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Why Rubio claims 'Obama knows what he's doing'
Politico ^ | February 7, 2016 | Michael Grunwald

Posted on 02/07/2016 3:01:19 PM PST by Kaslin

Gaffe or no gaffe, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

What was Marco Rubio thinking Saturday night in Manchester, New Hampshire? Why would he repeat the same canned talking point four times, even after Chris Christie accused him of constantly repeating his canned talking points? And if he had to repeat a canned talking point during a Republican debate, why on earth would he choose one about how Barack Obama knows what he's doing?

The knows-what-he's-doing debacle felt like Rubio's political Fredericksburg, a futile repetitive charge into overwhelming enemy fire. Christie's brutal mockery of Rubio's "memorized 25-second speech" evoked the fictional President Bartlet's "What are the next 10 words of your answer?" smackdown of an opponent's 10-word debate answers on "The West Wing." But there was an actual point that Rubio was trying to make, even if his embarrassing inability to deviate from his political script overshadowed his political argument.

To understand the point, it helps to remember that Rubio was initially responding to the notion that he was too inexperienced to be president. "Gov. Christie warned voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator, as America did with Barack Obama in 2008," said moderator David Muir. Rubio quipped that if experience were all that mattered, Joe Biden ought to be the next president, since "he's been around 1,000 years." It was then that Rubio went to the well for the first time: "And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."

Why would he dissent from the Republican Party line that Obama is a clueless incompetent? Obviously, he wasn't suggesting that Obama has been a good president, since his entire campaign has been dedicated to the proposition that Obama is a disaster. He was suggesting that Obama, despite his relative pre-White House inexperience, has been effective at getting his way. "Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country," Rubio said. Then he listed some of the ways the president has succeeded in doing that: Obamacare, the $800 billion stimulus, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and the nuclear deal with Iran.

What Rubio emphasized, and then emphasized three more times, is that Obama has been catastrophic for America, for Americans, and for the notion of American exceptionalism. "All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate," Rubio said. "This is a president who's trying to redefine this country." What Rubio did not quite say, but certainly implied, is that Obama's status as a first-term senator has not prevented him from achieving what he set out to achieve.

Incidentally, Donald Trump was the only candidate who challenged Rubio's premise, dismissing Obama as a rank incompetent. But whether or not you like what Obama has done, and none of the Republican candidates do, Rubio is correct that he has done an awful lot, transforming U.S. policy not only on health care, economics, financial regulation and Iran, but also on energy, education, taxation, gay rights, Iraq, Cuba and much more. Rubio's opponents have dismissed him as a Republican version of Obama -- charismatic and inspiring but ultimately too young and inexperienced for the job. Rubio was essentially implying, but not quite daring to say out loud, that Republicans need their own version of Obama to reverse what he's done.

Of course, one thing Obama has done is win two national elections. Rubio's candidacy has benefited from a widespread belief that he would be the most electable Republican, a Cuban-American from humble roots, a natural politician with a stirring personal story who would look like tomorrow against Hillary Clinton's yesterday. But that aura of electability took a big hit Saturday night when he started to sound like a broken record and look like an empty suit. He certainly didn't seem like someone who knew what he was doing.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016debates; 2016elections; 2016presdebates; marcorubio; marcorubio2016; republicans
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1 posted on 02/07/2016 3:01:19 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Rubio is actually right about that.


2 posted on 02/07/2016 3:04:19 PM PST by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: Kaslin

3 posted on 02/07/2016 3:04:38 PM PST by struggle
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To: Kaslin

No gaffe, Rubio is right.


4 posted on 02/07/2016 3:06:02 PM PST by andy1954
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To: Kaslin

I thought it was great that he repeated it.
Maybe he was hoping to get it out more.


5 posted on 02/07/2016 3:06:05 PM PST by MarMema
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To: Kaslin

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/02/marco-rubio-jorge-ramos-will-keep-obamas-first-executive-amnesty-place-legislative-amnesty-enacted/

Yeah... Knows what he is doing.
And the droid boy likes it.


