnesty and of the DREAM Act, and he changed his position on those issues just to run for president." On Thursday he told reporters that Trump's attacks on his finances were "ironic" coming from "the only person who’s running for president that’s ever declared a bankruptcy." Trump makes a point of saying that he has never filed for personal bankruptcy, though his businesses have. "
I don't know who can trust Rubio on immigration now but surely not Latinos.
So he's burned out after just four of a six year term. It's not clear why constituents wouldn't be better served by someone fresh who wants the job. How can he be so sure he won't get frustrated with the Presidency?
But the biggest about face is his new position that he will end the Dream Act.
"Rubio's comments Wednesday about ending the executive-level protections so-called "Dreamers" led to a torrent of criticism from Democrat-aligned groups and immigration advocates, including a rebuke from Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. "We should not put 650,000+ promising young people at risk for deportation," she tweeted, referring to the number that have gained temporary deportation reprieve and work permits. "Sen. Rubio is wrong on this." The issue is important because the next president can continue or end DACA, set up by Obama in 2012, with the stroke of a pen. Rubio is boxed in by growing criticism from conservatives who suspect him of being soft on immigration because of his 2013 effort to pass a bill that included a path for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status."
"The gang of eight bill—that's bullcrap," said Michelle McManus of Bow, New Hampshire, referring to the legislation that Rubio co-wrote. She said she'll vote for Trump and cannot trust Rubio again. "You blow it once and that's it."
Indeed, Rubio is now going so far as trying to attack Trump from the Right on immigration-which scarcely seems possible to do.
"Wednesday on Fox News, the senator hit back at Trump's ongoing attacks on his immigration record, arguing that "Donald was a supporter of amnesty and of the DREAM Act, and he changed his position on those issues just to run for president." On Thursday he told reporters that Trump's attacks on his finances were "ironic" coming from "the only person who’s running for president that’s ever declared a bankruptcy." Trump makes a point of saying that he has never filed for personal bankruptcy, though his businesses have. "
I don't know who can trust Rubio on immigration now but surely not Latinos.
But the Dream Act is effectively dead and has been for a long time. There's no way Trump supports it now (whatever he's said in the past).
ReplyDeleteI agree Rubio is a reprehensible cowardly weasel on this and certainly won't improve anything, but if you take them at their word you get dead Dream Act with Rubio (which it already effectively is), and you get that + a wall plus a witch hunt to round up 11 million tax payers and workers with Trump.
The good news is (like you say) Trump has pushed Rubio so far to the right on this issue that hopefully he'll soon have the same negatives as Trump does with Latinos: (which is about 64% right now I think... 75% against and 11% for... something like that?).
So, assuming the GOP is defeated (which I can't assume will happen at this point), Trump will probably have helped with that, and that's a good thing.
No Rubio wants to rescind Obama's 2011 executive action-that'soften called a kind of Dream Act.
DeleteAs far as comparing Rubio's position to Trump I've said I see no benefit in trying to say Rubio or anyone else in the GOP is better.
Trump isn't really new in what he said just how he said it. The idea that the 14th Amendment may not apply to children of illegal immigrants is not new with him though he's run with it.
I can promise you that the Latino community has noted what Rubio said today.
Mike, here's another poll that blows me away:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/05/michigan-voters-favor-detroit-native-ben-carson-2016/75171072/
I really can't imagine what my fellow countrymen are thinking. A country is supposed to define a group of people who have some minimal geographic and cultural unity... and I just don't get it. It's like the stupider the things he says are, the better he's liked!
I've never felt more alienated from my fellow Americans. I could at least understand the appeal of Trump, but this Carson thing has me completely utterly baffled.
I couldn't be more perplexed if the electorate had instead taken a sudden shine to a Golden Retriever for president, or perhaps a casaba melon.
Imagine Carson is elected president... and then he demands that he be shown the alien bodies and the skeletons of the nephilim that he's sure the evil evolution-promoting government scientists have been keeping under wraps.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do if you're a sane civil servant presented with that demand from your newly elected commander in chief? Do you just shoot him right then and there... and take one for the team? Do you attempt to explain to him that his beliefs are pure unadulterated BS and that he's completely delusional? Do you make up some fake bodies and skeletons to satisfy him?
Mike, you mentioned in a comment that I'm a swing voter. And while it's true I have pleasant memories of that time, I think I will be a Democratic partisan until... oh, say, until the Republicans nominate a firebrand atheist. That's a prerequisite, but not a guarantee of my consideration. I'm done with tolerating faith, especially fundamentalist faith. Looking at Ben Carson shows where tolerating faith leads. I will be more tolerant of faith among Democrats but only because the alternative is absolutely terrifying.
ReplyDeleteSo, in other words, I'll most likely be a partisan Democrat the rest of my life... but I will cheer every baby step the GOP takes back from the world of faith and the resultant fundamentalist insanity it leads to. I will welcome my GOP countrymen back to reality when they decide to return to it. So that's what I think will continue to set us apart.
I don't think GOP countrymen will go back to reality in this way. To me they will have to go through the wilderness for a time.
ReplyDeleteI stand by my prediction of a coming schism.
I will say this, as reality goes, Paul Ryan isn't doing such a bad job of acting like he understands it.
By schism I mean the party splits in two and maybe a third party surfaces.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I tell you I really am not worried about Carson becoming President-because I don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteI will say this. Carson's campaign has hit a new nadir today, where the media accusing him of not almost killing someone is a 'witch hunt.' LOL