Posted on 11/16/2015 7:29:35 PM PST by VinL
Sen. Marco Rubio called out Sen. Ted Cruz by name Monday night for voting to "weaken U.S. intelligence programs," escalating their increasingly intense rivalry for the Republican presidential nomination.
Calling it a distinctive issue in the campaign for the White House, the Florida senator said, "At least two of my colleagues in the Senate aspiring to the presidency, Sen. Cruz in particular, have voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence programs just in the last month and a half. And a weakening of our intelligence gathering capabilities leaves America vulnerable."
Rubio, speaking before The Wall Street Journal CEO Council at the Four Seasons in Washington, was referring to the June passage of the USA Freedom Act, which eliminated the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone data.
Rubio was one of 32 senators to vote against the change. Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted for it.
But Rubio name-checked Cruz, his current closest competitor in the primary.
Rubio's swipe packed added sting because it came just three days after the worst attack on France since World World II, an Islamic State group-coordinated assault that killed 129 people and 352 others.
Soon after Rubio's remarks, a couple of his campaign aides began a hashtag on Twitter designed to twist the knife: #PhonyTedCruz.
Asked for a response to Rubio's charge, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler emailed U.S. News, "I'd like to know if Senator Rubio thinks Senators [Tim] Scott, [Kelly] Ayotte and [Chuck] Grassley also "voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence programs."
Last week, Rubio and Cruz tussled over their positions on 2013 immigration legislation designed to provide a path to citizenship. At the Wall Street Journal forum, Rubio again sought to neutralize Cruz's attack, arguing that they both wanted to eventually legalize those who came into the country illegally.
"He said he wanted to bring people out of the shadows and legalize them, just not grant them citizenship," he said.
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Right- pucker-up Marco, you lackey, if you had gotten your way, there'd be 11 million more Dem voters in America.
Asked for a response to Rubio’s charge, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler emailed U.S. News, “I’d like to know if Senator Rubio thinks Senators [Tim] Scott, [Kelly] Ayotte and [Chuck] Grassley also “voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence programs.
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Tyler deftly noting that Rubio is also criticizing the Senators from NH, SC and Iowa.
Marco Rubio: Pro-Big Brother.
Got it.
Hey, Marky, instead of letting people in America that need to be spied on, how about not letting them in at all so that the rest of us can live in peace and freedom.
Marco has no problem with the NSA spying on every American. Good to know.
Just keep on digging yourself deeper into that hole Rubio. Cruz is right!!
Rubio and the lefties want us to give up our freedom to fight the threat in our own country rather than keep the threat out of our home.
Hey Marco!
Ted’s not the one holding the door for terrorists to walk into our living rooms.
Oh sure, Rubio, we can trust our tyrannical government with unlimited surveillance powers. We certainly cannot profile radical Islamists. That would be racist. After all, patting down little old ladies and empowering low-level trainees to see all of our asked bodies in the airports has done so much to stop terrorism. More government control and intrusion into our lives is the solution.
/s
Jeb-Lite..
Marco deliberately confuses data collection on American citizens (not allowed) with data collection on the rest of the world (still allowed). Does Marco believe the Paris attacks were carried out by American citizens operating out of the U.S.A.?
Rubio is no better than Hillary. He is willing to lie about the Muslim threat to deprive U.S. citizens of their constitutional rights.
That Rubio boy's about as sharp as a bowling ball.
“Marco Rubio: Pro-Big Brother.
Got it.”
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