6 posted on 02/07/2016 3:08:12 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: dynoman
Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change destroy this country.

fixed it

8 posted on 02/07/2016 3:10:31 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Kaslin

But he’s not running against Obama, he needs get thru the others on stage before he could possibly take on Hillary/Bernie/Joe B.


9 posted on 02/07/2016 3:11:03 PM PST by conservativesister (And FReepers, please quit attacking each other. We're all in this together.-"JR" i)
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To: struggle

10 posted on 02/07/2016 3:11:52 PM PST by bigbob ("Victorious warriors win first and then go to war" Sun Tzu.)
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To: dynoman

Obama administration is a Marxist/globalist agenda hunting America like an enemy submarine hiding beneath an ocean of incompetence.


11 posted on 02/07/2016 3:12:14 PM PST by Disestablishmentarian
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To: struggle

Christie crushed Rubio.
Probably knocked him out
like Trump knocked out Bush.


12 posted on 02/07/2016 3:13:23 PM PST by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small pittancez)
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To: Kaslin

http://www.capitolhilloutsider.com/

Obama, Marco Rubio, Cesar Conda, and George Soros

Senator Marco Rubio has always been a mystery to me. When he speaks, he always manages to say just the right thing. Until recently. He speaks of amnesty, although he says it isn’t amnesty.

I saw the first person sitting about six feet away from Obama, who was the center of attention . Obama was standing up, and he had been lit for affect. The person was George Soros. George Soros was sitting there monitoring the situation. Nowhere else did I see Soros, and I forgot about it. The scene came back to me this week. Cesar Conda is now the chief of staff for Rubio and George Soros is certainly bringing his influence to his power.

From a newsletter from November 1, 2008

Conda is pushing amnesty, as is Rubio. Obama, Cesar Conda, Marco Rubio and George Soros, is a powerful combination.

Conda, as immigration lawyer, worked on the editorial advisory board of Soros magazine. In telling about amnesty, he says illegal aliens wouldn’t get amnesty, wouldn’t get welfare until 10 years for citizenship. These lies have been completely debunked.

Conda has worked as lobbyist and analysis for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Rubio said on January 29, 2013;

‘if, in fact, this bill does not have real triggers in them, if there is not language in this bill that guarantees that nothing else will happen, unless enforcement mechanisms are in place, I won’t support it.’

More recently, Rubio had to be aware of Fox News polling suggesting that the public’s support for ‘a path to citizenship ‘, hinges on whether enforcement was first. Then Rubio said ‘The trigger means something must happen before green cards are given to people that used to illegally be here.’ Rubio misled millions of viewers.

What do you know about George Soros? Probably, you know that Soros likes to be a kingmaker. He has brought countries to their knees. Is now the time Soros is bringing his shadow government to this country? Soros nearly bankrupted Britain by currency manipulation.

He wants the decline of the dollar to a single global economy. The Democrat Party is the shadow party. The shadow party’s plan is to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. It is not out in the open, although its vast network is busy undermining this government. They hide behind such ‘moderates’ as Hillary Clinton and other public figures.

‘The main enemy of the open society, I believe is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat’, George Soros.

And, ‘The main obstacle to a stabilized just world order is the United States’.

Marco Rubio has as his chief of staff, Cesar Conda. Conda is committed to amnesty. Do you see the connection between Conda and Rubio? Soros is committed to amnesty, and Rubio will fight for amnesty.

‘...convicted in France of insider trading, Soros specializes in weakening or collapsing the currencies of entire natures, for his own selfish interests.’ Broken Bank of England

Ed Lasky: George Soros and the Future of the World Bank

‘...Soros is a major funder of the Democratic Party, activist groups that aid the Democrats (such as MoveOn,org.) and very early and generous of Barack Obama.

Unsurprisingly, the article omitted any mention of George Soros, whose politics are more compatible with these powers-that-be who are running the New York Times (into the ground). Yet Soros has very important
reasons to want influence in Washington. Not just to support his agenda, but also to ensure that he continue to operate behind a veil of secrecy of his hedge funds.’

