Posted on 08/20/2013 12:53:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) On a recent swing through the most conservative parts of his state, Sen. Marco Rubio told a packed banquet hall at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club that major policy issues were threatening the American dream: onerous taxes, burdensome regulations and, above all, President Barack Obama's health care law.
But all Doc Washburn wanted to know about was immigration.
The local radio talk-show host asked the Republican senator why he had worked with Democrats on legislation that would give the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally an eventual path to citizenship.
"We know you, and we've always loved you," Washburn said, "and yet you're pushing this and it's a real problem for us."
The exchange and Rubio's reluctance to raise the issue after spending months advocating for comprehensive immigration reform underscore why the potential presidential candidate has undertaken a sort of image-rehabilitation tour, promoting his conservative bona fides to crowds in Florida's most Republican bastions.
Once embraced by the tea party, Rubio's name can now elicit boos and catcalls at rallies. And since he began championing immigration changes, his standing has slipped in some polls.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I am thinking that a more appropriate headline might be:
“Rubio having trouble scraping immigration reform off his shoe”
I suspect that Rubio bought into the idea that in order for Republicans to win elections, they had to court the Hispanic vote. Right after Romney lost - this was the battle cry from the GOPe. Did they really believe this or was it a ploy to satisfy their big donors and LaRaza? Let’s not forget this despicable group favors John McCain.
I believe that Rubio got hood winked by those who have been in the Senate much longer and are snakes in the grass - but for him to jump on board with Chuckie Schumer showed us that he isn’t ready for prime time.
Rubio seems like an intelligent guy - yet failed to do his homework on this issue. He failed to check the pulse of the American people, instead relying on those who didn’t have his best interests at heart. He possibly believed this was a winning issue for him for 2016. FAIL!!!
I heard Hannity saying Rubio is a Conservative! Rubio killed that horse when he advocated amnesty.
I don't think there are very many FReepers today that would dispute that thesis. His record on immigration is not much worse than Obama's. But I've always taken the view with George Bush that even though his head is empty his heart is white and as that applies to immigration I think he was prompted by the highest of motives. He abhors racism, he was raised in Texas by a Mexican nanny, his nephew is Mexican-American. In short I think George Bush really believed that by failing to vigorously enforce those laws he was doing the right thing for his country.
I cannot honestly say that Marco Rubio is not similarly and nobly motivated. He is after all a Cuban-American. But my objection goes to the idea of betrayal. We hire our representatives to be our paladins and we entrust them with pursuing our interests not to sell them out to the other side. Whether Rubio thought he was portraying himself as a statesman, whether he thought he was banking the Latino vote for 2016, or whether he simply thought he was doing the right thing, I cannot say but I can say that he betrayed the conservatives who sent him to Washington.
We have entered an age when the country is at stake and we conservatives can no longer tolerate betrayal. The Mitch McConnells and the John Boehners are the figureheads but they are replicated up and down the line in the Republican ranks. Rubio's betrayal was all the more painful because his fall from grace was so dramatic and so steep and the damage is so grave.
bump
I still think this was a setup. Rubio was going to be a Tea Party favorite. Clean, hispanic, intelligent, he was everything the Tea Party wanted and everything the GOPe hated. The 2016 Presidential candidate that not even Hillary could beat.
Then the GOPe made him an offer he couldnt refuse. Come along with us and not only will you be the 2016 candidate, but be a visionary and bring home the Hispanic vote for the GOP. If you don’t, you are done.
In for a penny, in for a pound. Not only will he not attract the Hispanic vote, he will lose to a rat in the general and McLame and Grahmnesty will be nowhere to be found.
The establishment ruined Rubio for the Tea Party.
Rubio made those choices, he did it to himself.
Personal responsibility is a conservative trait.
Maybe we will all forget what an amnesty loving RINO he is. :-)
It won’t matter even if he clearly announces he was wrong. He still does not believe he was wrong and before all this, when he was supposedly against amnesty, he was lying.
His problem isn’t just that he is an amnesty supporting traitor. It’s that he is a certifiable liar. We suspected there was something wrong with his stance on illegals before he got elected, but he promised us he wasn’t for amnesty. Some people voted for him because they believed he was never for the illegal agenda. Some people voted for him even though they knew he had been for illegals in the past because of his promise to be against illegals now. But he reneged on that promise.
There is nothing he can say now to reverse what we know because his word means nothing. He cannot be trusted.
Rubio told us that legalization was not the priority and turned around and said, in Spanish, that legalization was the priority. D*** liar.
Rubio is a con man, and a fraud. He got big money for selling out. His war chest is at an all time high.
He is either that or extremely gullible.
He is a slick lawyer/politician. Not gullible. Evil yes.
He spoke to a leftist hispanic group in spanish, and told them he would push for amnesty and citizenship for illegals. He got caught. He’s done.
“its clanish type of mentality for Hispanics race first America later.”
Ditto for the black population. Race always comes first — even before God.
Oh, well, Marco, I am sure everyone will forget about your pro-amnesty stance if you just choose to not bring it up anymore.
Marco Rubio—Senator from Aztlán
To use a 1960's expression, my heart bleeds purple peanut butter for El Reconquistador.
Say whatever you like from here on in, Rubio, I won’t be taking you seriously again, and there are more entertaining speakers out there if that’s what I’m looking for.
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