Interview with George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management

‘He (Soros) proposed the establishment of a global body which, with enforcement power rivaling that of the World Trade Organization. could enforce global environmental standards. ‘We must, he said ‘mobilize civil society in favor of international law and international institutions.’

‘Daddy Warbucks’ of Drugs and Death - CFR member George Soros

‘Council on Foreign Relations members are focusing psycho -political operations (psyops) at the American public. The psycho-political operations are designed to undermine our confidence and destroy our determination to fight. The psycho-political operations forget the family, loyalty to our nation and our faiths. Two of the psycho-political operatives are abortion, and legalization of drugs. Council on Foreign Relations member George Soros is helping to finance both operations.

Council on Foreign Relations members ‘the Special Group’ and on the ‘Secret Team’ help plan and co-ordinate the operations’.

Soros is for amnesty. What better way than to bring millions of poor people, largely uneducated, into the country. Soros doesn’t have to worry about his position; he has lots of money. Hordes of people coming into the country will make us all poorer. It very well might bring the country down in the United States.

They are going to get amnesty through the back door. They know that the borders are porous, and not to be trusted. Janet Napolitano is ready to certify that ‘the border is as good as it always have been’.

As for Rubio, it seems we now know he’s working for George Soros.

© Copyright by Barbara Anderson, 2013. All rights reserved.


13 posted on 02/07/2016 3:13:57 PM PST by HarleyLady27 ("The Force Awakens"!!! TRUMP;TRUMP;TRUMP;TRUMP!!! 100%)
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To: struggle

LOL

I can’t believe anyone supports this greasy little Amnesty whore.


14 posted on 02/07/2016 3:14:36 PM PST by Dagnabitt (Islamic Immigration is Treason)
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To: dynoman

I agree.

The only problem is that even if Rubio were a conservative, which he is not, he wouldn’t have the backbone to ram through the conservative policies we need to save the country.

At least not like the baby tyrant homobama has done to destroy it from the radical left.


15 posted on 02/07/2016 3:15:52 PM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: Kaslin
He is right in the *substance* of what he is saying.

Where he fell down was in memorizing a phrase and repeating it ad nauseam.

The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory got off scot-free from civil liability for this reason -- and it's still taught in law school textbooks.

You may recall the Triangle Fire - horrible garment district fire, stairwells were locked to prevent pilferage, no fire prevention equipment, factory didn't meet even the rudimentary fire codes of the time. Almost exclusively immigrant young female workers. Fire broke out in a rag bin - no fire extinguishers - panic - bodies piled up in stairwells and in the elevator shafts - some escaped across the rooftop - many jumped to certain death -

The owners bribed Tammany Hall and were not prosecuted, but there was a civil suit on behalf of the women who were killed. A survivor took the stand and testified. Her English was not good, and she repeated her testimony like a learned lesson. On cross-examination, the defense attorney asked her to repeat her testimony. She did, verbatim. Then he asked her again. She did, almost verbatim. He said, "you left out a word there." She said, "Yes, I did" and went on like a machine.

Defense verdict. Mostly on account of that cross-examination.

16 posted on 02/07/2016 3:19:28 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: MarMema
I thought it was great that he repeated it

I concur. They all repeat their most important campaign issues, often, so voters associate the candidate and his positions.

Do the candidates who are criticizing Rubio for this think that Obama doesn't know what he's doing as he destroys the US?

17 posted on 02/07/2016 3:21:24 PM PST by grania
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To: dynoman

He’s 100% right. 0bama has demagogued his agenda for over eight years. If it wasn’t what he wanted to do he wouldn’t spend so much time trying to sell it.


18 posted on 02/07/2016 3:24:34 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason and rule of law. Prepare!)
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To: MarMema

I agree. I’m not a big Rubio fan, but he was correct about that. Obama doesn’t like the idea of the United States and has done what he can to diminish us.

I didn’t get why it was a point of contention even.


19 posted on 02/07/2016 3:24:36 PM PST by phothus (http://buanadha.wordpress.com/)
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To: dynoman
Rubio is actually right about that.

Should be called the Obama-Jarret presidency.


20 posted on 02/07/2016 3:26:27 PM PST by caveat emptor
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